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The COW seems slow. Is this good news or bad?
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There are a couple of UK-specific groups on Facebook (I’m in the UK) and a few groups on LinkedIn that I’m on, so I’ve spent less of my time on the Cow in recent months than I used to. So I guess that’s probably part of it going quiet.
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[Andrew Rendell] “So I guess that’s probably part of it going quiet.”
So it’s YOUR fault?!? We were wondering.
Tim Wilson
Vice President, Editor-in-Chief
Creative COW -
Funny thing. None of the kids I interview for PA entry level jobs use the Cow or even know what it is. I’ve tried to force the hires to use it because it’s truly a wealth of information. Pretty much everything I’ve learned about FCP and FCPX came from here. One made a comment that it’s out of date (that’s not my comment, just being honest as to what he said).
Stepping back a little. If you’re running the cow, what do you do about it? Connect with facebook user accounts? That seems difficult and annoying. I see other forum styles and they’re confusing. Navigating threads can be a huge pain. One of the nice things about the Cow is that it’s stable and once you get the navigation, it’s easy to get around.
Maybe there are some simple ways to update the cow to attract a younger audience and freshen the site up a little. Reducing the amount of extraneous data at the top of email notifications would be awesome. Perhaps some graphical elements could be updated to feel a little newer. An iPad and iPhone app would be phenomenal. More and better video integration into posts is always a good thing. Maybe some fancy javascripts could be incorporated to add a little more interesting thread navigation could be incorporated.
Problem is, all these things take substantial amounts of time and money – and could have a negative effect on the audience the Cow currently has. Tim, it’s not an enviable job you have!
John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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You have so many generalities in your post I can’t respond to them individually.
Business is tough. So get tougher. You have to come up with different strategies to market yourself. Create your own work. Drop your prices. Find new avenues. Whatever. This has NEVER been an easy industry.
I don’t lose faith. I get angry and look to see where I can pivot to keep expanding our markets. We’re in territories now I never imagined my company would be in terms of what we’re producing. Yeah the tools are cheap and it makes me incredibly happy I haven’t upgraded in a few years or ever purchased a camera until now. I’m in a perfect position to exploit the low cost of all these tools as we move forward.
It’s still not easy but I’m still plugging away knowing that this industry will be in a constant state of change forever more and he who can continually change with the market is the one who will survive. And he who can constantly evolve and adapt their marketing strategy is the one who will grow their client base and distribution.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative MediaFoul Water Fiery Serpent, an original documentary featuring Sigourney Weaver. US & European distribution by American Public Television
MTWD Entertainment – Developing original content for all media.
“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
“Science Nation” – Three years and counting of Science for the People. -
[Tim Wilson] “So it’s YOUR fault?!? We were wondering.”
Yeah, sorry about that. I also took some time out when my father in law died.
TBH, the Facebook groups I’m on (edit suite stories and edit jockeys) aren’t really doing the same thing as CC though.
There’s a bit of overlap in some of the LinkedIn groups, although I’ve already abandoned a couple which have been swamped with spam and/or pointless arguing over software (the never ending Avid-FCP-Adobe and FCP7-FCPX arguments which I find so incredibly tedious). IMO the LinkedIn groups aren’t anywhere near as well organised as the CC forum but they are associated with the professional networking/ keeping in touch with contacts thing that LinkedIn is quite good for so they get a bit of attention for that.
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The thing that makes the COW such a unique resource is the very careful mix of tight moderation and the emphasis on technical assistance, corralled into many specific niches. That’s kind of the antithesis of much other “social media”, which thrives on empty controversy and “drama” to generate traffic.
There may be some occasional drama in some of the debates here, too, but on the whole, this is a more polite and reserved, but welcoming establishment in some ways than other production-related sites. I find that to be very refreshing, myself, as I recall the wilder days of USENET boards. Facebook and other sites may concentrate more on generating hits thru empty interactions, driven by emotion, politics, a lot of heat and little light… whereas here ,I think the signal-to-noise ratio is much, much better.
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I have not read all the threads in this post, so I apologize in advance, if this has been discussed already.
I read the first 10 posts (and Walter’s comments).The Cow is a technical forum, where people come for technical answers. From an installation point of view (what I do for my living) – people are NOT BUYING STUFF. They are hanging on to what they got. And thanks to AJA, Blackmagic and Matrox, people are re-using their hardware, as well as their Mac Computers to continue to run Adobe Premiere, as well as FCP 7 (and FCP X) and Media Composer also. So people ask questions about their new software (Adobe or FCP X) but they are using the same hardware. As I just said, people are NOT buying NEW stuff.
When you buy new toys, you need to ask questions. I am not seeing people buy new toys. I am getting asked to install small things (new NVidia Graphics cards), or add render farms to Adobe After Effects installations that are networked. But I am NOT seeing people building new facilities, and I am not seeing people buying new equipment. I am involved in smaller budget installs. I cannot imagine how some of the “big boy” companies are surviving with their $60,000 + hardware.
What’s the big picture – I have no idea.
Bob Zelin
Bob Zelin
Rescue 1, Inc.
maxavid@cfl.rr.com -
Holy moly… this thread is all over the place! Cool!
Todd, we’re busy. And taking time for my family before fall gets too crazy. Something’s gotta give and it’s the online stuff.
Nick, niche’s help for sure (I have 3) and simply keep people happy. I am certainly not “the best” but I sure can keep clients overjoyed, coming back and making referrals.
I am not inexpensive, I am a biz owner.
Bob Z – always keepin’ that “pipeline” full. You have to keep in touch with people/top of mind… or they forget you.
Tim – love the memory lane stuff! I forgot about alot of it since 1991. Ahhh… Targa64+ with TruVista Tips… Crystal Graphics… rebooting your machine to change memory settings/IRQs/DMAs depending on the software… those were the days. I still have my P6000 card.
Steve
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