Most people would agree that it is easier to watch something than read something. Imagine a world where people were presented information without requiring them to do any reading or searching for a certain piece of information. This could be looked at in one of two ways; the user could be considered lazy, making little effort to gather information or it could be argued that we have found a way to gather information and present it in an entertaining, dynamic and effective way. There is merit in both views. Examining recent trends, you will see information everywhere that shows the growth and popularity of video and its use on the web. Which would you rather do, sift through text and images or watch a visually impressive video about something you're trying to learn about? Personally, I prefer the latter.
Over the past few years, technology has improved dramatically. Internet Service Providers (ISP's) have continuously increased the speeds they offer to customers while the world wide web has evolved overall. Companies that host websites are able to give more storage and bandwidth to either their customers or themselves due to cheapening bandwidth/storage costs. With all these factors working together, this greatly enhances the possibility, availability and quality of videos as well as the speed they are able to be delivered to people who watch them.
Videos can be a great way to advertise a product as well. Instead of having a static image somewhere on a website, one can have something flashy that pops out at the customer and has a much greater chance of grabbing the consumer's interest. You are also able to include more information into the video about the product or service you are selling. This factor could prove extremely valuable as many people ignore advertisements solely on the basis that they don't know what it is or how beneficial it could be to them. As technology improves, I believe videos will become even more common on the web. Storage costs and connection speeds will become less of an issue which will pave the way for an even greater presence of multimedia on the web.
If you haven't seen any of the videos we feature on our site, I invite you to visit rejournal.com and browse through the selection we have.
Aaron Wood is the webmaster of Rejournal.com, Norwell, Mass.