I'll tell you why. Because it's changing the game and breaking up the establishment of traditional marketing and news delivery.
I still remember reading this line of text in Steve Krug's excellent book 'Don't Make Me Think' years and years ago. It read...
"People don't read, they scan."
How very true when you think about it from a long-tail/majority perspective. Sure, "some" people still like to read long copy and drawn out blog entries, but in general, most people do not. Steve's words hit me on the head like a hammer. That was the day I changed the way I thought about web design and copy-writing.
It was also the day, looking back now, that I knew that the written word as we known it was on a down slide.
Video scares the heck out of everyone because it's a massive change in the way things "have always been". I get that, and I certainly understand that change can be frightening. What I don't get though is the slew of people out there who are refuse to believe that the world is moving away from the written word.
No, I'm not saying that nobody's going to read in 20-years (50 maybe). What I am saying is that if you look at the innovations that are taking place in our society in the past few years (iphone, youtube, etc...), you have to at least believe "possibly" that our society is moving towards a more word-free world, right?
Ask yourself this question and answer it honestly. In ten years, do you believe you'll be reading a long text blog post or NY Times article on your personal hand-held phone/computer/video camera/whatever else device?
Or, is it more likely that you'll be watching short video and text blasts from your favorites blogs and news outlets?
One of my favorite bloggers, Mathew Ingram, writes....
I've said it before – I just don't think video is as compelling a medium for discussion as blogs are. Video can start discussions or conversations, and Loren's vlog is a great example of that, but it doesn't really lend itself to the back-and-forth that makes blogs so appealing.
I would argue that the conversations are moving. Both in terms of how they're delivered (text to video), and in length and detail (longer to shorter). Sites like Seesmic and Twitter represent microscopic starting points for what we might perhaps see in the future.
Some type of evolution is happening to the way we digest information, we can all see it happening. Questions remain to which theory you believe in. Will the written word live on as it stands today, or will it evolve?
I think you know where I stand on this topic. What do you think?
