Video Blogging is the Next Big Thing
I was amazed at the number of video cameras and video phones at Les Blogs. At least ten, and maybe more, people in the audience are already video blogging. There were a lot of money people in this audience, and let me tell you, I bet they are jumping all over this. One company to watch: Skema. Founder Olivier Dufour was on the video blogging panel and, boy, does this guy get it. They have some products coming out next year that will make it incredibly easy for people to index and edit their video blogs.
But sitting there, I was also a little afraid of the video bloggers. There is a reason that people in front of the camera have makeup artists and lighting directors. Not to mention they are generally highly attractive. I was videoblogged and I think I looked like Helga the prison guard from Stalag 13. Ouch!
There are lots of ethical (and aesthetic!) things to think about when it comes to videoblogging (and photo blogging for that matter). At one blog conference in Finland recently, the people who didn't want to be photo or video blogged wore red badges, and that was supposed to be respected by the bloggers. I am not sure if it was or not, but it is an interesting concept.
On a less personal (ego) note, communicators need to be thinking about video. One of the guys behind the cameras at Les Blogs, Rodrigo Sepulveda, said that people are used to using video cameras. They use them at weddings, to film their kids, etc. It is more natural to many people than writing. Therefore, video blogging is potentially explosive. And what happens when people start video blogging their use of your product? Remember Kryptonite? That was all started by a video. The emotional impact of video cannot be denied, and communicators need to be thinking about how to use video and respond to video.
Another thing that struck me from the conversations about video blogging: there is already an "artist" vs "amateur" boundary building project going on. There will be plenty of debate there!
The video from Les Blogs will be found here next week. There are some clips up already.
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