Mathew Ingram:

I’ve said it before - I just don’t think video is as compelling a medium for discussion as blogs are. Video can start discussions or conversations, and Loren’s vlog is a great example of that, but it doesn’t really lend itself to the back-and-forth that makes blogs so appealing — plus, you can’t search it easily, or scan it quickly the way you can with text.

People keep posting Twitter messages saying “I’m streaming live -- come chat with me!” and yet I never do. Why? Maybe I’m busy, maybe I just don’t feel like it. The point is, no one ever posts on their blog: “Hey, I’m blogging right now -- come comment on my post!” Blogging is asynchronous in that sense, I guess, and that makes its appeal a lot broader, I think.

I think there are a few different problems at work here. First, video requires a level of attention that audio doesn't - I can listen to a podcast as I jog or bike, but I can't watch video as I do either of those activities. For that matter, I can't watch while I drive, either - and while I don't commute, lots of people who do consume podcasts while they drive.

Then there's the "appointment" nature of a live broadcast. There's a radio talk show I tend to like, but I have never actually listened to it on the radio - I'd have to set aside time during the work day in order to do so. However, the 60 minutes of each hour of the show condense down to 33 or so minutes of podcast - just about perfect for my exercise break.

So with something like uStream (et. al.) - I'm back to "must see TV" land. Thanks guys, but my DVR allowed me to escape that a long while back, and I'm not about to revisit via my Mac. Video has its uses - it's great for demonstrations, for instance (ever try to describe the Smalltalk browser with audio-only or just text?). It's just not terribly useful for the "talking heads" variety of content. I always thought about 90% (maybe more) of what Scoble did at PodTech would have worked better as audio only, and much of the vlog work going on now falls into the same bucket.

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