Hopefully, Video Blogging May Just Be a Fad
Is video blogging the next “in” thing in blogging?
I sure hope not.
While I may watch the occasional blog video, for the most part, I just skip them. Last year, I started watching a video news blog, but soon got bored with it and stopped visiting the site all together after about two weeks or less.
And, today I learn that one of the blogs in my feed reader was recently sold, and the new owner plans to do mostly video blogs. So, that’ll be one less blog for me to visit.
Here’s the thing with video… It’s good for tutorials, especially for those types of things that are easier to understand when you see someone else going through the steps, rather than reading about them. Sometimes, the written word just doesn’t get things across properly–and typically it’s because of human error on the part of the writer (or the reader) and not a flaw with the language itself.
Video is also good for funny clips, entertainment, and the standard TV type fare.
But, in my opinion, video is not real good for general blogging. It seems less personal, funny though it may seem, when someone is speaking to a camera than it is reading their words on a page.
There’s also an old adage that the content of a half hour of TV news would take but a couple columns in the newspaper. You can read those columns faster than you can watch a half hour newscast. The same goes for blogging. Video blogging is largely a waste of your readers’ (er, viewers’) time. It may be quicker for you to do a video blog than to sit and type an actual post, but I guarantee that people will be able to read your textual post faster than they can watch your video. So, you may be saving yourself time, but then you’re putting your own needs ahead of those of your audience.
Beyond that, there is also the issue that so many videos are so poorly done. People may not be professional speakers, and it can be difficult to understand what is being said, plus you have people that will ah, um, er, uh, um, um, um, you know, and, ah, um, take, um, you know, ah, um, a while to actually say what they are, um, you know, trying to say.
Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll have to get into video blogging too. Maybe that’s what everyone will be into.
But, I think I’ll make a transcript also available so that people can read instead of watch, if that is their preference.
Keeps everyone happy that way.
Dan:
I know exactly what you are talking about. I subscribe that blog too.
I think the video post has it’s potential, but it has to be an unique content. If you can provide some unique content in your Video. I mean very useful content. The new trend of video post is the ad in video.
There are companies that allow you to insert ad in to your video clip.
Anyway, I hope you don’t sell you blog.
Maybe we should start a Make Money Online blog. Run it for four months. Sell it for $10k. Split the money.
I agree completely. I don’t want to watch a poor quality video and I certainly don’t want to watch a talking head, especially one that isn’t very good at it.
In my career as an instructor, I’ve done a few short videos that were well received by the students. It took a lot of planning and work before the material was shot and more work editing afterwards.
Producing a quality video blog will involve more work than most people will be willing to commit.
That’s also why I’m not a big fan of public access TV. Nearly everything is unwatchable. And, I use the disclaimer of “nearly everything” because I haven’t watched everything on public access and so retain some optimism that maybe something out there is actually watchable.
Before I got heavily into computers, I was into video. So, it pains me to watch video that is just done wrong. Like local performances, where the performing artists will be scalped or badly framed, or where you’ll actually see the other cameramen walking around on stage with them. And let’s not get into the audio which is, oh, it can be so b-a-d.
I think it’s just fad, I hope so. I believe there are some of us, including myself, that should not be on video, period! Other people like Ruthie and Ruthie’s Reason did it well - http://ruthiesreason.blogspot.com/ She had a lot of content and focus. Unfortunately, she changed her theme and the videos went away. And now she’s joined the Army, so I’m sure we’ll see much of her written blog or video blogs.
I don’t think it is a fad. I personally like 45n5.com- That guy does a great job video blogging. I feel that video blogging shows a side to most bloggers that you usually won’t see from written blogs.