Much has been made of the potential of videos on the Internet. Thousands of people do 'video blogs', and any new web framework or whatever worth its salt will have roughly 50 narrated screencasts of how to make a blog or clone Reddit or whatever.
The thing is, does anyone actually watch these? The equivalent in text is nearly always easier to follow, quicker to read, and less bloody irritating. I've never sat through a whole episode of a 'video log', or, indeed, one of the web framework videos. And yet I read lots of normal blogs, and articles on web frameworks and similar. I seriously doubt that I am alone in this.
They're more trouble for the maker as well; you need equipment, and somewhere to put the things, and I suspect they take longer to make than the equivalent would to write. Then there's the whole 'putting video of yourself talking on Internet' psychological aspect. I know I wouldn't really be able to deal with this; I can barely look at still photos of myself without vague irritation, and cringe if I ever hear my voice recorded.
Robert Scoble, noted ex-Microsoft person who blogs enthusiastically about Web 2.0 stuff, is a prolific video blogger, producing hour-long videos where he talks. Why, exactly, this is better than an audio recording of him talking, or, indeed, than the text version thereof, is unclear, but he, and many others seem to be really, really keen on the idea. He even, apparently, films the damn things in HD; quite why anyone would want the image of Scoble going on on their screen to be a higher-resolution version is unclear. Showing off would be my suspicion.
So, am I just a weird luddite? Or is it the case that no-one actually watches these things?
I do it occasionally, but i'm not sure why. I know i almost never click play on other people's videos. I think I might quit doing it actually. rather annoying. not sure i like the whole youtube thing, going with it more because well, sigh, i've started... plus its great for venting! lol
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