Video Blogging – Are Video Broadcasts the Future of Blogging?
Posted on April 22nd, 2008 by Jim under Observations
Lots of bloggers have made the move into video as an extension of blogging. As much as I feel strongly for blogging as the continued source of success, it seems that more and more of the big name guys are setting up video podcasts or even live webcam shows to connect with their users in new ways.
Which brings me to my main point here, is video the most logical “next-move” in the blogging world? I think so.
We’ve seen a lot of tech trends as of late. As things have consolidated down, I think that the next natural move in the blogging world is an extension into video. Anyone who is not making that weekly video post, starting up that UStream Live Broadcasting account or recording those viral YouTube videos is missing out, and is likely to get left in the dust as this trend progresses.
I stopped in on a UStream.tv broadcast made by blogger John Cow in his “MooTube” channel. Nothing special… or was it? These things are free to set up, and extremely easy to use. UStream.tv makes it easy for you to connect with your readers on a whole new level. John has clearly picked up on this trend, and him calling my not by username (”thenetfool”), but by my real name (”Jim”), is just one of the many reasons that this social movement is picking up steam. 
Its easy, and it allows you to connect with people to draw in a better network with ease.
How about video blog posts? These are getting extremely popular as well, and I feel they can be an even bigger culture-phenomenon than live broadcasts! Why? They are easier for everyone. You don’t need to stay on your computer to talk to your viewers, responding to their questions and so forth. Also, as a viewer, you don’t need to stake out the perfect time to catch a live show. Video posts are always available, and because they are easier to use, you can dish out a lot more useful information to hook viewers.
I think the first video post that I saw and thought to myself, “wow, that can be the future right there,” is the weekly video post found on popular ‘make money online’ resource ProBlogger.net. You surf over to his homepage, and starting you in the face is
this “weekly video post” section. I check this website once a week just for the purpose of catching the weekly post. Its useful, its easy, and I think that it is becoming the norm.
Podcasts are dead. 
There is no way podcasts can continue to function effectively when you have video capabilities with the same amounf of efficiency. I remember the buzz about podcasts back in the day. I think a lot of this was the whole idea that you could listen to stuff on your iPod while your working. Well now that there are video iPods, this trend is over. Who wants to be hearing someones voice without understanding who they are. The bottom line is that you can’t hide in a video post, and people like seeing a blogger’s true colors.
Fearless Forecast: Blogging is indeed moving to video broadcasting, whether this be in the form of YouTube marketing, UStream.tv (or other) live shows or even just periodic video blogging posts. You can see the big names already making adjustments to capitalize on this, and even popular ad networks like Google have begun to set up ways to advertise on videos. When you see such big movements from the head honchos, you know something is up. Audio podcasts are dead, and soon… people are going to want a little more than just text on their RSS readers.
-The Net Fool
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vlogging is the next big thing! I know a few people that do it and I’m also willing to try it! I’m going to buy a web cam soon! This is an amazing evolution built from blogging and I l love and promote the idea!
Some vloggers have awesome intro’s with cartoons of themselves etc… It’s great but I think we should focus on keeping them short rather than long! Long winded vlogging can cause tone deafness and you could potentially lose the interest of your viewers!
Cheers and awesome articles!
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@BBrian017: Definitely, I think you’ve got it when you saw that video posts should be quick and to the point. Anything over 5 minutes can be a real strain to watch, just based on a falling lack of interest over time.
Although I do like video blog posts sometimes, it’s annoying if I have my volume turned off to avoid waking someone, or if I’m in a public location where I’m not supposed to have sound running.
I think that if a blogger is going to use video, they should also provide a text summarization for those who aren’t able to fully experience the video at that time.
Zero and Up’s last blog post..The Blogger Condition
@ Zero: Haha, I haven’t really had that problem at all. I have yet to come by a video blog that has an “autoplay” attached… definitely want to give people the option of playing the video or not. As far as live shows go, they can definitely make you jump sometimes.
I like your idea of a text summary, that’s definitely the right kind of thinking
I think live streaming (like Ustream) is the future, and not video blogging as Darren does it.
A lot more personal and its more fun for the blogger himself as it is more interactive – I cannot imagine myself with much enthusiasm just faced with the camera and speaking for twenty minutes at no one (you heard my podcast
) whereas if people were actually responding back, asking questions etc one could go on for hours 
See the thing that’s probably killing your motivation for vlogging is the length in which some vloggers are going!
Like we already mention keep it short and to the point!
Also it’s NOT called video blogging it already has a name and it’s called vlogging
bbrian017’s last blog post..21 years old, first time on a pc! I’m 28 now!
I still prefer writing than video shooting .Maybe i never try it ,will try it once and see how it works.I know Darren Rowse is using it ,in fact ,it increases the credit to his blog.
Felex Tan’s last blog post..How to reduce Entrecard’s high bounce rate ??
I’m betting it’s not for everyone! In order to seriously consider this you must have the following attributes!
1- Excellent and clear speaking English
2- Charisma and confidence to be in front of a camera
3- I web cam and an audience already, preferably not readers!
4- Excellent personally
5- Time to waste because I can imagine you’re not going to complete a vlog as fast as a blog!
bbrian017’s last blog post..Freedom, What Freedom?
I’m not anticipating a move to “vlogging” altogether. I think that the most logical move is blogging, with a video feature as an extra.
@ Jason: I agree with you that live shows might be in the near future, I am just a bit hesitant to think that everyone will be willing to sit around all day just to host some live show for a few users.
@ BBrian: Definitely agree with the list. You need a personality, but people also have to be able to understand what you are saying
I like video blogs. It is where the industry is moving. I don’t like long videos. I think they need to be short and to the point. People have short attention spans so you have to grab their attention right away to so they will watch the whole video.
yeah..you probably right but personally too much videos in the blog is sometime quite annoying. I prefer a blog without too much video but informative.
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I agree with you. Video Blogging is becomming more and mroe important
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We might use these two tools to blog and compare which one is effective ,readers might like to see you in at vblog then blog,so no harm to test the market,after that we can do short survey to ask the reader’s opinion,based on their feedback and work for which one is better for them.
Felex Tan’s last blog post..How to reduce Entrecard’s high bounce rate ??
It’s going to take awhile to test both methods. If you are actually willing to do the work required, I’d be backing you all the way
@ Zero and Up : Your words are right. It is hard to understand what other say if there is noise or the voice is somewhat unknown.
@ bbrian017 : Your tips or advices are certainly not to be overlooked.You got the right points.
Well Jim I wanna start video blogging.Not whole of it but 2-3 videos per month.I believe too much of video is bad. I am not able to make my mind on what topic to video blog. Any tips.
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Many people at work use head phones to listen to video. Others however are not so lucky and have to have the sound turned off.
Whereas I think that video blogging is important, I think it will catch on slowly because most people visit blogs from work where it is impractical.
@ NJC: That’s a good point… headphones are definitely the way to go for a video blog post. The catching-on could be a bit slow because of this, but the simple fact that it is impractical at work without headphones shouldn’t delay things too long.
The site looks good
yeh, chow is using lot of videos these days.
I am sure, you will too come up with some great videos.
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Its more interesting to use videos on blogs….i’ve seen it on many blogs
I think video blogging is the future modification strategy in future blogging industry. It is true-one picture is often worth a thousand words.- Am I correct?
It is alot more interesting with videos. Kinda more personal I guess.
It’s going to take awhile to test both methods. If you are actually willing to do the work required, I’d be backing you all the way
has anyone heard of the blogging toolkit? How much did you end up getting paid per post?