Build it and they will come?

Ed over at Influx Insights found some quite startling data from the youtube blog:

"In mid-2007, six hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute. Then it grew to eight hours per minute, then 10, then 13. In January of this year, it became 15 hours of video uploaded every minute, the equivalent of Hollywood releasing over 86,000 new full-length movies into theaters each week. 

Now, 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and it is a testament to the fact that you've made YouTube your online video home."

Given this volume of content generation, is our usual strategy of 'build it and they will come' one that holds water?  Isn't it time we thought better about how we might swim with, rather than against this, tide?  Think more smartly about how we bring online and offline marketing together as one (how do we promote our online content)?  Realize a funny ad might not be funny enough (there might be funnier content in culture outside advertising)?  Think that we need to either make something more magnetic and beautiful (craft) or be quicker and have a more disposable attitude to the stuff we make?  Any way you loom at it, it's quite sobering to see how truly frenetic culture has become.

Comments

[Matt]

What about youtube mobile - not all content is available - getting through that selection process can up coverage. M.insight can offer a look at what's relevant/popular in the news.

[Rob @ Cynic]

I wonder how much of that 20 hours per minute content is totally new versus pre-created and simply re-distributed.