Maybe it's just me, and maybe I am just getting old, but it increasingly seems to me that the video format is taking over from "the written word" on the web.
I realize that some of my protestations are rooted in purely personal reasons-- I happen to be a writer, and I come across as pretty much a lump of aging clay, when in front of the camera.
As DTube becomes ever more popular around here... and I find myself faced with more and more video content... I just wanted to have a short rant about why this may not be all it's cracked up to be.
Because It's EASY!
Apple Blossoms
I get the argument that recording a video clip is easy, and it makes content "accessible" to those who don't like to write, or aren't very good at it, and to those who don't particularly want to read things. Pretty much every electronic device from your phone to your camera and everything in between has video capacity.
In a sense, this is just a perfect representation of how the world is getting an ever shorter span of attention.
And yet... IS it?
Personally, I find most video harder to process. You can only watch a video clip as fast as the person is narrating, and I come from a generation who learned to read a lot of lengthy content... and I can typically speed read my way through the written transcript of a video in about 1/5th the time it takes to watch.
The "Sloppiness Factor"
Now don't get me wrong! There are some very good and very professional video presenters out there, so this particular point is not about you!
Yellow lupine
That said, a lot of video content is just sloppy. And-- call me grumpy, if you must-- I don't have time to watch your sloppiness.
What do I mean?
Well, it's an 8-minute clip, and the first 30 seconds is you trying to get the right angle on your camera to where the light doesn't make it look like you're in a dungeon. And then you say "Oh shit, I forgot my coffee!" and head off-camera for 15 seconds. Then you come back and arbitrarily talk about your breakfast for 30 seconds, then do a sudden headache pan to show something cute your dog is doing... and then at about the 2:30 mark you finally say "Today I wanted to talk about..."
Which you then do, for about three minutes-- with a few interruptions for random reasons-- before then taking another 90 seconds to actually close out your clip.
I'm sorry, but that is just irritating. And I am not going to sit through your random meander through your thought process. And I especially don't have eight minutes to give you for what is essentially three minutes of content!
The Spontaneity Factor
Heart of a tulip
Now, I appreciate that video may seem appealing because you can spontaneously create something "on the spur of the moment," but PLEASE! Learn some editing skills!
One of the downsides of the video format is that you get a lot of "irrelevant stuff" that you generally just don't get in most written content. And publishers seem to cut themselves more slack with video, than with writing.
Not OK!
Hold yourself to the same standards of quality you'd hold yourself to with writing!
That said-- have fun with DTube! As 
What do YOU think? Do you do any video content? Would you like to try? Would you use video as a "flow-of-consciousness tool, or would you edit the content to stay "on point?" Do you see the video format as opening a door to more "sloppy" content? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
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Created at 180119 10:20 PST