An interview with E-Media
Nana Siebert from E-Media, Austrias leading magazine about internet, high-tech and multimedia, interviewed me for thier next issue, which will include a big article about vlogs.

Here's the interview, since the resulting article probably won't include all of what I said and won't even be in English:

Since when is "The Carol & Steve Show" online?

I started putting The Carol and Steve Show online on January 1, 2005.

What's the idea behind it - and why is it such a huge success?

The idea behind The Carol and Steve Show was to get my wife involved with me in videoblogging. When we watch reality TV shows, she always kids me that I like to think everything is real. So we decided to do our own reality show where everything IS really real. No desert islands and no food challenges. Just real life. We just set out to record our lives and share our experiences through videoblogging.

It's become popular because people want to connect with each other. Video allows others to really get to know you. The intimacy of video gives you a glimpse into our lives. With videoblogging, the people who are watching The Carol and Steve Show on a weekly basis, get to interact with us and other viewers through the comments area associated with each new video. How many TV stars can talk back to viewers?

How many people visit your vlog per day/month?

I average a few hundred visitors per day with some days reaching over one thousand. My videos get between 500-5,000 views each. That's not counting the additional viewers I get on TV via Akimbo, which is delivering my videos to their subscribers and OMN.org which displays my videos to their online audience.

What's your fascination behind it?

The thing that a lot of people don't see when looking at the surface, of videos on the net, is the community that has developed around videoblogging. This community develops through people leaving comments on videos, linking to each other when they watch a video that they like, and joining in on the Yahoo! Videoblogging Group.

I've made real friendships with people around the world. Some of these people I have met in person, and upon meeting them for the first time, it feels like I am meeting an old friend.

Is it difficult to create new content - or why not?

Creating new content is easy. That's because I'm just capturing life as it happens. There isn't any pre-production involved, no script writing and no rehersals. What you see is real life.

A lot of the time I use a Canon S400 digital camera which also shoots video. This allows me to carry my camera in my pocket and shoot video at a moments notice. Also, since I'm capturing video to a compact flash card, there's no delay in getting the footage onto my computer like there is with video cameras that use miniDV tapes.

Why - in your opinion - are Vlogs the next big thing on the internet?

Vlogs give people a voice. Vlogging gives people a distribution method that isn't controlled by others. Vlogging allows people to get feedback on their productions. Vlogging brings people together. Vlogging makes the world smaller.

Vlogging is the next big thing on the internet because it promotes the ability to get to know people in other countries on a personal level.

Vlogging brings pen pal corresponding to a whole new level, and allows the whole world to join in on the conversation.

Which Vlogs do you like - except your own one, of course...

Here's a page where I list a few of my favorite vlogs

These are daily vlogs I watch:

The 05 Project
Rocketboom
Clark ov Saturn
Fat Girl From Ohio
Minnesota Stories

These are my other favorites:
Josh Leo
Chuck Olsen
Eric Rice
Clint Sharp
Melanie Sharp - Mel's Life
Jay Dedman - momentshowing
Raymond Kristianson - DLTQ
Bre Pettis - I Make Things
Johnny Goldstein
Ryanne Hodson
Schlomo Rabinowitz - Echoplex Park
Gabe and Gabe's World
Human Dog Laboratory
Nordark
90 Seconds of Dave
Michael Verdi
The Random Show

posted by Steve at 12:09 PM | link | (3) Join the Discussion

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