This is not the party line, but here goes: Not every brand, and not every marketing campaign, really needs to an online video or social media presence, but it is probably impossible to convince the people who insist on them.

Amazon Web Services is marketing a new cloud video conversion and delivery system-the Amazon Elastic Transcoder (AET) ---that can seamlessly convert original source video files to format correctly on every kind of gadget, but perhaps most importantly, on iPads and iPhones and Androids and various smart TVs. That is big news to content owners looking for easy ways to get their videos from one place to the other, without spending a bundle on equipment to do it.

What if somebody could tell you the video ad you've produced will be passed around all over the place online? Unruly, the social video advertising platform, says it has a new algorithm that does that. It just unveiled ShareRank, which it says can predict ads that will score high--or low--on the shareability scale.

Point Roll is offering new ways for online video advertisers to connect with viewers, including easy ways for consumers to hop over to social media sites to immerse themselves in the brand.

Someday, going to a stadium to watch an NFL game may be almost as good as watching it at home. This week, we heard a proposal to put laser-light on the actual football field so players and spectators can see the first down marker clearly --just like viewers in their living rooms home have seen since before the dawn of the 21st Century. It makes me wonder: Has online video and big screen TV devalued the live sports experience?

What kind of responsibility do online video sites have to shield the broad public from seeing disturbing, disgusting clips? None whatsoever? In a medium that is replenished every second with more and more images and a millions of user-generated videos being posted in a constant stream, is there a place for a gatekeeper? Oh,.how quaint.

A new study from Total Beauty Media Group says women it surveyed most commonly watch online videos on desktop computers, not smartphones, laptops or tablets. It appears they may like bigger screens because for some of the things they use video for--beauty and cooking tips--the bigger screen is better.

Jordan Levin was one of the founding daddies of The WB, a network that captured the loyalty of young viewers like none other back in the mid-90s. Today, Levin is the president of Alloy Digital, and Smosh, one of Allloy's channels, is capturing the attention of young YouTube users who use social media to spread the word. Smosh has 6.8 million YouTube subscribers, more than any other channel. That's what building community will do for you.

There is no shortage of places to go to view instructional music videos. But the market is somewhat smaller for live instruction, where an instructor gives you note-by-note guidance via Webcam. Brooklyn-based start up LessonFace has launched the service, with 50 teachers. '

What makes a successful online video ad, one that people will watch from start to finish? Researching how audiences react to programs and commercials is nothing new but a Harvard Business School study says you'd better grab your audience quickly, or you won't get them at all. Plus, Harvard has surprise news about surprises in ads.