We Want Media

Are blogs already becoming a trend of the past? Vlogs appear to be becoming more and more popular and the way of the future, especially since SNL's Lazy Sunday short video spoof that featured comedians Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg rapping about eating cupcakes and catching the matinee of "Chronicles of Narnia." This seems like an obvious step considering the popularity of other visual media over print media. Much like blogs, vlogs seem to have multiple and varied definitions. They can be personal video journals (which are the most popular), news vlogs, entertainment vlogs like the SNL short that are sometimes sitcoms, and cover a wider variety of topics.

The SNL video has opened the public eye to what comedians and independent film makers have known about for some time now, and it has spawned countless articles in newspapers and magazines, and even a show on VHI called Web Junk 20, a weekly show that counts down the top 20 internet video clips of the week. The recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine highlights some of the more popular and well known sites that feature video shorts, which could be classified as vlogs. After airing, the "Lazy Sunday" short has been downloaded over 3 million times. Mefeedia.com, which claims to be the "first and most complete videoblog directory on the web" currently lists 5,298 vlogs and counting (when they started the site in 2004 they had a mere 10) on their website. It's free to both post and view all of the vlogs they have listed. New Yorker Amanda Congdon runs what is arguably one of the most popular blogs, Rocketboom, which gets over 100,000 hits a day.

With the ever-growing popularity of vlogs, could the future of blogs be in jeopardy? Will blogs continue to be popular, or will that shift towards vlogs, a phenomenon that seems similar to TV news vs. newspapers? Some blogs, like the popular gawker.com, have announced plans to add video content to their sites.

It seems like a natural progression, especially given that the technology required for them is so easily accessible. When it comes down to it, most people would rather get their news, information, and entertainment from video sources as opposed to reading them. People watch TV and go to movies a lot more than they read the newspaper and books. Vlogs, like blogs, don't require extensive technology or cash: digital video cameras, software programs, syndication technology and a high speed Internet connection seem to be the only requirements. And with free sites like Mefeedia.com, the number of vlogs will only grow with each day and do to blogging what TV did to newspapers.