I’ve lost count of the number of interviews with Mullenweg, Arrington and others that contain great quotes and insight. In order to report on them, I have to sit through the interview, put up with the inane questions and puffery responses in order to get to the ‘meat’ of the interview.

Videos without transcripts, for a working journalist, can be likened to putting out a release in PDF format. PR shops quickly got the lessen and switched to quick text. I’m hoping video-makers do the same.

We have to get beyond the ‘coolness’ factor of video blogging and return to the original goal: information exchange.

I, for one, will bypass videos that don’t include a transcript.

I must admit though that I find the vlogs where someone just sits there talking to the cam saying the same thing they typed on their blog post, boring and don’t get the point. I’ve podcast many of my blog posts but I think that makes sense because they can be downloaded a listened to on an mp3 player while someone is doing something else, but if you’re going to sit there staring at the monitor listening to someone talk, it just makes more sense to read it to me.

Excellent article - you and are actually in the same boat with respect to the lack of video editing skills but with a “JUST DO IT” attitude. I’ve only made 3 videos so far and I’m still learning the ropes. My goal is to provide a mixture of video and text to make things a bit more interesting and bring me closer to my subscribers/visitors.

I forwarded your post to the administrators of Overstream, the do-it-yourself subtitling website asking them to pay particular attention to the “Shareable” section because at the moment, they don’t provide a way for people to share or forward subtitled videos to others. I’m told they’ve put it on their list but because demand isn’t high enough, they aren’t focused on that just yet.

The vidoes you gave as samples of those that meet many of your self imposed qualities looked pretty interesting.

I’m sure your article today will inspire people to at least take the leap of faith and give it a shot without worrying about meeting all 7 criteria of making a video.

But you’re right about the humor part. Humor has always been a main attraction for people these days. We all could use a good laugh but I think I would also add that a good dose of authentic inspiration also does wonders.

Thanks for a GREAT article - I enjoy your articles very much. Oh one more thing. I appreciate your honesty about not being able to spout forth humor as much as you’d like. Don’t worry - maybe it’s your inner disease of perfectionism that many of us suffer from. Or maybe it’s the fear of sounding foolish but like you’ve counseled me in the past, JUST DO IT and let your tongue roll forth.

You’d be surprised at what you have within the depth of your consciousness that could be funny.

nevertheless, I do agree that video blogs are gradually picking up in the community.