Thursday, March 22, 2007

BlogTV...Take It Or Leave It?

According to their website:

blogTV is a breakthrough in the global trend of user-generated content and a new form of social communication. The technology enables anybody with a web cam or a 3G phone to create their own TV show and broadcast it over the internet. LIVE.

blogtv.ca is the first social network destination developed specifically for Canadians; it is a place for people to showcase their talents, voice their opinions, discuss and debate with an online audience and interact with viewers using real-time communication tools. It enables:

* live broadcasting
* recording of your live broadcasts
* interaction with your audience, the viewers
* browsing recorded and live broadcasts

You can be a live broadcaster; broadcasting online to an audience (with no maximum number of viewers) and you have the option to record any of these live broadcasts. These recorded broadcasts can then be viewed by others. Blogtv.ca features several Open-Access channels (free for all users) and one Premium channel (currently free for registered members). blogtv.ca empowers you to become the celebrity of the future.

Celebrity of the future? Moi? Wow...

Still forming an opinion about this one. Started out seeing some ads for it on the television...checked it out...first blush - it's like YouTube without any of the cool, funny film or TV show clips. A venue for 'Vloggers' or video bloggers, apparently. Not really sure what to make of it or why I'd watch it.

So I asked the kids (in the class I'm teaching) what they thought, if they thought it was another YouTube and could it end up on or compete with network television:

On one site, someone who was at the launch said : "Actually, the "TV" part of blogtv.ca is the "channels". The idea is to develop content grouped by subject matter, so there are channels for all kinds of things - music, tech, sports, games, and yes - adult." So to me, yeah, I agree...sounds something like Youtube, but kind of divided into TV channel categories; definitely exclusive to the internet.


I think entertainment is becoming increasingly personalised. Lesser unknowns are becoming entertainers and stars in their own right. People are becoming more interested in average joes and janes...intriguing


It's an interesting idea and one that is ultimately just testing the abilities of a new* medium. You're right it seems to differ from youtube only in the sense that there are no old movie/tv clips, but that's also (obviously) one of its selling points - a more personalized way to speak your mind to the masses without having it being beaten out by this weeks newest South Park episode.
Will it succeed in the long run? only what consumers want (and time) will tell. I'm sure there's another 30 - 100 of these websites out there with less (or more) PR. It will likely maintain its thirty minutes of fame though for at least that.. it gives what all youth and those alienated by growing urban centres want: a chance to be an individual and speak their mind.
I'm curious how well it will survive without more corporate sponsorship given the amount of bandwidth such clips will use (being viewed on mass) and how few advertisements are on the site.



Thanks kids...I hope using your comments without permission is cool.

I realize it's early in the game but is there anything to all this? It's interesting to note that today Diane talks about a new Stephen Bochco web experiment called Café Confidential for Metacafe which sounds very similar.

What's the appeal? Or the turn off's? Is this the future of blogging? If McGrath or Epstein presented their posts each day like this, would more people see or watch or listen to them?



Oh, and I know some of these folks.

5 comments:

Diane Kristine Wild said...

If more bloggers became vloggers, most people couldn't sneak in their blog reading at work. Or write a quickie post on the drive home. I think this kind of thing has the same appeal (or not) as the Speakers Corner kind of stuff that's been around forever, but it's not going to be killing the written word any time soon.

At first glance I don't see the "breakthrough" part of this. How does it differ from what people were doing before with webcams and other social media sites? And the fact that they're selling it as specifically for Canadians ... well, call me unpatriotic, but much of the appeal of the www is the world wide part. I don't get why the national focus for something so non-specific.

Webs said...

My God, that's painful.

Cunningham said...

I think that people will begin to see the craft that goes into shooting footage, editing it and putting it out there in the hopes that people are entertained.

My gut says most folks will give up on it as it takes a lot of time. It's work.

MaryAn Batchellor said...

blech

gdott said...

But I think vlogging has proven to be quite successful on You Tube already. There is a whole community of vloggers that have gained substantial audiences. Check them out if you get a chance. I think some have even become community celebrities.

Check out
Theboringdispatcher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcV7ugPQ6p8

This vlog link was posted 1 day ago. 2499 views 119 ratings with and 109 comments. Not all the comments are meaningful but he gets this on a regular basis.

One of my favorites is omgheatherface

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=omgheatherface

She doesn't get the traffic the dispatcher does but she has a loyal audience.

My point is it can gain an audience. And if you are interesting enough, you can be heard/viewed. There are many more on You tube. I just pulled these two out of the barrel as both of them have struck me as interesting in the past.

Look up omgheatherface's Tickle Me Elmo vlog. Oddly satisfying. I can't put my finger on it exactly but...anyway.