Video blogging is never going to make it big for me, and neither are podcasts. Text content is king.
Now, why would I say that? Really, what’s wrong with heralding the video blog as blog 2.0 (or whatever version we’re at), and push the podcast as the 1.5 or something. I can give you 3 reasons why video won’t beat text, why the spoken word online can’t do a real battle with the written word.
- Time is limited. I can scan a written blog post quickly to see if it is something I would want to devote my time to, but a video clip forces me to sit and wait for the author to get to the point.
- The noise factor. I can sit in my chamber and listen to podcasts all night long, but if I’m at a public place, or at work even, cranking up the volume to hear what you’re saying isn’t an option. Headphones might work though.
- Professionalism. Let’s face it, not every voice carries well when recorded, not every person should be in front a video camera, and chances are you suck at sound and video mixing anyway. Editing type is way more accessible.
That being said, I do subscribe to a select few podcasts, and watch some online video shows. For argument’s sake, let’s say I’m following a total of 10 video shows and podcasts (which is generous, but fine). Compare that to the 250 blogs in my feed reader, and the additional 1,000 or so that I’ll stumble into in a month’s browsing the web.
Video blogging won’t make it big for me by itself. It is a feature, not the main attraction.
What do you think of video blogging and podcasts? How many are you subscribing to?
