Skylerized Executive Summary

Since the spring of 2007, I have presented to the World (Wide Web) my video log (vlog) starring only yours truly. The clips last no longer than 21 seconds, provide no sound, and simply feature a young man of color showing off everything from a royal blue dress shirt, to rectangular frame glasses, to the walls of his childhood home.

The germ for Skylerized began with the advent of social networking sites and video sharing sites such as MySpace and Facebook and YouTube and Revver, respectively.  The latter video site, (though it will never be as immensely popular as the former) caught my attention as it offered money from its inception, for uploaded content.  In fact, and in part, the idea for the name “Skylerized” derives from the term “Revverized,” referring to the state that a raw video uploaded to the site becomes when it is available on the Internet and capable of earning the author cash.  On a pay- per-click basis, I worked overtime, posting multiple videos.  The more content that I transferred, the more dollars, albeit modest, I profited.  While I found Revver to be an ideal home for launching my recordings into the electronic atmosphere, I kept my eyes and options open to several external sites that would offer similar business models for videomakers seeking to directly reap the funds for their work.

My estimation came to fruition in the currently defunct virtual community Spymac.  Since Revver shares videos under a non-exclusive Creative Commons license, I retain ownership of my videos.  With the freedom to broadcast my original works to any site of my choice, I uploaded simultaneously to Revver and Spymac, maximizing my revenues in the process.

Before long, I received checks from both sites and looked forward to finding even more places to introduce and expand my fledgling brand.  Yet, after a search that yielded little to no others that presented the solid business models of Revver and Spymac, I watched as the early signs of the Great Recession ate away at these tech start-ups.  In just a little over two years, it seemed like no video site outside of the powerhouse that is YouTube (which allows content producers with the highest views to opt into advertising deals) could remain active and afford to pay creators.  

Now, in a visual sense, I have positioned myself (and my videos) with what I think is the last bastion for rewarding videomakers. Blip.tv, like Revver, is in business to keep 50% of advertising revenue and divide the other half with producer.  As I progress and carry the banner for Skylerized, I anticipate meeting with fellow content providers, web designers, actors, writers, marketing teams, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals l.  Additionally, I plan on taking my brand to sites on the cutting edge of Web engineering like Triond.com. Finally, as the Internet continues to change, I will be ready to meet the challenges of tomorrow with the work I have completed today.