10 Things That Will Happen to Videoblogging in 2007

Later this weekend, I’ll do a post looking back on 2006, possibly with video highlights, though that will largely depend on if I can manage to shoot, edit, and post a video with my current crazy schedule.

But making predictions for next year, that I can do:

1. Google will fix the problems with YouTube’s video quality and will implement RSS feeds for all YouTube member profiles. Which is great, but they won’t fix the rampant copyright infringement problems.
2. Google will buy Feedburner.
3. Videoblogs will appear in a thriller novel by someone famous. Like James Patterson.
4. I will disappear from the vlogosphere for three months at a time, resurfacing every so often to apologize for not making enough videos. (This one’s easy to predict, since it’s exactly what I do right now!)
5. A major pop star will get into trouble with their music label for using his or her own music in a videoblog.
6. Trade magazines for electronics, semiconductors, and manufacturing will start videoblogs, but will quickly realize how unsexy these topics are in video. Some will succeed anyway, largely by getting beautiful, intelligent women to talk on camera.
7. Cars will be sold with built-in WiFi (“Car PC Hacks” (Damien Stolarz*)
8. Foil-lined pockets will become all the rage. It doesn’t have anything to do with videoblogging, but I’ll bet it’ll happen.
9. Someone will be murdered because of their videoblog. It’s not a threat, it’s a prediction. Humans are capable of the very worst things.
10. Hundreds of people will find love and peace because of their videoblogs. Humans are also capable of the very best.

Those are my 10 predictions about the kinds of things you’ll hear about videoblogging next year. Oh, and a freebie bonus prediction: The media will still not understand the nuance between “videoblog” and “online video.”**

*This book, the prospect of WiFi in my car, makes me drool. Then I remember that I can’t use a computer and drive without becoming a gruesome statistic.

**Do you know the difference? Roughly speaking, videoblogs have video that people can subscribe to and watch without visiting your website, such as through an RSS feed, and also is posted in chronological order***. Online video is just that– videos posted to the Internet, something that’s been around since the mid-90’s, if not before.

***Chronological order is also the correct term for a series that is listed with the most recent first, since the phrase only means “ordered by time.” It does not mean “ordered by time, oldest first.” The phrase “reverse chronological order” is, therefore, silly and redundant. Which, I suppose, makes it perfect for use on the Internet.