In our second VidCast installment, Team SEOmoz discusses the pros and cons of Digg vs. Reddit and who we think will eventually dominate the social media space.
Note that this is still video from our initial filming so production values are still the same (mediocre). We'd love to hear your feedback about both content andformat.
i love the video blogs! and i agree with all the comments about the format too.
i've never been a big digg fan and haven't spent much time on reddit yet. i'm jumping over there now to check it out!
Reddit all the way! I was just there in another tab :) It still serves up some distinct stories with character, and has informative comments that are far above the 6th grade smack-talk that has started to dominate Digg in the last quarter or two.
Digg has gone wack with the same kinds of stories everyday. I just can't handle another Zelda cake, Internal Microsoft Memo From Hell, "Get a Mac" ad parody, or sexy teacher sentenced to jail for stripping the DRM on her underage Zune.
This has great potential to be a nice weekly addition to your website. I hope you’ll continue to go this route, but I think you need to get serious by investing in more equipment and sending someone to video class.
Maybe you could start by investing in more than one camera. Rand was talking to the group and looking at them, but it hurt the experience for the audience because we saw the side and the back of his head as he was speaking. This also hurt the sound quality because he wasn’t facing the microphone. Perhaps you could get individual microphones that clip on your clothes? Also, Matt’s voice was a bit hard to hear because he was back farther than the others. This caused the sound quality to fade in and out, like the volume was going up and down.
Since you have so many participants, you might need to widen the horseshoe arrangement of the chairs just a tad. Or how about a round table like Charlie Rose uses?
I’m a big fan of Mike McDonald’s on Web Pro News, but I was sooooooooo disappointed that they hired a sidekick for him. It ruined the whole format. Now I need another source for serious SEO dialogue!
The jeans are okay with me. I’d hate it if you all to start looking like Regis and Kelly! Keep at it. I look forward seeing the progress of the group.
As mentioned in the last video post (same taping as this one), this was just a (very) rough test to see if/how we could make video content work on the blog.
One of us has, in fact, gone to a video class of sorts: I have a Masters in Film Producing. Trust me, the technical limitations frustrate me and we're going to try and figure out a way to make future VidCasts better, although I doubt we'll go so far as the 3-camera setup that I'd like ideally.
Chances are, in the future, we'll go to Rand moderating with two or three Mozzers offering commentary. We probably won't script anything, but may use an approved question/pre-interview model similar to most talk formats.
I appreciate the feedback and the suggestions though.
Greatest Scott-- I like the vision you have for future videos, and I appreciate your willingness to share this learning curve with us all. Yeah, it’s always frustrating when you don’t have the equipment you need and would like. Of course, sometimes ‘having fewer resources makes one more resourceful.’
I think you really need to go with at least two cameras. Would having three cameras like you mentioned in your post make the show too slick and too much like TV? If the web gets too much like TV then what is the benefit of watching a web cast instead of a television show? For me the answer is convenience. I’m always at the computer, so it allows me to multi-task. In fact, I gave up my cable service. When I want a big screen experience, I go to a movie theater and socialize with the real world. I don’t mind the ten bucks.
Rand did a great job when he interviewed Vanessa Fox from Google, but I think you might want to start thinking about the core values you’d all like to stick to. Don’t go too Hollywood on us!
I wouldn't be worried about it being too slick as much as I'd be worried about spending all of my time producing and editing the VidCasts.
Puting together the video packages of Rand's proposal the last few days has reminded me just how time consuming the process can be. I enjoy it but, alas, there is other work that must be done around here too.
Completely agree with this comment. If you guys invested some time in the video production and maybe if instead of 5 people it was four and one was maneuvering the camera, you could get a less static impression of the discussion.
However as far as the content of this vidcast, I think you guys are right on the mark. Although digg is so popular, a lot of the comments are garbage and what gets digg is not necessarily "digg" worthy in the ideological sense.
And again, my accent is horrific. Plus, I can't believe I admitted to getting a kick out of the dugg down comments!
Thas nowt rang wi' 'avin' an accent lass ;)
Reading those comments is just the same as watching American Idol, you're watching for the train wreck, someone who thinks they're better than they are, until they get ripped to shreds and go down in flames never to be seen again, until the next piece of firefly, etc news shows up
I like your new video/audio posts and hope to see more of them. Many people in the SEO space are solo consultants or work in an environment where there is not a lot of passion for search engine optimization. This open discussion and information sharing is very helpful for online marketers with no team backing them up.
Great discussion, thank you.
But I found myself multi-tasking during both of your VidCasts and ending up listening to it instead of watching it. Don't get me wrong, I love to see the mozzers and enjoyed a few funny/clever screen inserts, but the main value of this (to me) is the information, so I end up listening to a video. Maybe investment in podcasts would have better ROI?..
What if we mimed our next one? Would you watch then? :)
...only if it podcast w/no video.
MIMEcast.... you know, this could be cutting edge.
Be bold! Break the mold!
I just invested in my first ipod - very chuffed with it. But one thing which is really cool is being able to download videos like this and watch it during the one and half hour commute I have.
But I wasn't able to figure out how to download it. I went to the metacafe site and clicked on the Download Video link. But this just opened up an extra bit of screenspace with a the link address and delicious and digg links.
How do you download the video?
Someone else already pointed out the problem with the speed. The video on the metacafe site is pretty unwatchable for me. I'm on a 18mb line here.
Thanks for all the great content guys! And looking forward to getting my hands on that Advanced Link Doc as soon as I clear up my current reading list.
And amazing congrats Rand & Geraldine - that was really beautiful and very touching. I hope the poor girl has recovered! :-)
Thanks for mentioning Futoo, I've never heard of it before but I'm working on a quite complicated form at the moment so this looks like a great help! :D
Ok, I'm going to give you some contructive criticism. More planning, MORE PLANNING MORE PLANNING. This video is too much like a casual chat and takes too long to make any valuable points.
Also you make very sweeaping generalizations in this video wihtout enough analysis.
Point taken.
Please keep in mind though that these aren't meant to come off as disertations, more like casual round-table discussions.
great video, agree with some of the points above about cutting down on the number of people, one leading the discussion and 3 commenting would be perfect. And yeah maybe a round table would be cool, so that you don't stare into the void in the middle. Also how about some colour, as in some kind of background. Anything really, you don't need a pop-up banner or anything, although that would be cool.
Had problems opening the post in IE browser (I know I shouldn't admit to using IE, old habbit). Worked fine in Firefox though.
Perhaps a rotating format, where you feature 2-3 mozzers with Rand or Gillian moderating. Recognize each employee for their strengths and interests and build their personal brand up a bit too. One week you could have Rebecca and Matt talk about Link Bait, optimized code and Server Loads/Redundancy, and the next week you could feature Jeff, Jane and Scott for design, copywriting and meeting client expectations. I'm sure there are many other areas that Moz employees have expertise in that you could keep this format going for quite some time.
The Bivings Report blog did an interesting analysis of traffic from digg and reddit. They found that reddit sends a site more traffic than digg. I think that this makes sense since you get a summary of the item dugg while reddit only has a headline.
I'd enjoy being able to see the video.. consider using a video service which has fast servers around the world, many areas in Asia including China where I live still have incredibly slow speeds because of the earthquake a couple months ago. Youtube is pretty quick over here.
Interesting, as always.
I liked this discussion a little better than the last. I won't claim to have spent a lot of time on Reddit, but i think I will now. I agree with Matt that simple doesn't have to be default and it would be nice to see a little bit of design go into the site. It's one of the few things I dislike about del.icio.us too.
I thought the screen shots worked better here. They came and went a little smoother and the slight transparency helped me feel more continuity with the discussion that was going on.
Glad to hear you liked how the screen caps were inserted, thanks for the feedback.
Is it just me or is the screenshot/video not showing on the page?
The link works though.
It's true that half the users on digg are 12-15 years old (or at least act that age). I'm glad I'm single with no kids :) Were we like that when we were teens? LOL
I like the idea of a shift towards Reddit. It's obvious that professionalism is the norm there.
Yep, we're working on the issue with the player not showing right now... did I act like that at 14 or 15? Well, I could spell, so probably not, no :P
All the points made about Reddit are spot on. It is a better user experience - for experienced users. Digg has the mass media plugged in though. If only we'd see more blog posts, more forum posts, and more old media mentions of Reddit instead of digg. It would change a lot of how SMO is done.
Slight technical difficulty, it's fixed now.
Did Jeff get in trouble for not wearing a collared shirt?
Haha, we pointed that out to him the day of filming. I guess he didn't get the MOZmo :)
I'm tempted to thumb you down for "MOZmo"...
Ugh...see the power Matt has given everyone? This could get abused quite easily...
You know I got your back Rebecca, but MOZmo? LOL
I like the term MEMoz better anyways :)
If only Moz rhymed with Toe's....
I second MEMoz.
OK, since Matt hasn't corrected the capitalization, I will: "Memoz" and "MEMoz" is better formatted as "MEmoz".
(Hey! Wasn't that one of the options for the naming contest that "YOUmoz" won?)
LOL! I love discussion threads. They devolve so quickly away from the original topic. Wasn't this post about digg and reddit? We've alread discussed faded jeans, SEOmoz's dress code, and the correct way of writing "Memoz."
"Cheating Wife" and "Shoe Shop Prank" which shows a guy pulling at some girls underwear showed up after the vidcast was over. I'm thinking we might want to jump over to youtube..
um, maybe.
Or self-host... the savings in bandwidth may not be worth the cost in brand identity.
Then again, you could just pitch it as a "double-feature!"
...of course, you never know what you are going to get, but maybe that is half the fun ;)
LOL - I just realized the reddit post that you kept showing in the screenshots was the one I submitted many months ago. Talk about "staying" power! That confirms it, reddit gets my vote!
hrm...methinks if I were to apply for a job at SEOmoz, that I should wear faded jeans. Is that the dress code there or am I missing something?
About the video...I have to agree with Matt when he said "Digg appears to a mass of stupidity". Good stuff!
Hm..we could have timed that better considering I'm on the digg home page right now :)
Yes, faded jeans are de rigueur around here. Vanity holes optional.
Great topic and as the as the other people said reddit will * overtime * be more popular than digg, as long as the verticals of the sites remain the same.
Format
Because the audio levels weren't exactly the same from everyone it results in a measure of dominance. and i don't think speaking up would work here members have to be able to have there alloted time to give veiws on the topics.
If nothing else i sure would like to hear from Jane for some reason she seems overwhelmed by you all.
Great idea keep at it.
Ha! You've obviously never met me, have you?
Would that be possible to do a video with just Jane on it?