Vlogging Takes Streamed Content to the Next Level

Lewis and Clark Go Vlogging
Another pioneer in the vlogging game is Speedera. Its vlogging work on the World Economic Forum was the first of its kind. By visiting www.alwayson-network.com, users can view sessions from the Forum, comment, and rate content. Speedera and AlwaysOn were brought together by BuyStreaming.com's Vassil Mladjov ("He was the marriage broker, if you will," says Smith) to create what Smith calls "the first application I know of for vlogging amongst our customers." The vlog was a success—if not in the quantity of participants, certainly in the quality. "Participation wasn't off the charts," says Smith, "but the WEF isn't a mass entertainment event. Those who did participate did so thoughtfully, and people got a lot out of it."

The WEF took place in Davos, Switzerland, so the vlog was intended to "strip the veil of secrecy" surrounding the event, says Smith, a feat which was further supported by the involvement of celebrities, activists, and business powerhouses like Angelina Jolie, Bono, and Bill Gates.

Too Legit To Quit
The event that finally may have legitimized vlogging was the Asian tsunami tragedy. As people around the world clamored to understand what had happened—or to fulfill their voyeuristic inclinations—those who filmed the tsunami were able to upload video to the Internet in record time. In years past, such "amateur video" had to be sent to the evening news, where it was edited for content and shown at the discretion of the station. But this time, every resident or tourist with a camera could show the world exactly what had happened. It is likely that, were it not for the tsunami, vlogging would have remained a quirky offshoot of blogging for the foreseeable future.

This theory found support in the person columnist Steve Wildstrom of Business Week in February at the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) show in New York. "There is a lot of video on blogs now, [but] I find it hard to believe that many people watch it," Wildstrom said. "On the other hand, if you've got video of a tsunami coming in, nobody cares how bad [the quality] is." In fact, mainstream coverage of vlogging began right after the tsunami. Business Week ran an article focusing on personal vlogging in December of 2004, but directly after the tragedy journalist David Tereshchuk took a look at the real impact of vlogs in a column entitled "Vlogging the Tsunami." "I would share that theory," says Speedera's Smith. "It was a shot in the arm [for vlogging]; it wasn't edited, produced, or otherwise shaped."

During the tsunami aftermath, the perennially interesting Mirror Image offered free ongoing use of its network and support in an effort to ensure that anyone with video was able to post it. The Media Bloggers Associations and Zubr Communications had launched a Tsunami Video Hosting Initiative as a public service to try and circumvent bandwidth issues facing bloggers, and Mirror Image joined to offer their support.

In an astonishingly short time, vlogging made the jump from "Look, little Tina cut her first tooth today!" to a very real business application with a great deal of potential for the future. It will take time to find the most appropriate uses, but Serious Magic's Randall sees tremendous room for growth in the education market--everything from middle schoolers creating morning newscasts to learning to play poker online. Speedera's Smith expects it to be implemented by CEOs looking to communicate with customers and to create "richer rich content." Smith also points out that, while early adopters definitely come up from below within organizations, executives are quick to recognize the power of this kind of technology. So stay turned; it’s sure to be an interesting ride.