Why You Can’t Ignore Video

I’ve tried to ignore video as long as possible! I’m not a fan of cameras – they’re too revealing, intimate, and personal. They capture everything. They convey more emotion and carry more impact, and they reveal more flaws. Actually, these are a few of the reasons you can’t afford to ignore video.

We’re going to be addressing the subject of video blogging throughout this week at Fuel Your Blogging because it has arrived as a vital medium of communication. But what’s the relevance to blogging, which has to this point been primarily an art of words on the screen?

Video Is A Quick and Easy Medium

This wasn’t true a decade ago. I grew up in the 1980’s when packing around a camcorder meant carrying something the size of a diaper bag. And we used those… what were they? Oh, tapes! The last two decades have shrunk the size of our devices but only recently has it become so extremely easy to share video with the masses via the internet.

Tomorrow we’re going to showcase a few of the best video platforms. I say “best” because there are a plethora available. Anyone with a cell phone, webcam, or camcorder can shoot and distribute video in a matter of minutes.

Videos Have a Viral Nature

Because of rapidly developing platforms, videos can spread quickly. When was the last time one of your blog posts reached 17 million pageviews? That’s how many times a 17 second clip of a surprised kitten has been watched.

While it’s not likely that very many videos will enjoy such success, it does highlight that people will pass along anything they find valuable or entertaining.

Video Offers Multi-Layer Communication

Within the organization for which I work, we have a policy that nobody ever handles confrontation over email. The biggest reason is that with the written word, you perceive only one layer of communication – words. Face-to-face communication adds at least two more layers – voice (inflection and tone) and body language (gestures).

Video conveys all of these. The viewer doesn’t just get a message, they get that message in the tone in which you intended it. Video establishes a context for our words.

Everybody Else Is Doing It

Video is big. There is a reason why Google purchased Youtube when it was losing money. Whether it’s paying off now is up for debate, but it’s a virtual guarantee that the purchase will make perfect sense as time rolls on.

Video is mushrooming in popularity as a blogging tool. The future most likely holds advances in the way video content gets cataloged by search engines. Devices and platforms will only become more user-friendly and inexpensive. While avid internet readers have learned to tune out most other advertisement models, video opens new possibilities for the monetization of the web.

Our challenge to you as bloggers is to tune in. Give it a shot, experiment, and stay abreast of the industry. I released my first video post just yesterday, and you’ll meet me face-to-face here at Fuel Your Blogging before the week is out.

We would also challenge you to be careful, however, to guard the quality of the blogging art. Just because video is getting cheaper to do doesn’t mean your blog needs to appear cheaper too.

Join the discussion this week here at Fuel Your Blogging. Let us know in the comments what experience you’ve had with video blogging, or how you feel about the technology.

photo credit: jsawkins

Brandon has been doing web and logo design and this blogging thing for about six years. He’s also a Pastor. He lives in Arkansas with his wife and daughter and they’re expecting their second child. You can catch him on Twitter or Facebook.