Susan Boyle interview honoured by Youtube

Jan 14 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

AN interview with Susan Boyle on the West Lothian Courier website has been included in a list of last year’s most memorable videos.

Video sharing website YouTube compiled a list of the 31 most memorable films uploaded to the website during 2009.

It revealed one a day during December as a video advent calendar.

And there was great excitement on Hogmanay when the Courier’s interview with Susan Boyle was revealed as the last to be uploaded on to the site.

Digital journalist Richard Mooney, part of the Courier’s website team, was one of the first to interview the Blackburn singing sensation shortly after her first memorable appearance on ITV reality show Britain’s Got Talent in April.

The video of the interview was uploaded to the Courier’s YouTube channel the same day it was shot and has been seen by over five million people since.

Richard said he was delighted when the video made it on to the list.

“It’s such an honour to receive international recognition like this,” Richard said.

“The video went live the day we interviewed her and was one of the first to be done with her on camera and the first to go live on the web. Everything spiralled so quickly after that. It had 300,000 hits in two days and now has had over five million views.

“It was used on Sky News the next day and on Brazilian network Globo, the third biggest TV network in the world, later in the year. Their top presenter Zeca Carmargo even congratulated us on a job well done.

“That day we constantly had the likes of CNN, NBC and many other media outlets knocking on our door for information on Susan Boyle.

“It just goes to show the immense power of the internet and what social media can really do, when a local newspaper can produce something so incredibly popular.

“It was greatly aided because it was Susan Boyle but it shows local journalism is doing well and can still have an impact.”

Talking of the interview in Susan’s Blackburn home Richard added: “We conducted it like a normal run-of-the-mill interview. A lot of it was off the cuff as well as at that time she had no media training.

“At first she appeared quite timid but when I asked her a question about her cat, Pebbles, she seemed to loosen up.

“A lot of people have commented on how natural she comes across in it compared to later interviews.

“When I was told the video was to be included in YouTube’s most memorable videos of the year list I couldn’t believe it. But I nearly jumped through the roof when I saw it appear as the final video on the countdown on New Year’s Eve. It just seemed too good to be true.”