by Derek Morrison, 8 February 2009
The headline Pop fans click on to stars’ sing’n’sells was enough to make me wince when reading the Sunday newspapers and the story also offered its own share of reflective shudders about how those clever marketing types are ramping up product placement big time. The story was based around how Irish band the Script are using embedded hotspots in online videos to facilitate click throughs from objects that are part of the video scene/stream. But switching off my “grumpy old man” mode for a moment I thought how potentially useful applying the same principle could be if applied to truly educational, as opposed to marketing, purposes. The article suggests that ClickThrough.com have created this technology and that the Script are pioneering its use. Putting aside any concerns about the intended purpose of this use of the technology, this is effectively a micro environment which apart from the clickable video also offers chat and comment facilities. But I thought hotspot video has already been invented? Maybe Clickthrough have made it easier in some way? More investigation needed by enthusiasts of such things I think.
