Scott Trudeau sent me a note earlier, alerting me to the fact that this footage of a town meeting with our Ypsilanti police chief had been downloaded more than 15,000 times by Google Video users. As I think we only have about 22,500 people live in Ypsi, my respnse was, “bullshit.”
Actually, I think my exact words were, “someone must be gaming the system.” I couldn’t imagine, and still can’t, that 15,000 people would care enough about our local jail overcrowding to start downloading the file. If it’s true, it’s hugely impressive, and speaks very well of the citizens of Washtenaw County. I just can’t imagine it could really be that 1 of every 21 citizens in this county (Washtenaw County’s population is approximately 322,895) are interested in this?
Whatever the cause for the huge numbers, Steve Pierce, who videotaped the event and put it up on Google Video, isn’t letting the opportunity go to waste. He just issued a press release making the case as to why local businesses should buy advertising on his newly launched videoblog, YpsiNews dotcom.
Here’s a clip:
…”We just launched YpsiNews.com in the last two months and it is nice to get this early recognition. We have had almost 1,000 people look at our other videos in the past two months”, said Pierce. “Readership is way up and there is a real interest in what is happening in Ypsilanti. We have also had a great deal of interest from local businesses wanting to advertise with YpsiNews.com. We have several new features and announcements in the next couple of months so we are very excited.”
Pierce also said that that readership of the YpsiNews.com email service is up with a 3% increase in subscribers in the past two weeks and a phenomenal 50% click-thru rate, which is well above industry norms for email newsletters”
I’m really confused as to what to make of all of this.
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Anyone who believes that 15,000 unique visitors viewed that video from a MeTube site probably doesn’t know what Pierce does for a living.
Wonder if he hosts icallbullshit.com?
Maybe we’re cynical,…
Maybe Paris Hilton’s left breast made a presentation on Ypsi’s loss and the County’s gain (of loostened jail-building money)?
Part business venture.
Part bullypulpit.
Pure Pierce.
Part business venture.
Part bullypulpit.
Pure Pierce.
I know I shouldn’t say this publicly, but all of the articles for YpsiNews.com are written by people who live in New Mexico.
I just looked for a way to contact the folks at Google Video and couldn’t find anything. Does someone out there know someone at Google that could look into it? It does seem very odd.
I’m not going to touch this subject with a ten-foot ethernet cable.
For what it’s worth…
Yesterday afternoon someone with whom I work that has no connection to Ypsilanti mentioned something about the Ypsilanti Police on Google Video. This was before I ever saw Steve’s note from Scott Trudeau via Murph. When I looked at the movers and shakers list on Google Video, the police video was ranked 96th with increasing popularity in France. Later on, the video climbed as high as 75th overall for the day.
“…the police video was ranked 96th with increasing popularity in France.”
Yes, I’ve often heard it said that Matt Harshberger is Ypsilanti’s answer to Jerry Lewis. I can personally attest that when he released the rubber ducks this summer and shouted “Hey, Ladies!”, the entire Tridge was in stitches.
Unless “Ypsilanti” means “Britney Spears’ cootchie” in French, I find this highly unlikely.
And, I should point out, I wasn’t suggesting that this was the result of any nefarious plan on the part of Steve. I think it could just be a glitch in the system. I just don’t think that 15,000 people, especially French people, would go so far as to click on a video of our police chief, great as he is… And, I also found it very odd that even with 15,000 views, there had only been one “rating.” (More people have rated the video since, but as of last evening only one person had rated it.) It seems to me like there should have been a lot more than that.