Placemaking Report
Instagram and YouTube have woken up to the TikTok threat. Which means that there are now 3 phone-first platforms available for Place Reports.
I tried them out.
I had to admit, the idea was appealing: Why blog boringly on when you can choose short and punchy?
1.
First, a quick try-out of a DJI Mini2 drone, in front of the house, maybe 3 feet off the ground. I uploaded it to YouTube "Shorts". The embedded version, below, doesn't really capture it -- with those ungainly black bars on either side. Works much better on a phone. If you're looking at this on your phone, you're probably saying, "What? Looks fine." Not if you're on a laptop.
So for optimal viewing experience, you have to be on YouTube, on your phone.
2.
Below, an embed post to Instagram "Reels." The embedded web version cropped it into a square, even though the original is formatted for a phone -- more vertical. I guessed that IG wasn't wasting any effort on making "Reels" work on the Web.
Then few days later, it appeared in a vertical orientation.
I added these last few sentences, as an update. And it went back to displaying as a square. This is on Chrome. When I switched to Safari, it looks fine.
Now I'm eager to check back here in a day or two. (A week later, still square on Chrome.)
But fine on the phone.
3.
Here we are on TikTok -- with a drone shot up and over Betty's Neck. This embedded web version captures the vertical phone format, at least. But the first version I posted went bad after a week or so. Maybe a TikTok embedded link expires? Just reposted this on June 19, 2021. Let's see how long it lasts. (Two weeks later, still live.)
@dcdenison
4.
Another YouTube Short, with those black bars in the web version. Not good, right?
Conclusion:
I like posting 10-second updates in the vertical phone formats, but when I update them to the web, I'm going to stick with plain ol' YouTube, in the traditional 16:9 format.