Over the course of the many conversations I have both online and offline, I was told that the text-based blog is quickly becoming a thing of the past and that video (and video blogging) was the wave of the future. I think it might have been Michael Zahora who said this to me, but I can’t recall for certain.
Regardless of who said it, I was very much taken aback by this statement. Blogging isn’t exactly a brand new endeavor anymore, but it is relatively new in comparison to other platforms like radio, television, and newspapers. Because it’s all up on the Internet, though, blogging has taken a more accelerated pace to its evolution than its traditional media counterparts. Even so, I don’t feel that the text-based blog is going anywhere soon.
A Moment of Disclosure
Granted, I could be coming from a biased position. After all, Beyond the Rhetoric is largely a text-based blog and I make my living as a freelance writer. Among the writing services that I offer is blogging about a variety of different subject.
That said, I’m also coming from the perspective of a consumer of information and that’s why I’m not quite ready to mourn the death of the text-based blog.
Ready for the Next One
First, given our increasingly short attention spans, we like to skim. I hop into Google Reader, quickly peruse through the headlines, and only read the post titles that catch my eye. Even at that point, I may not even read the whole post. I take a quick skim to see if it has information relevant and interesting to me and then I move on. I’m not at all offended if you do the same when reading Beyond the Rhetoric (though I do appreciate if you read my posts in their entirety).
With text-based blogs, I can do that. I can quickly skim through hundreds of entries in a short amount of time. With video blogs, you can’t really do that. You can read the headline, but you can’t skim the content.
For me to skim 100 items in Google Reader takes a matter of minutes. Even if each of the videos is just five minutes long, it would take me 500 minutes (over 8 hours) to view 100 video blog entries. That’s just not being efficient with my time.
Video Killed the Radio Star?
Further still, not everyone is good on camera for any number of reasons. They may be shy and that’s why they prefer to go with text. They may have a heavy accent, which makes reading their words a heck of a lot easier. They may stumble and stutter, which is much less likely with the written word. Video is not for everyone, but text can be.
Am I opposed to video blogs? Not at all! I think they’re a great addition and they add a good deal of value to the blogosphere as a whole. Can you imagine if Dot Com Pho was entirely text-based? It just would not work. Videos are also great for tutorials, hands-on experiences, video reviews, and so forth. However, I feel they should generally be accompanied by text too.
In the end, I feel that text-based blogs and video blogs (“vlogs”) can co-exist for years to come. The Internet is a vast and open space, and it has enough room to accommodate everyone, for better or for worse.
Personally I avoid vlogs, even from the consumer point of view. I don’t like having words thrown at me – I like to control the pace I read, and even tho I’m a decently fast reader I absorb things at a pace that wouldn’t work for me with audio. That’s why I dont’ listen to audio books, actually. I get distracted if I’m listening to something.
Text just – feels more in tune with what I’m looking for…I wonder if maybe I’m just a throwback of sorts, tho? Lol.
Anyway – great post. I’m glad to see someone post on something I’ve kinda wondered about…
Excellent points Laurie. I too avoid video blogs because I would rather read at my own pace than listen to someone that I have to follow at their pace. Plus I don’t always read the whole post word for word at one time. I skim it, then read it at my leisure. With a video their is no leisure.
I do watch Dot Com Pho because the people are interesting, I like what is being delivered and it’s not a long extended video. It’s always interesting because it’s a compilation of an extended meetup.
I don’t watch anything that I don’t know the author, or is longer than a few minutes. I don’t listen to online interviews, ever, (Sorry Michael) because they are too long winded, and tend to be monotonous.
No need for apologies. While I appreciate the value of online interviews, I’m much more inclined to skim a transcript of one than to watch a video (or listen to the audio).
Personally I prefer text-based blogs (those with proper layout & formatting) that are written in proper English than subjecting myself to the pace, and the accent of a video blogger.
On the other hand, I would enjoy a short video (showing events, not of the blogger talking into the camera) that is embeded to complement and enhance a text-based post.
Text based blogging is here to stay, video blogging doesn’t even come close to the numbers that text based blogging has. Just look at books as example, people still read and alot will read a book instead of watching a movie. If text was so boring, wouldn’t books have faded away?
Till then,
Jean