Kent Newsome on technology, music and life

8/28/2007


Video Blogging: Hyped and Nerdy

The more I think about it, the more I believe the whole video blogging movement is a step back and to the nerdy.

You can't easily pause in the middle of video blog posts, move along and return later to finish reading them.  You can't search for content within them.  They don't archive well.

You have to watch a ton of boring stuff you don't care about just to find the part that interests you.  It's like searching through reams of microfilm to find that one relevant newspaper article you think you remember reading years ago.

There is a low barrier for entry, so you get a whole lot of chaff with the wheat.  Many video blog posts are like home movies eagerly sprung on unsuspecting visitors- they bring geometrically more joy to the people in them than to the people watching them.

They take more time when the idea should be to convey information in less time.  It's not just that people can read faster than other people can talk, though that's part of it.  It's the fact that there are a lot of other sources for interesting and efficient multimedia content.  And thanks to PVRs, most TV shows come with a fast forward button.

They dilute the momentum of the blogging movement, which is already waning thanks to conscription by profiteers and social networks.

And they make bloggers appear even more nerdy to the rest of the world.  That's a tall order, but there you go.

Would I wipe all homemade video content from blogs?  Absolutely not.  Videos as a primary medium have their place, and that place is YouTube.  Where they can then be served up as accretive blog content.

Even the occasional video post used to spice up a traditional blog can provide value and entertainment.  Several of my pals do that.

Occasional video content is one thing.  Home movies as a substitute for journalism is something else altogether.

My hunch is that video blogging will experience the same life cycle as many prior hype du jours.  Few to many to few.  Novelty to hype to irrelevance.

I hope so.

Technorati tags: ,
Posted by Kent @ 8/28/2007 08:09:00 PM | Permalink

Submit to: Digg | Netscape | Reddit | Tailrank
Bookmark on: Del.icio.us | Furl | Ma.gnolia
Reactions: 4 Comments | Post a Comment | Inbound Links

4 Comment(s):

Hi,
wallstrip.com may be the exception that proves your rule. They have a very simple concept: pop culture meets stock culture. They take one stock at or near an all time high and spend 3 minutes telling what the company does and then the last 3 minutes having fun.

If you look at the earliest vlogs they were as good as the latest ones. They started with sharp writing with a minimal set, and maintained the same basic design. Their graphics are clever and sometimes subtle.

They were smart to hire an actress to deliver the information. She's not a nerd.

A rare medium well-done. groan

By Blogger GoingLikeSixty.com, at 8/28/2007 9:10 PM  
**************************

You make an interesting point Kent. I've tried a little video from time to time and find the end result less than I had hoped. Probably because I don't want to waste other people's time. I keep thinking that I'll find the right mix and be able to keep it short which I think is a huge requirement for any kind of video post.

At any rate, I'm finding myself not watching as much embedded video as I had started to. Similar to what you mentioned, I occasionally surf YouTube for a vintage music video or such (like some I haven't seen in 20 years:D).

Later,
Rick

By Anonymous Rick Mahn, at 8/28/2007 10:27 PM  
**************************

Hey Kent,

I know that lots of people must be consuming this videoblog content, but it sure ain't me. Aside from putting a face to the name, they've never been able to pull me in as a regular viewer.

It simply doesn't suit my lifestyle. Audio podcasts on the other hand suit me perfectly. I drive 2+ hours a day back and forth to work. Podcasts are an entertaining, and even sometimes educational way to spend that time. So much so that I never listen to my radio anymore. I can't watch video in the car. I can't watch video at work (and don't listen to audio podcasts at work either).

At home, I don't watch much TV. Maybe if I had videoblogs available on my TV I might watch them - but I doubt it.
On the home computer I'm usually *using* it: reading, searching, creating, fiddling etc. I simply can't do that when a video is playing in the background. I've tried. It's an all or nothing proposal, you either watch or do what you're doing. You can't do both. You can however *listen* to the audio and still get things done - kindasorta.

In fact I'm much more interested in getting the audio track from a videoblog and listening to that instead. Diggnation for instance works fine that way.

Audio is much more intimate, involving and useful to me. So useful that I've taken to using text to speech software to occasionally transfer a lengthy article I don't have time to read into mp3 form for the ride home.

Video is useful. But for my lifestyle it doesn't even compare to audio podcasts.

Now do I get some kind of award for the longest rambling comment? :)

By Blogger RichardQuerin, at 8/28/2007 10:53 PM  
**************************

"[...] a low barrier for entry, so you get a whole lot of chaff with the wheat."

That's the whole "blogsphere," buddy. It's why there is a difference between a "blogger" and a writer/journalist. It's also the reason why people are able to read what you write -- which is also the reason why Matt Drudge warned us that "There's a danger of the Internet just becoming loud, ugly and boring with a thousand voices screaming for attention."

That's the problem with "bloggers." It's so easy to rag on what's wrong with something. Real talent tells me how it could be right.

You're all so f**king brave behind your keyboard, though. If you're not going to "say" (re write) anything interesting, at least get in front of a camera and face the music.

By Anonymous CT Moore, at 8/31/2007 1:36 PM  
**************************

Post a Comment

Links to this post:
DISCLAIMER
Newsome.Org, Kent's blog and the related pages and content are solely the thoughts and opinions of Kent Newsome in his personal capacity and are not associated with any other person or entity, including, without limitation, any partnership or other business entity Kent may now or hereafter be associated with.