Why Text Remains King of the Web

My friend Robert Scoble has a problem. He produces terrific videos on technology companies for Fast Company. They're a little long sometimes, but they're almost always interesting.

So what's Scoble's problem? Well a lot. The videos don't generate a lot of in-bound links from bloggers, conversations on Twitter or mentions on aggregators like Techmeme. "None of my 1,000+ videos has ever made it to Techmeme," Scoble said. 

He's right. A quick analysis reveals some get no links, others get a couple. However, when he surrounds them with text, it's a different story. Why? Text! It provides context and I suspect for many it's a proxy for the video.

I am starting to believe that despite all the hype around online video, text remains King of the Web. Why text? There are at least five reasons...

• It's scannable - according to Jakob Nielsen users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average site visit and 20% is more likely

• Three letters: SEO - For all that Google Universal Search has done to elevate video, search results are still largely made up of text and everyone wants better SEO

• The workplace - It's much easier for cube-based workers to read text on the screen and get away with it vs. watching long videos. Watching videos (even work related vids) screams "slacker"  

• Mobile Devices - Yes, of course you can put a video on an iPhone. But it's work and requires planning. Text is easier to pull up in a nanosecond  

• Distribution - Nothing flies like text. It's so easy to cut and paste it and send it somewhere or to clip and re-syndicate it via email, RSS or social networks

I don't know about you but I love text. Now I have always been a reader. Today I am a scanner. So for me it comes natural.

Still, think about just how much of what you consume and share online remains text-based. Twitter - it's all text. Friendfeed - mostly text, but augmented by images. Facebook - a mix but certainly a ton of text. Even what makes YouTube hot is the metadata and commentary around the vids. So I don't see any big threat to King Text. 

So what does this mean? Well, if you're creating video you better pay attention to the text you put around it. Without text, you're dead. You won't be found. Further, if you want to influence you must have a command of the English language and know how to write for the web in sound bites. More on that in a subsequent post. I believe marketers and PR pros are well positioned to succeed.

What's your view?

Comments

[Karl Long]

There are lots of successful examples of video on the web, from lisa nova, to Lonely Island, Ask A Ninja, Rocketboom, FRED etc. The point is that your content has to be appropriate and compelling for the right format. In the end video, text, images, and audio are all amazing tools, you just have to match your content with the format and figure out the best mix.

[Mishon8]

viva la difference I say - good thing we have the choice of so many ways to convey messages and stories and that they don't have to be competing choices but complementary ones. Both video and text have roles to play.

[Marco]

Or maybe it's because Arrington is an a$$hole and you're a friendly guy.

[Ashley Mattys]

Agreed - content does have to be appropriate for the format. You are definitely right about that. However, I do think there's a difference between Garyvee and lisa nova, for example. Garyvee does videos about the web and social media in addition to the Wine Library videos, where lisa nova's videos are purely for entertainment value (correct me if I'm wrong!). So my point about Garyvee is that I probably wouldn't watch someone else talking about the web/social media on video... not that he's the only one doing video right.

Anyway, good talking to you! Thanks for the response.

[Sachin Balagopalan]

Great points ... It's going to be a long time before we stop reading ... http://bit.ly/dFMk

[Rubin]

Couldn't agree more with this article. Words remain the best media ever invented to convey facts, opinions or ideas.

[Karl Long]

"mostly videos are a time consuming linear nonsense"

Then you are watching the wrong videos :) Check out the TED videos, watch Ze Frank (there's a lot to be learned from "the show", watch the 10 best presentations of all time http://www.knowhr.com/blog/2006/08/21/top-10-best-presentations-ever/

The point is video is one of the highest resolution communication mechanisms we have on the web, the only thing higher resolution is meeting someone.

[theeeepcexperiment.blogspot.co]

Unless I'm listening to music on sites like Pandora or Finetune, I don't even bother to unmute the speakers on my laptop. I'm constantly multitasking on the computer. I'll have multiple tabs open in Firefox and be on instant messenger, and have OpenOffice Writer up working on a blog post. A video would just get in the way.

[Gerrit Eicker]

Thanks for the link, Karl. - Beside those "high end videos" it's a personal disfavour of mine: My reception of text is simply faster *and* more effective than its A/V-counterpart.

[Steve Beattie]

A thought experiment: imagine this post and followup discussion as a series of videos rather than hypertext. Consider how many less participants would be motivated to involve themselves.

[Peter Lunn]

Brilliant comment Tiil. Just my thoughts on the subject conveyed clearly in words.

I am typically a left-brainer but often right-brain expression is needed to bring an added dimension to the presentation of a subject.

Text and video have different things to offer. It's not a case of either or but both and.

[Howard J Moorey]

Thanks for the post Steve! Many more ahead of me, & sorry haven't read them all, so probably repeating.

We love to Read! Simple as that. Newspaper businesses won't die, as long as they move with the times! FT.com & BBC.com on Twitter - we still get to READ the story!

No adequate Video download solutions (like winzip) for country bumpkins like me with poor broadband, means it simply takes too long to get to see the pictures!

Cut, paste, send/save, read on the Smart/iPhone - that's what we want to do!

Memo to vid productions companies everywhere - Keep It Simple AND Lightweight AND Surrounded by lots of lovely TEXT!

[Utah Web Design]

I love video and the statistics are showing that online video is increasing every second. Google purchased YouTube because they were looking into the future as to what people would want. However the search engines are still learning and improving the way they crawl and index video. It is very important to have text that surrounds the video.

[Katherine Canipelli]

Having scanned all of this text in 5 minutes...(fast, easy)....I'm wondering whether audio files are a viable middle ground -- engaging (harking back to the old radio show days or talk radio today) but requiring less of my brain, allowing me to multi-task. Presumably with some of the same SEO limitations as video. Any insights?

[Steve Rubel]

Katherine, I think audio suffers from the same.

[Sheena T Abraham]

Some amazing, content-rich videos and podcasts are out there. But when I'm in a hurry or want to scan for relevant facts, give me a transcript! I don't want to sit through ads or a cute intro. With videos/podcasts, you have no idea whether the rest of the content will be valuable, and you're at the mercy of the clock as it counts down the remaining time.

Transcript, transcript, transcript, please.

Text gives me more control of my time.

[Diamonds]

A good practice is when you post a video, you put the dialog on the same page. That way you can either watch the video or read the script. Not to mention it will Search Engine Optimized.

[Carter Harkins]

When it comes to the web, Text is not king, and neither is video. It's good, easily discoverable content that is worthy of being deemed royalty, and nothing less.

The resounding opinion of this comment thread seems to be that video is a waste of time. With so much untrained "user-generated" pablum swamping the pipes, I can see how this conclusion has been reached. But a well made how-to video on a topic I want to investigate in greater visual detail can be invaluable, and actually save me hours of reading and re-reading a text-laden, less-than-well-written page. As for the rest of the interviews and self-aggrandizing marketing videos that exist, I'm with you; it wastes my time.

But text can be a waste of time, too. There are vast swaths of the web I avoid at all costs, because there simply isn't much there in the way of content. Text happens to be a place I regularly find good stuff for my brain, but I regularly find brain food in videos as well.

With the border between the kingdoms of web and video growing increasingly blurry, I agree with many of the commenters above that, given a few years' time, video (and by that I mean well produced audiovisual content) will be viewed differently, even by many of its current critics.

[Alicia]

The problem with video is that so many times people don't know how long they have to sit there to see the story. To get to the main point. With text your eye can visually scan an article and you can skim the text to get the "jist" of the article. It leaves the user in control.

[nick pepito]

Video has yet to find it's place online. Still in the "infancy" stage if you will, considering text has much larger adoption. It's easier for people to work with (text vs. video) and there is a steep learning curve. Until we can show people how to effectively create and share video, text will always be king. I often associate it with newspapers & magazines vs. tv,film, video.

Text is easy to work with, understandable, and effective. In my mind it is part of the education process from the beginning. Video is generally not that easy to work with, not easily understood, and often not effective because of those factors. Unless you have taken courses or self educated in video, the skills aren't there.

We are working on it though.

[David Leonhardt]

Steve, I agree with your analysis and specifically with the five points. In fact, point #1 on text being scannable on its own makes text supreme. No dig against video to supplement text, but not to replace it.

How important is scannability?

The other side of our business is a freelance writing agency. We ghostwrite a fair number of books. Our writers prefer the information dump from clients happen by email, preferably in Word documents. Scannable. printable. Highlightable. Easy to sift through a find an item later on.

If a client wants an information dump in person, most writers are happy to accommodate. They record it and the client pays a transcription fee. Want to dump by phone? Again, no problem; client pays a transcription fee.

Video and audio are ideal for relaxation. But when you are actively seeking information, text has it hands down. Will this always be the case? I can't say; but it is for now.

[bjewelled]

Good post and discussion. I just hope some of those "hyping" video are listening and get the message - video is not now and probably never will be the "be all and end all" of the internet. I'm never quite sure of the analogy but TV has been around for more than 50 years yet newspapers are still with us.

A further gripe, yet to be mentioned, is that much of the video seen is simply, for sake of a better word, lazy - it is so much easier just to upload a video of an interview than write an article or a transcription.

[Sal Cardu]

I totally agree with you. I have a couple web sites and have been working on optimizing them over the past three to four weeks. I've been particularly blown away with my results and it has all been down to re-writing my content. However I have also found something else Google has taken an incredible liking to our site since optimizing my text. It is visiting my site daily in double digits and pushing up people that have put pages on our site to the top of Google. My website consists of offering Free Virtual Tours for anyone and obviously these tours use both pictures, panoramas and videos etc. However the text is mixed with the pictures and so not only is my Free Virtual Tour site running up the ranks on Google and Yahoo but interestingly if you type in a couple of the tours that people have put on YouVR.com they are ranking number 1, 2 or 3 - Only on Google though). I don't know what is happening but check it out for yourself. Just type in "The Ponderosa Road House" or "Bar Glorioso" or "Greywolf Chalet". Whatever is happening I'm telling everyone top create a Free Virtual tour on our site - absolutely no cost, helps market your service or product. Obviously don't forget to link the tour back to your site as that will help increase your one way incoming links. I don't want to go on as if I'm promoting my site as this is about SEO stuff. Hope the tip is usefyull to all of you!Cheers,Sal

[Sal Cardu]

I totally agree with you. I have a couple web sites and have been working on optimizing them over the past three to four weeks. I've been particularly blown away with my results and it has all been down to re-writing my content. However I have also found something else Google has taken an incredible liking to our site since optimizing my text. It is visiting my site daily in double digits and pushing up people that have put pages on our site to the top of Google. My website consists of offering Free Virtual Tours for anyone and obviously these tours use both pictures, panoramas and videos etc. However the text is mixed with the pictures and so not only is my Free Virtual Tour site running up the ranks on Google and Yahoo but interestingly if you type in a couple of the tours that people have put on YouVR.com they are ranking number 1, 2 or 3 - Only on Google though). I don't know what is happening but check it out for yourself. Just type in "The Ponderosa Road House" or "Bar Glorioso" or "Greywolf Chalet". Whatever is happening I'm telling everyone top create a Free Virtual tour on our site - absolutely no cost, helps market your service or product. Obviously don't forget to link the tour back to your site as that will help increase your one way incoming links. I don't want to go on as if I'm promoting my site as this is about SEO stuff. Hope the tip is usefyull to all of you!Cheers,Sal

[Tammi Metzler]

Great discussion! Well said, Terry Heaton...it's all about convenience and speed.

As someone who would much rather scan a page of text than settle in to watch a lengthy video (even if it's only two minutes, that's a lifetime in this day and age!), I completely agree with your post. Video is fine and dandy for some - in fact, it's gaining a larger following every day. But I'll stick with text, thank you very much (and I'm not at all influenced by the fact that I write web content for a living...).