No longer satisfied with conveying events through words or photos on personal websites, thousands of bloggers (those who build blogs) have begun posting videos ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes long, calling themselves “vloggers.”
Jay Dedman is one such vlogger. He regularly carries a handheld camera to capture precious moments for his Momentshowing page. Among these are clips of the September 11 attacks in the United States and romantic moments with fellow blogger Ryanne Hodson. Most recently, he filmed a trip from New York to San Francisco.
“I don’t need to say much. The images themselves will tell their own story“, Dedman said.
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Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson always capture the moments they find interesting in life. (Photo: Chronicle) |
Video blogging, also known as vlogging or video podcasting, is now considered the latest medium for sharing information. This has become increasingly feasible as people have access to high-speed internet services and are equipped with necessary tools such as handheld cameras, camera phones, computers, and affordable or free software services.
The vlogging community is also becoming more diverse. A mother in Texas regularly films her 5 and 7-year-old children making pizza, playing ball, and having fun with their grandparents. An employee from Peace in Botswana posts videos about the daily lives of people in the Nata region. Hollywood actor Tom Green spontaneously broadcasts his channel TomGreen.com with humorous clips…
Amanda Congdon and Andrew Baron’s Rocketboom appears more like a television show than mere video diaries. It airs a 3-minute news segment at 9 AM from Monday to Friday and attracts about 350,000 viewers daily. Rocketboom is even featured in the download category of TiVo and Akimbo signal decoders.
Baron noted that they spend around $25 a day to produce the show with a camera and laptop, constantly pondering, “What new thing will tomorrow bring, how do we write, shoot, edit, and present it…”.
However, video blogs have distinct characteristics from television shows. Vlogs originated from the blogging trend and have become a medium for self-expression and communication with the community.
“Every event in our lives is very special“, Dedman, along with Ryanne Hodson, two of the earliest vloggers who started posting videos in 2004, remarked. “Of course, they are not professional films from Hollywood studios“.
In just under two years since their emergence, the number of vlogs has exploded from a few dozen to over 7,000 sites. Next month, hundreds of vloggers from around the world will gather in San Francisco to participate in Vloggercon.
Vlogs are also attracting the attention of many venture capitalists and tech companies. Photobucket, a website dedicated to storing and sharing photos, recently began allowing users to upload videos. In a short time, Photobucket has averaged 30,000 video uploads daily and currently hosts around 350,000 short films.
“If a picture is worth a thousand words, then video is worth even more than a thousand pictures“, stated Sergio Monsalve, Vice President of Photobucket and former manager at eBay.
Some websites related to video blogging and guides on how to start a vlog:
Vlogdir.com: A directory listing various video blogs
Mefeedia.com: Similar to Vlogdir.com
Blip.tv: A site for storing video clips
OurMedia.org: A site hosting videos and multimedia clips
Getfireant.com: A site allowing users to browse multiple video blogs simultaneously
Freevlog.org: A guide on how to start posting videos on a blog
Videoblogging.info: Information related to the vlogging community
Hai Nguyen
