Video Blogs Are Rubbish, Except ‘From The Couch’

I don’t like video blogs. If I follow a link to an article and it’s a video, I skip straight past it. I prefer the written word. Video blog posts feel like using technology for the sake of technology. There’s no added value. Strange then that one of my favorite sites is a video blog. From The Couch is an awesome online video show that’s entertaining, enlightening and accessible.

A Personable Brand

Sweeping generalization: most people don’t look good, sound good or sound intelligent when they’re being filmed. Even if your subject matter is interesting, video blogs make it seem less so.

Very few people have a gift in front of the camera. The best come across as natural and engaging. Marc and David Perel of From the Couch have that gift. Their content is cool, but they also seem likeable guys themselves. You never feel they’re behaving artificially in front of the camera. As a result they’re memorable, and link that personable nature to their brand.

Dynamic Duos Are Better Than Stale Singles

One person talking directly to the camera is rarely entertaining. If you’re simply going to read out your content then you may as well write it instead. Think of television. How many shows are one person talking to camera all the time? I can’t think of any.

Look at morning shows around the world. The format is always the same – two presenters. Two presenters give a more dynamic result. David and Marc play off each other, interrupt each other, even get into arguments. The whole presentation seems far more natural, and more interesting because of that.

Organized With A Hint Of Anarchy

I don’t know how David and Marc put their show together, how much planning they do. My guess is that they have a basic idea and have some notes, but they don’t overplan. Overplanning any kind of presentation can make it seem too rehearsed. It’s the same reason why every book on public speaking says that you shouldn’t read text directly, because it won’t sound natural.

The opposite also holds true, if you try and speak without planning at all it’s going to be chaotic and sound dumb. You need to find a happy medium. Enough planning that the topic gets covered and you demonstrate that you know your stuff. Enough flexibility that your presentation sounds natural and unrehearsed.

So Video Blogs Are Still Rubbish?

I still don’t like them. I thought it was the medium. What From The Couch demonstrates is that it isn’t the medium, but the presentation. Video blogs shouldn’t be a replacement for what you could have just written down. They need to use the dynamic of live action, and natural human behaviour, to present information in a different way. Don’t read out a prepared text, don’t just present something on video because you can. Look at From The Couch, and realize that to make video blogging worthwhile you have to do something a little bit different.