HN Explorer

The future of Blogs is Video?

3 points by ztay ↗ HN
Video is sweeter than reading, especially on iPhone, iPad, droid.

Justin.Tv, Leo Laporte, Revision3, Dvorak, Adam Curry, Jason Calacanis (ThisWeekIn.com), are blazing the trail.

I'm watching more videos, than reading blogs lately. How about you?

8 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 31.8 ms ] thread
gerakinis
No. I will never bother to watch video blogs. Sorry, I skip all video links on HN, or any other source I read from. It's less accessible 99% of the time.

This is true for Ipad and PC. I can't speak to the other platforms.

ztay
Hmm, I love watching videos on iPad
auxbuss
Nope. In a word. There are completely different production values between the two media.

Video can be very informative when it is instructional, and of course when it's entertaining.

Video is dull as dish water when it's talking heads, unless the talking heads are exceptionally interesting, informative, or entertaining. Talk show host s earn their crust. It's not as easy as it looks.

Producing good video is just as hard as producing good text. But you can scan less than stellar text to find the good stuff. It's hard to scan video for the good stuff.

So, on the whole, text beats video unless you _really_ know what you are doing and are critiquing hard.

ztay
haha. "Video is dull as dish water when it's talking heads".

Works better for categories like eSports, Cooking, How To.

SamAtt
The great thing about blogging is anyone can write and even if they don't write well they can probably convey the idea they're trying to get across. So it's a lowest common denominator communication media.

Video is a skill in itself. Put your average blogger in front of a camera and it will more than likely turn out badly because most people aren't skilled orators with the ability to manipulate their own body language.

CyberFonic
Watching videos takes too long. With the written word you can skim and read what is interesting. Reading gives you more content in less time than the majority of VidBlogs.

If you want to succeed with a video blog, then you need to script it, deliver it with punch, include strong supporting material (not stock footage). The more it is like a good TV ad (most are plain awful) or a good MTV clip the more likely it will get watched. Oh, and forget long trailers, they are a turn-off.

togasystems
I can read faster than bloggers can talk. Waste of time.