VideoVoo: Online Video Marketing

Back to John’s vlogging thesis, the part I most liked is when vloggers replied the question that many outsiders want to know: ‘Why on earth have you started putting your stuff on video on the web? I wouldn’t make a fool out of myself.’

First of all, many people see it as a hobby, which is fun to do. Agreeably, it is an interesting and highly constructive thing to do, plus a special form of conversation as well as the best self-training and self PR tool. Some added that it is time-consuming, which is absolutely true, especially if you are running a professional (video) blog related to questions you wish to show your expertise in. That takes some research, or a lot, google alerts, feed reading, asking around, hitting the web clips in gmail, running internal and external searches. Plus bringing in the creative side. For instance, Attila (my husband) occasionally spends extra time on finding a matching image for his blogposts. I have spent an extra half an hour on putting together the very rough draft of an imaginary universal search page.

Now some reasons why vloggers do video blogging rather than sipping caipirinha or Pink Flamingo Cocktail from sassy sippers. Obviously, one of the answers is Documenting personal life (for a penfriend, for a friend who did not participate in your experience e.g. in Kenya - and then deciding to go open about such topics), but it is used for Understanding other people’s lives or Seeking attention from others, for Artistic and creative expression (”sort of my artistic outlet” says one of the vloggers), then Telling a story, Sharing environments/Cultures with others (at the moment I am also running a Hungarian blog for family& friends about our New Orleans adventures, cultural experiences, foods, jazz, roaches, what have you - blog was a natural choice to be able to keep up with friends + relatives in an open manner, and not having to copy - paste excerpts from one email to another.)

On the other hand, vlogging is also a means for establishing new relations besides nurturing them: “I have made friends all across the world, especially folks that have a genuine interest in Japan.” Interest and hobby based virtual friendships may counterbalance limited access to real friends in your home location: “I would say that I have far more friends now online than offline. A lot of people that do not understand the internet are like you’re always at your computer, your cutting yourself off from the rest of the world and your just becoming isolated. I have found the opposite to be true.” This also includes finding vlogger mates, by the way.

Expressing personal opinions is another great engine behind vlogging. And that in turn helps to come grasps with the world and the vlogger’s existence as such.

But all the above still do not answer the question why switch from text based blogging to vlogging, why use the medium of video, moving images & taking the risk of exposing yourself to the whole web. First, personality: vloggers like attracting a more comprehensive attention, they are simply more extrovert, more comfortable with being seen and heard by total strangers and by present and future colleagues. In addition, they feel it a better and richer way to show other cultures, themselves, etc. “so you create a situation.” Some answered that speaking spontaneously takes up less time than editing texts, so theoretically it speeds up the feeling of immediacy (by theoretically I mean that uploading and especially editing videos can take a lot of extra hours, and if you plan your speech it is going to be even more demanding). What is interesting for me though is that many times vloggers see their vlogs and fellow vlogs as alternative to TV: “I just like the fact that people have to do something intelligent and … not have to go through like studios or TV stations.” There are several references to TV consumption. But these ‘alternative TV personalities’ (i.e. vlogger friends) are approachable, and you feel that you know them when you meet them up in real life “because you have seen their facial expression and you’ve heard their tone of voice”. Last but not least, spontaneity, curiosity: “I love being able to just turn on the camera and make something.”

Now I wonder how Twiddeo users and the rest of mobile video bloggers see the newly evolving nano vlogging era. Maybe that’s gonna be the topic of another thesis.