Why do we blog not vlog?

“Phone photography” by Petar Milošević – Own work.

About 18 months ago my son posted his first YouTube video. It was a neat little 2 minute “how to” video for Minecraft. Yesterday I realised that it has had more views than all of my blog posts in the last 18 months.

That’s a little sobering don’t you think?

Now there are differences in audience, platform, broadcast, need, focus, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera… As adults we think we can explain away why you can’t compare a Minecraft video with a professional blog. Yet I don’t think that’s good enough. I think there’s something to think about here rather than easily dismiss.

Firstly, in the broad leadership/talent/OD space I work within I can’t think of anyone that is creating and sharing regular video content openly. I do see things happening in the broader L&D and related technology spaces.  Yet these I think are largely interviews and/or “moments” at a conference. I can’t think of a single video I’ve seen or have found my broad network sharing in the leadership/talent/OD space. Yet YouTube is clearly a significant and valuable channel to share very useful and relevant content for the workplace.

Why is there this difference?

Secondly, I see lots of writing in the leadership/talent/OD space that shares thinking or the latest “Top 10 things” you have to know, do, don’t do, laugh at, will cause you to fail, etc. If you read this blog then you know that I regularly share my thinking about the work that I do, what I see, what I believe and what I practice. I follow lots of serious professionals in this space who do similar. Lots of writing and very little video.

Why is that?

Thirdly, I have a fairly active Vine channel where I share snippets of dogs and country walks. I enjoy it for what it is but it is very much focussed on my social pursuits not my work. I know a few people who have used it or tinkered with it and I appreciate the window it opens into their lives. However, interest and I suspect the format hasn’t combined to create anything in the work space.

Why does it feel tricky to shift that social sharing to the professional sharing space?

Finally, I think although a lot of the work that myself and peers talk about and share exists in the conversation , there remains a lot of “how to” learning that could be shared if we chose to. I don’t mean pontification via video but practical this is how you (or how I) go about doing such and such. Maybe it’s the free model that gets in the way or the open delivery of YouTube video. Perhaps and yet there are so many arguments to counter those unknowns of YouTube video creation.

What is really getting in the way here?

My Challenge

I’m dreadfully conscious this isn’t a video. I’m now dreadfully conscious that I need to do something about this. I’m not particularly clear what that is yet.

So help me out a little please with answers on a Vine. No. Seriously.

If you have something to say or to share relating to what I’ve shared above would you please do so via Vine or if you’d rather another video sharing format. Please just post your link below in the comments or if you share with me on Twitter or Vine I’ll share here everything that’s been created.

If a question would help you craft your video then look no further than the title of this blog!