Here’s an interesting take amidst the recent flux of economic meltdown headlines. A New York Times article details fear as the overarching decider when individuals are deciding to pull out of stocks.

… the market has become a case study in the psychology of crowds, many experts say. In normal times, it runs on a healthy mix of fear and greed. But fear now seems to rule, with investors often exhibiting a Wall Street version of the fight-or-flight mechanism — they are selling first, and asking questions later.

So, it appears that the real troubles on Wall Street are only half of our problems. The other half is us, exacerbating financial woes onto our everyday lives as our actions are becoming more and more dictated by the thought of a possible recession.

But when can we have a more definite answer? after all, it’s mostly uncertainty of profit that’s causing the Wall Street fear. The article closes with this:

Investors will regain confidence when they believe financial firms are adequately capitalized and money is flowing more freely through the financial system.

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

While web surfing before bed, I came across YouTube series, “Sexy Beijing”. The premise of the show is brilliant. Not because it’s a novelty concept but because “Sexy Beijing”, along with a slew of other made-for-online videos, ushers in a way of producing based on shoestring budgets, a jack-of-all-trades mentality and ultimately, a high-end quality product rivaling the big Hollywood production posse of yesteryear.

According to their website, “Sexy Beijing” is primarily made up of 3 individuals, with an in-house production company. The show has become an international success, becoming China’s most popular show and appearing on the Today Show as well.

But beyond the show’s comedy, quirkiness and charm, “Sexy Beijing” begins to tap at the skyscraping potential of online videos: at its best, online video promotes cross-cultural communication on a world scale. It’s a conversation previously limited to those who had the luxury of traveling overseas but now, is able to let everyone from all facets of life in on the chat.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s a great video where host Su Fei talks to locals about their English names. To check out more, go to their website

The 2008 Olympics aren’t just shattering sports related world records alone. According to an article from hollywoodreporter.com, the games are also breaking previous viewing numbers for online videos. Consider these statistics:

“NBCOlympics.com in the first four days saw 373.9 million page views and 17.7 million video streams, both up strongly from the 2004 Athens Games. That works out to roughly one video stream per 20 page views.”

NBC has also noticed that many viewers are linking or emailing the videos to others.

The games, which began on Friday, opened with 4.2 online video views, and by Monday, jumped up 2 percent with 7.8 million views.

NBC believes that the jump is due to the “at-work audience” who is likely to be in front of a computer rather than TV.

With a week left of the Olympics, records will no doubt continue to break. But another gold worthy act? Investing in online video marketing, to put you a cut above the competition.

Hello World,

This is GoodSide Studio’s way to share its experiences and knowledge about Marketing and Training with Web Video. The best place to start is by watching Video Production 101 “How to hire a production company.”