If I make a vlog, will you watch it?

By John Carlin
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: January 31, 2008

The Carlin Chronicles has been around for 6 years now.  When I wrote the first one, the term “blog” was not around.  It may have existed, but it wasn’t in everyday use.  The notion of writing your thoughts or sharing your daily activities with the world was no more than a seed planted deep within in the internet.

Now, of course, blogs are everywhere.  In fact there are significant arguments from knowledgeable people that blogs are journalism.  These people predict that in my lifetime, blogs will rival and in some cases replace the 6 p.m. news, the morning paper, and even some “dot coms.”

The argument goes something like this:  The news you get is filtered by the media.  We in the media gather the facts, the video, the pictures, the sound bites, and then show you what we want.  In effect, we discard all but what you eventually see.  We would like to think that as professionals, we are hitting the high points and protecting you from the boring stuff, or information that simply isn’t as important.  We work hard to gain your trust, so you won’t think we are serving some other agenda.

Bloggers, on the other hand, filter nothing.  If someone wants to write about their bathroom habits, there is certainly no editor to stop them.  Likewise, if someone with a cell phone camera shows up at an accident scene and captures gory video or pictures of the victims, there is no one to decide that’s not appropriate for public consumption or that it is unfair to the victims.  If that person wants to share the gore with the world, it’s just an upload away.

It’s hard to argue with people following the war in Iraq by reading blogs from the soldiers themselves.  Or special interest groups who follow stories that fall beneath the radar of the rest of the media.  For people keenly interested in a given topic, the unfiltered report is perfect.

Back to the Chronicles.  When I first pitched the idea for what I envisioned as an on-line “column” not unlike what you see in some newspapers, one of the key managers at the station scoffed.  “It’s all about you,” he said in a not so complimentary way. 

I’d like to think it’s really more abut what I think, and creating an interesting read that’s a diversion for you in your everyday life.  You see me on the news every night talking about the issues of the day.  The Chronicles are a chance to talk about some of those under-the-radar parts of life such as parenting, the joy (agony) of pet ownership, and lessons learned from pastimes such as running and fishing.  Thank you to those of you who have taken time to write and tell me you enjoy it. 

Now to what may be the next phase:  Vlogs.  That’s “video blog” abbreviated.  I just recorded my first one, and I’m not sure what to think of it.  I definitely don’t know what you will think of it.

Let’s extend some of the arguments that applied to blogs and see of vlogs really are the next great way of communicating.

I taught my students for eleven years at Virginia Tech that the spoken word is different from what’s written.  Writers have the luxury of detail.  You can peruse the real estate transactions for your area in the paper, but would never suffer through me reading it to you on the news. 

On the other hand, there are intangibles you get when you see and hear a sound bite, that are lost with a simple quote.  A person’s background, demeanor, education, ethnicity, mood, emotion, all come through on camera, but are lost in a paragraph. 

Some would argue that moving pictures (video) are better than still pictures.  Emotion carries better on tape than in text.  But there is nothing that can beat words on a page (or screen) to weave a tale or explore a thought or concept.  Further, I would argue, that the written word does so more quickly.  If I were to read this very document to you, it would take longer than you reading it to yourself.

Our unwritten rules for TV news are based on 50 years of evolving viewing habits.  The viewer is attention impaired.  So sound bites should be no more than 20 seconds.  We need to change the picture often, to give you something new to look at.  An anchor on camera or a politician at the podium is a “talking head.” That’s boring.  Don’t do it for too long, or people won’t watch.

That brings me back to vlogs.  I hold the camera at arm’s length, look into it, and talk. The first one deals with my thoughts as I approach a difficult training run for the Bel Monte 50K coming up in March.  I stood in the woods and talked for about two minutes.  The camera was too heavy to carry the whole way, so there is no video of the run.  The next day I talked about how hard it was, compared to my thoughts before the run.

For the most part it was me on camera – a talking head.  It took about 5 minutes.  That’s way longer than 20 seconds.  Yes, you get to see and feel my emotions, but do you care?  If you do, is it because you’re into running?  Would you watch the same vlog if it was about painting the family room, training the dog, or catching a fish?

In theory, this should not work and maybe it won’t.  Maybe people won’t suffer 5 minutes of this.  But they might be ok for 60 seconds.  Please tell me what you think.  No one thought blogging would catch on.  It has.  Vlogging could be next. 

If it’s going to replace the 6 p.m. news someday, I want to know how to do it.