Review of “100 Livestreaming and Digital Media Predictions Volume 5” by Ross Brand et al.

Score: 96/100 (9.6 out of 10)

Ross Brand and company do it again!

Time and time again, Ross Brand's books excite and tantalize us with the prospects and possibilities offered by emerging technologies!

This may very well be the most exciting and tantalizing installment of the series yet!

100 Livestreaming and Digital Media Predictions Volume 5 is an anthology that brings together insights from over 100 experts to explore the future of digital media, livestreaming, and content creation. The book is divided into sections that include predictions, strategies, and actionable insights from a diverse range of contributors, including entrepreneurs, authors, marketers, and industry leaders.

Like the previous volume, this fifth volume places a heavy (but not exclusive) emphasis on AI. A majority of the contributors to this volume explore and discuss AI’s growing role in digital media and the different AI tools and techniques creators creator have available to them to stay ahead in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

The book talks about how AI tools are transforming content creation, personalization, and audience engagement. It emphasizes the ethical and practical implications of integrating AI into workflows.

Second to all these discussion on AI, the book also places a rather heavy emphasis on the future of livestreaming. Indeed, livestreaming remains a cornerstone of digital media—think Twitch, YouTube, Facebook Live, Instagram Reels, and more! The book explores the evolution from long-form streams to short, authentic live videos, emphasizing trust-building. It is really more nuanced than it sounds.

Yes, as contributor Renee Hastings humorously (and correctly) asserts, attention spans have become “goldfish-with-ADHD short.” But long-form content still has its place. As contributor Melanie Falvey puts it, there's a fine balance between short-form and long-form content that ideally needs to be struck. Short-form content is good for acting as a bait or a net to capture the attentions of passerbys and online channel surfers. However, long-form content is better at nurturing a lasting and genuine relationship and connection with an audience. There's a reason podcasting has exploded in popularity (think about how Joe Rogan impacted the recent presidential election), and podcasting is—by its very nature—long-form.

Speaking of podcasting, that's also a topic of discussion in this book.

Contributor Chris Stone predicted that video podcasting will become the norm, surpassing audio-only. To an extent, we agree. After all, YouTube is becoming the go-to place for podcasts, oddly enough, generating about 30% of traffic to that genre. Even Spotify (of all platforms) is incorporating video into its podcasting.

One theme that really runs through nearly every single contributor's predictions is how the genuine, authentic human touch will never become obsolete. In fact, it may be more important than ever granted how we're becoming desensitized to the prevalence of AI and AI-generated content.

There's a reason why video podcasting and livestreaming remains important despite the existence and influence of AI. Video podcasting and livestreaming allows the audience to see, hear, and form a bond/connection with the presenter—sometimes even on an emotional level. AI just can't do that (yet). And this really spoke to us because many of us are naturally self-conscious about being on camera and being vulnerable like that. Maybe we don't feel attractive enough or a good enough public speaker. Maybe we feel we don't have the right equipment or environment to stream from.

What's amazing is—as Chris Stone puts it—you don't really need to be all made up and have perfect filming equipment because many popular streamers just do it from their smartphones and in their bedrooms, offices, and garages.

Previous Outstanding Creator Awards winner Kevin Kolbe is also in here, and in Video Podcasting Made Easy he also emphasized how you don't need the best camera, lighting, and microphone. It's good to have, but it's not 100% necessary, especially when you're just getting started. This is comforting and inspiring for those of us who either can't afford or aren't familiar with these types of equipment. Hey, isn't it amazing that we now have these great video cameras and microphones in our pockets? That really cuts down on the excuses.

Speaking of excuses and readiness to take advantage of new things, Angus Nelson provided one of our very favorite sections in the whole book. Nelson argued that a lot of people are erroneously waiting for the perfect time to bring a new idea to life (i.e. entrepreneurship). The perfect time may never come. Just do it!

Nelson argues that: “Confidence isn’t a prerequisite for success; it’s a byproduct of action.”

In other words, don't wait to be 100% confident before pursuing your big, new endeavor. Heck, the Outstanding Creator Awards was arguably created by accident and with only half an idea of what it would eventually become. Look at it now. And a lot of that is due to action, not waiting around hoping for something good to happen (or for the perfect circumstances).

One other prediction that stood out to us was one made by Katie Hornor: that there will be a rise in paid courses, specifically via YouTube. In other words, YouTube will likely be integrated into education, having more options of becoming more interactive and integrated with educational platforms like Instructure/Canvas. It could even become a competitor to Masterclass and other online teaching services. That really seems to be the next step for YouTube which, believe it or not, used to be more interactive in the distant past.

Anyway, this education angle is especially important and interesting since, like contributor Jeffrey Bradbury discussed, K-12 schools may start to regress or fall behind technologically.

Junaid Ahmed predicted that we'll likely see more membership, paywall, and subscription services for content. That equates to more opportunities for creators to make money via platforms like Patreon.

Julia Jornsay-Silverberg predicted that we would see a rise in more brand ambassador programs, which is great for influencers, aspiring-influencers, and people who take advantage of Affiliate programs! This is an opportunity for more sponsorships, which are the lifeblood for many creators.

Chetachi A. Egwu, Ph.D brilliantly predicted the rise of citizen journalism, with the internet at peoples' fingertips. This recent two election cycles really showed the profound influence of bloggers and people on social media to share information, surpassing even the influence of the legacy mainstream media at times! Egwu calls this the “democratization of tech.” In other words, the voices and opinions of individuals are being heard and heeded more so than ever because of the accessibility of tech.

Going back to Renee Hastings... she provided one of the most amusing examples of emerging technologies, talking about how we could see a rise in “holographic influencers” including holographic fitness trainers critiquing our exercise form in our own homes! Could you imagine that?!

That really seems plausible.

There are also a lot of discussions about ethics in this book, which we appreciated. Rick Savoia says that, “As amazing as it is, AI is like nuclear technology: it can power a city or destroy it. Under the right circumstances and used sparingly in the proper application, AI can be a useful tool to assist content creators in honing their craft. However, there are also many ways to abuse it, and over-dependence on AI with any media brand can lead to its downfall.”

There's a particular drink company and entrepreneur, which/whom we won't name, which appears to be abusing AI technology. So, their/his content seem a lot less genuine and authentic. It's hard to bond with a brand when it becomes more like a robot than an actual living human being (like us).

Like the previous book in the series, this book argues that AI should enhance and collaborate with human creativity rather than replacing, erasing, or supplanting it.

Kyle Bondo provided perhaps the most grounded opinion on AI: that it's currently creating “AI slop.” In other words, everyone is doing and writing what AI is telling them to do and write, so content is coming across as artificial and repetitive. AI slop is AI content that is becoming “a copy of a copy of a copy.” For example, because of AI, blog articles are coming out with almost the exact same headlines and body text, having almost identical opinions.

There are other ethical concerns with, for example, privacy and data protection. Brad Friedman talks about how data collection can help online marketers and marketing platforms to provide a more targeted user experience. In other words, showing and selling them the things that they want (or think they want). However, this might cross the line at times. After all, should your toaster know what you want to buy? What happens when the government or law enforcement get a hold of this data and potentially misuse and abuse it? That's a genuine fear for the future of humanity. We might be completely losing our rights to privacy.

A few other things also stand out to us about this outstanding book. The contributors are truly top-notch! There's a Guinness World-Record holder (Andrew Weiss), the founder of Sweat Tea Social Marketing (Heather Heuman), an Emmy-Award winner (Jeffrey Fitzgerald), 2013 California Litigation Lawyer of the Year (Mitch Jackson), multiple members of the Podcasting Hall of Fame (like Rob Greenlee and Dave Jackson), and so many more!

The book also pays homage to the fact that this is the ten-year anniversary of this digital media predictions series, breaking down how many years individuals contributed predictions to this series, from Outstanding Creator Awards Ultimate Champion Dale Roberts (who contributed for 7 years) to Jennie Mustafa-Julock & Jennifer Quinn (who contributed for 10 years)!

Get this book and be amazed at all the possibilities and opportunities that emerging technologies provide!

Check it out on Amazon!