Videoblogging as ‘a life-altering experience’ from JD Lasica on Vimeo.
I used to be heavily involved in the videoblogging movement back when video on the Web was just starting out in late 2004. I was one of the first 50 members of the Yahoo Videoblogging Group (now about 3,000 members) and launched Ourmedia, the first free video hosting and sharing site, in March 2005.
Video creation and sharing went mainstream in 2006, so much so that Mashable reports YouTube Is the Top Social Media Innovation of the Decade.
So I love to highlight people who have successfully incorporated video into their online lives and can evangelize its import without getting preachy.
I shot this video interview with Sukhjit Ghag back during the 140 Character conference in New York. Since then Sukhjit (pronounced sook-jeet) has become the social media rep for Sony Electronics (@SonyElectronics on Twitter).
Sukhjit talks about how videoblogging has gone mainstream and how liberating it is compared with her past career as a television producer-writer. She calls it “a life-altering experience.” Her most important piece of advice? “Just forgive yourself — just do it!” Don’t get caught up in the technology — it’s simple to use a Flip cam, Kodak Zi8 or Nokia video-enabled video camera to capture slices of everyday life.
Watch, download or embed video on Vimeo
“It’s still really early for video,” she says, but it’s becoming a tool that people are now using in their everyday lives.
A word about the production: Though I used Final Cut’s “lighten” function, the video is too dark (I need to buy a brighter lighting attachment for my Canon HV20) and too close up (because it was so loud with the street noise nearby).
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JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
Great advice! I always wonder why people are so afraid to jump in with video. We used to spend a lot of time meeting people face to face, but with technology that is happening less. Why not meet that way for a cup of coffee with a pal across the continent? I love it! And yes I eat my own dogfood on this one, though I have yet to have that cup of coffee with you, either virtually or face to face. :)
Great comment Sheryl. To be honest with you, I often have dinner or coffee via video with friends I've made around the world via social media. Nothing replaces meeting someone in real life, but video gives you a chance to spend some quality time with someone despite the distance.
@jdlasica – Great video interview. You always ask great questions of people! My biggest lesson with video blogging (especially the talking head ones) is to put the focus on sincerity and not perfection.
Great interview! @Sukhjit is really a role-model for me (as far as video blogging is concerned for sure!) and I have surely followed her advice and she is right, it just takes to try and delve into it. I am having more fun and less self-consciousness about not being a “pro”, and there is no limits!
@JD Nice post to see at the end of the year. Bringing it all back to the origins of videoblogging and connecting with people online through video. You are going to love my book, Get Seen, which interviews many of hte pioneers in vlogging, and helps people with step-by-step guides on how to put video online with the cameras they have. http://stevegarfield.com/getseen
@Sukhjit What a cool idea to have coffee over video. Let's do this in 2010!
I should mention that Steve and Sukhjit were on the same Video & Twitter panel at 140 Characters. Steve, looking forward to reading your book.
Hi Sukhjit! Awesome interview!
I met this cool lady on Seesmic a long time ago. I had been into video for a while and ran my own bmx freestyle video magazine that sold very well worldwide but was new to video blogging/vlogging.
Sukhjit made a series of videos about a web 2.0 conference on Seesmic and I really liked it so I recorded my first ever video message to respond to her videos and after that it went very fast.
Right now I am a full time video blogger, I run a daily video diary on Youtube, a video of every day of my life, run a dutch video show about tasting, reviewing and comparing food and drinks, releasing a steady stream of videos about different subjects and using video blogging platforms like 12Seconds, Seesmic, Vidly and others to share my life and thoughts with the world.
All this because I wanted to connect to Sukhjit, who inspired and keeps on inspiring me to continue to create video content and striving, like her, to monetize my content in some way and focus even more on pumping out quality content.
And I agree with her that video blogging and twitter should go hand-in-hand. Social media, wether text, video, photo and audio can be combined to create a powerful and effective network that will allow you to distribute your content to a very large audience.
So 2009 reaches its end and 2010 is already waiting for us. What better way to start of the new year by recording your first video blog?