Inspired by Joel Kelly’s first experiment with Videoblogging, I grabbed a flip and made my first attempt at video blogging. In the aftermath, Joel noticed that people wanted to talk about his vacation beard more than what he was actually saying.
On the whole, the advantage to video is that you have appearance and sound to add to your blogging palette. We shouldn’t be surprised that people comment on such things, even if it seems inane at times.
Punctuated Equilibrium: A Librarian's View of Public Policy 
Well said. We like to think appearances don’t matter and that we are above all that, but in our society appearances are extremely important, even if on a subconscious level. In addition to how we dress and our facial expressions, it also extends to the design and organization of our websites and how our organizations look in person (look of the offices and the public-facing spaces). It does take effort, but well worth it.
LikeLike
I would disagree that the point of a vlog is solely to incorporate your appearance. I personally look at it from the aspect of making the conversation that much more personable then words on a screen. I watch a lot of vlogs and read alot of blogs and I’ve come to enjoy the casual, friendly aspect of the vlog compared to the blog. It feels more in the moment- even if it’s not.
I can’t disagree with your entire point though, obviously using the video to accentuate your emotions makes sense.
LikeLike
Thanks for your comments Sarah J. I agree with you that appearance isn’t the *point* of a vlog, but believe that appearance is an essential part of the palette for composing a vlog post (whether we intend it to be or not) that is not included in a regular text-based blog.
You have to admit that my half-smirk throughout the whole post also provides some information about the topic, versus how it would come off if I just wrote a big rant on the blog.
Other things could be important as well – for instance, the way I sound, whether I add background music or animation to the post and so on. While appearance is not the point, it is definitely part of the story-telling process and (I contend) we should not be surprised or even disappointed when appearance becomes part of the follow-up discussion for a vlog post. To me, it’s like saying “oh no – Picasso used the colour red! Why couldn’t he stick with the blue period?”
LikeLike