Don't get me wrong, I can spend hours watching videos of Rafael Nadal and puppies on YouTube, but I'm really just not that into online video streaming.
First, the quality is always terrible. Videos are pretty much always grainy and four inches big. The only time I watch videos is if I really want to see something- like a baby panda sneezing or Roger Federer saying 'fuck' after missing a backhand.
I usually refuse to watch videos that people send me, mostly because I can't stand being bored and I usually feel like I'm wasting my time. I'm also tired of being disappointed in my friends sense of humor, because 95% of the time the videos people send me really aren't that funny.
I can't stand when websites automatically play a video, whether it's a commercial or not. I'm actually more annoyed if it's not a commercial. What if I'm visiting the site from an inappropriate place, like work or a computer lab?
What gets me the most are news stories that are only in video format. I'd much rather read the story in half the time it takes to watch the video. Do news sites think people are too lazy to read and would rather watch video? I think if you're the type of person who uses the internet to read the news you're probably not that lazy anyway. The Yahoo.com AP news feed is the worst offender. I've been addicted to the news stories on Yahoo for like six years (explanation deserves its own post) and last year they started offering headlines only in video format. Drives me crazy because I have to Google the story to find a written version. Slate started doing this too, and it really upsets me because Dear Prudence now has a video feature every Thursday that takes the place of what would be a written response.
I can understand why companies would want to use video, for obvious reasons, but I don't think news outlets should offer content exclusively as videos- a written alternative should always be given as well. If you're the type of person who bores so easily reading about current events, you're probably not spending your internet time looking for news videos, you're probably on MySpace. And you're also probably the type of person who gets all your news from the Daily Show or worse, Headline News.
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3 comments:
I think the Daily Show is pound-for-pound more informative than most other news sources (print included).
I refuse to accept that a 15 second sound bite can leave someone more informed than a 2000 word article.
...and in one sentence you've invalidated all secondary sources.
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