Youtube blogs, who can watch them?

[becida]

Sitting here this morning my wife was watching a video about vandwellers who have youtube channels, these were people at the RTR this year.
When I'm vandwelling I don't have the bandwidth to do youtube,  printed words & photos are not bad but video really sucks up my limited resource.

Why I was wondering, is there so much out there these days using video as the medium?  I think it's because modern phones come with  video camera and it's easy.
It takes me at least half a day to put 500 words down & a handfull of pictures for a blog, that's after I've figured out what it is that I want to say.

Not to say that all use video as the medium because it's easy... Bob & Jamie and many others use video to tell a tale that really could not be told as well on paper and there are some who just seem to enjoy the medium.

I think that video bloggers write for people sitting at home wishing/thinking about giving it a try.

 

[AbuelaLoca]

I have been soaking up the youtube videos on build outs and life on the road and almost all of the ones that included the RTR. I am, however, sitting in my house using my regular ol' internet connection!! I've tried to read a few of the blogs, but the scenery in some of the videos just has me hooked!

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

A lot of it IS aimed at people at home considering doing it. If you are already living the life, why use bandwidth watch others doing the same thing? I guess entertainment, but thats probably not a priority for most travelers. If its something i dont know and im interested in, i might sacrifice some but i rarely bother with 'day in the life' or vlog vids. Blogs are more efficient.

 

[slynne]

I love watching the video blogs of people on the road and yes, it is because I am not on the road. When I do get out on the road though, I think having good internet would be important to me so I have especially loved watching people's videos of how they get good internet in remote locations with antennas and signal boosters and such. Very informative!

 

[Thirsty Boots Nomad]

What I did before (when vlogs were not quite as popular), and plan to do again when I am back on the road, was when I was in a large enough town to have free wifi locations 1) download multiple shows/movies on iTunes to watch later & 2) catch up on at least some of the vlogs I subscribe to. Email, blogs, and things like that I could get through my phone.

 

[AngryVanMan]

Video consumption is quite possibly the lowest effort activity a person can engage in during their waking hours. It is linear in delivery, often emotionally driven, and completely passive. Functional illiteracy continues its advance in western culture, "screen time" increasing in lock-step.

We are four generations deep in television culture. Elevated discourse, long-form reasonable debate and rational evidence-based analysis are almost completely reserved to shrinking "elite" circles. Print media, clinging to survival, emulates sound bite television production with flashy colors, catch phrases, gotchas, and "interactive" features. Trendy click bait headlines and titles are a learned adaptation from the marketing and ad spots that pay the bills and keep the lights on. The most successful content is no longer than absolutely necessary to deliver the requisite embedded advertisements. Optimized for attention span and emotional appeal.

We have reached such a level of cultural absurdity that the mere thought of paying for content directly and voluntarily is an affront to the dignified, hard working people who have to sit there and listen to "worthless scumbags" providing this daily dose of infotainment ask for direct monetary support from the audience. We even have nifty doublespeak for this in the peculiar case of YouTube: e-begging.

Isn't it wonderful to have a means at our fingertips to feel connected to people we've never met? What a glorious stand in we've created for actual human contact and attachment. Perhaps this is the pinnacle of human achievement. Welcome to our brave new world!

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That being said I really enjoyed all the RTR videos and dutifully consumed all of them, occasionally wiping accumulated drool from my chin and getting up (begrudgingly) as necessary to handle bodily functions. I once thought of a van as a means to achieve a more adventurous, active lifestyle - but it could also easily optimize the current status quo! By careful and thoughtful design, the seat could also be the toilet, the fridge and cabinets at arms length - eliminating the troublesome interruptions from the necessities of life. A few tweaks and improvements to the burgeoning drive-thru infrastructure and Bob's yer uncle.

 

[DuneElliot]

I enjoy some of them and it really depends on the content. I like the travel vlogs when they feel like they some useful information or I just enjoy watching the people who do them. YouTube channels like Less Junk More Journey, Keep Your Daydream and Gone With The Wynns are the kind of vlogs I like to watch...they are interactive, feel well edited, contain interesting information and have enjoyable human relation dynamics. I have a really hard time watching some of the mish-mash kind of videos.

 

[Gary68]

sorry,dont want to watch you make a grilled cheese sandwich in your van

utube can equal a nice little revenue stream and if you play the unscrupulous capitalist,a lot more than that

the bottom of utube can be quite entertaining sometimes but i will stick with motor trend,petrolicious,peter windsor(f1 insider)docs and of course music

 

[cyndi]

Besides having limited data I find most you tube videos boring. Don't want to see most people up that close and personal, can't stand the um, ah and like and the information just isn;t that useful to me.
I prefer a blog, with pictures that I can enlarge and look at details.
But I miss google reader and the other readers I've sed and am using suck.

 

[frater secessus]

Lately I've been thinking many video blogs/vlogs are really a better fit for podcasting.  Watching someone talk at a camera for 20mins is a spectacular waste of bandwidth.  I convert these to audio-only on a remote server using youtube-dl thusly:

youtube-dl –format bestaudio [URL]

The resulting audio is generally 10-12x smaller than the lowest video rate.   Now if they are actually showing something I will d/l a low-res version of the video.

I suspect a main factor in why talking head segments are done as YT vids is they are easier to monetize.

 

[DuneElliot]

Lately I've been thinking many video blogs/vlogs are really a better fit for podcasting.  Watching someone talk at a camera for 20mins is a spectacular waste of bandwidth.  I convert these to audio-only on a remote server using youtube-dl thusly:

youtube-dl –format bestaudio [URL]

The resulting audio is generally 10-12x smaller than the lowest video rate.   Now if they are actually showing something I will d/l a low-res version of the video.

I suspect a main factor in why talking head segments are done as YT vids is they are easier to monetize.

Talking heads are irritating, I agree. I appreciate landscapes but not if the video is almost nothing but landscapes...I want substance if I'm going to watch something.

 

[becida]

What a fine idea!

 

[Thirsty Boots Nomad]

Slight detour; ... but after just finishing a couple videos (both supposed to be rv lifestyle related I thought) with a woman 1) claiming ownership of the blm land and road she camped on (multiple mentions of, "my road") 2)implying any/every place a man, single or in multiples, is destined to be rowdy and unsafe unless women and/or children are also present; and a man using one of Bob's videos (and I have the impression it's not the first time he's done this) to show women are incompetent/incapable of life (on the road or off) without a man or men to take care of them and show them what to do I think I'm done for awhile with utube (and possibly society to a lesser extent) for at least a couple days. Wow!!!!

 

[DuneElliot]

Slight detour; ... but after just finishing a couple videos (both supposed to be rv lifestyle related I thought) with a woman 1) claiming ownership of the blm land and road she camped on (multiple mentions of, "my road") 2)implying any/every place a man, single or in multiples, is destined to be rowdy and unsafe unless women and/or children are also present; and a man using one of Bob's videos (and I have the impression it's not the first time he's done this) to show women are incompetent/incapable of life (on the road or off) without a man or men to take care of them and show them what to do I think I'm done for awhile with utube (and possibly society to a lesser extent) for at least a couple days.  Wow!!!!

I watched that too and generally enjoy her videos but I wasn't exactly enthused by this one at all. I do agree about the disgusting nature of the people who tore up the ground though without any respect to the land.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

There is both good and bad aspects to youtube, just like anything else. Fortunately you can actively ignore bad yt.

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[jimindenver]

When we use to camp at 10.000 ft in the Rockies we had plenty of data on Cricket/AT&T. The issue was getting a signal. That's when I started looking for small bits of data on other carriers just to stay connected with my business and the first was a Freedompop Sprint device that gave me up to a gig and a half of data free a month. T-Mobile had their band 12 up there and I found a device through 4gas that gave me 5 gigs a month PLUS their Binge on service allowing me to watch all of the services under that program including you tube, Netflix and more for $17.71 a month. Now I had service on three carriers and it was a no brainer when I found the unlimited Verizon 3G for $5 a month giving me all of the carriers. Cricket is pretty pricy so I was glad when Freedompop started selling AT&T 4G service on 99 cent sims for up to a bit more than a gig a month for free. They now sell AT&T LTE sims for $1.99 if I wanted the upgrade. The last device I bought was 4Gcommunities unlimited Sprint LTE service for $14 a month and near a big city it is the fastest of all.

So what started as fullfilling the need to stay connected for business has evolved into the ability to be connected anywhere there is a usable service. Even in the rare event that only Sprint 3G is available I can keep in touch and even watch some video at 480P. Sans the Cricket business line I have all four carriers for less than $40 and I'll be down grading the Cricket just to keep my number.

Since I went full time the first of the year I haven't been without service yet. Verizon and AT&T have been the most dependable but there are times that T-Mobile and Sprint are faster. I have been able to stream anywhere I am on multiple services without worrying about my data.

 

[waldenbound]

The van dwelling videos on YouTube have long reached the point of over-saturation. Bob, Chris and Cheri (Technomadia), and some others have been doing this for a long time and have good, relevant information to pass on. One can only watch so many, "Hey guys, went to the RTR/put insulation up/got a knock at 3:00 am by the cops," it's just too saturated.
Time to look for some interesting documentaries.

 

[DannyB1954]

Why I was wondering, is there so much out there these days using video as the medium? 

It is profitable. It is called monetization of a channel. People may complain about commercialism, but they profit from it. Advertisers pay Youtube for advertizing space. The more viewers a channel gets, the more they are willing to pay to get the greater exposure. Youtube in turn kicks down money to the owners of the video channels. Some people have done quite well with this system. The more subscribers you have the bigger the money. The more their videos are viewed, the bigger the money. 

I have quit watching the channels were they constantly prey on the kindness of their viewers. One guy in particular seems to be fanatical about it. I guess the new term is an E-begger. I do help out those with physical or mental challenges, but I think that I worked for every penny I have, maybe people who have an aversion to work should not expect that I will send them what I worked for.

 

[blars]

One youtube channel I watch (sometimes) disclosed that he gets almost $0.02/view average on his about 30 minute videos. I noticed that Bob had received almost 10,000 views on one of his 10 minute videos made at the RTR in less than 24 hours. That is not profit, there are expenses involved in producing a youtube video as well as the time involved.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

You only start making decent cheddar at 100k views per video, which i think is like 250-300 bucks. People bring this up on reddit all the time like they have some sort of hatred toward content creators making money for providing entertainment and education. Its the same as watching tv. No one hates the producer/director/actors/writers of Friends, Jacass, or NBC Nightly news for making money. A yt usually fulfills all those roles

For solo vandwellers in particular, its a way to share the experience they are having, thus enriching the experience for themselves as well.
Very few of the vandwelling yt channels ive seen have probably ever gotten a check from google yet. (you need to make 100$ to even get one).

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