Robert Scoble recently quipped that Israel is too far away from Mike Arrington’s house. Â To qualify that headline; Mike Arrington founded TechCrunch, a web site that covers news related to business on the Web mainly in Silicon Valley.
Scoble’s argument is that companies doing really great things in Israel may, or may not be, getting the same type of PR that companies in Silicon Valley are.
I’d argue that you don’t have to run your company on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea in order to see the same effect.  We at Viddler, in my opinion, are doing some really great things, have big plans, and are doing it for far less than our competition.  However we seldom receive any “press” related to some of the moves we’re making.  One could easily argue that this is a good thing and that we can publicly operate in relative stealth mode – but sometimes it hurts more than it helps.
As a for instance: If I was the Technology Evangelist for a video-sharing site based out of Silicon Valley – do you think my post about what Flickr video means to the rest of the industry would have gone relatively unnoticed by the online press? Â I doubt it. Â Do I think my post should have gone unnoticed? Yes. Â Because I didn’t say anything that any one else wasn’t already thinking. Â Sometimes the weight of the words written by those in Silicon Valley are held in too high regard, and I wouldn’t want that to happen to us either.
At the end of the day, I believe Viddler can be successful with or without the PR that is generated mainly by “buzz”. Â Buzz may indeed help to spread your message (hopefully the right one) but it definitely not a key to sustainability. Â Sustainability comes from building a valuable product or service, wisdom in the marketplace, execution of vision, and “picking the low-hanging fruit” instead of leaving it behind. Â If you don’t do that, it wouldn’t matter how many posts Mike Arrington writes about your company.
Agree 100%, you guys are doing great things and I am really excited you are in my hometown of Bethlehem, great work!
Jeff: Thanks so much! Next time I am at ViddlerHQ we should meet up for lunch. Watch my Twitter (if you use it) and the next time you see me at ViddlerHQ send me a message.
I am following you on twitter, phpfunk is the handle. I am actually going out to lunch with some of the folks from Viddler on the 25th.
I will definitely keep lunch in mind.
Thanks,
Jeff
Hey also, if you guys ever need help, I have a web developer specializing in PHP, JS, MySQL for about 8-9 years, give me a shout.
Arrington is a blowhard. Along with 92% of everyone else writing about Silicon Valley. Pennsylvania will get its due credit soon enough.
http://fasterfuture.blogspot.com/2008/04/viddler-video-fulfills-its-rich-media.html
I have been watching this web video revolution from the sidelines for years now and I finally decided I should join one of these services. The catalyst was a recent vacation where I shot a few videos on my digital camera. I decided on Viddler over YouTube because of the features. I’m also going to start following Colin on Twitter. Keep it up.
Hi Colin —
Couldn’t agree with you more.
I’m in Wisconsin about to launch a start-up on Friday.
Do you think anyone in SV is returning our calls? Nope.
But I did pitch Rob Sandie @ SXSW – he hasn’t called back either
Marcus
UserVoice.com
I have just recently started using Viddler. I must say I was won over withing minutes after uploading my first video. Keep up the great work!
Colin,
Throw whatever resources you have behind this — Scoble has offered to post his next video on Vidler. https://twitter.com/Scobleizer/statuses/790343272
ahg3
Dan: I actually respect the job TechCrunch has done. They are all definitely very hard working people.
Jared: Thanks for choosing Viddler. I hope you enjoy your use, and if you need anything, let me know.
Marcus: You may send me an email and I will be sure to follow up.
Billy: Thanks! Glad you like Viddler. If you need anything, let me know.
Arthur: Thanks for the heads up.
I am very excited about what you guys are doing at Viddler. I feel guilty for not writing about you on my own blog: http://blog.davemadthat.com. When I heard you interviewed by TWIT (was it on TWIT?) and checked out your site I was blown away.
It may be that the general public still haven’t quite grasped the importance of tagging. I think using the analogy of tagging video like creating your own DVD chapters is a good way to go. You’re right though, the rest of the geek community should be writing more about Viddler.
I’ll post something soon too.
Cheers man.
Dave Delaney
Colin,
It’s great to read about your belief in Viddler’s success irregardless of media buzz.
I bet Scoble’s ping has given you a fair bit more buzz though
Kudos on that.
I love Viddler – seriously.
I even talk dirty to it sometimes.
Viddler saved me from using YouTube (shudder).
Scoble’s Tweet was the impetous (sp?) for checking out Viddler, but all I can say now is “Wow!” As a v-logger and professional producer, I can’t wait to use it. I’m already out bloggin’ the Viddler gospel. Although here in Atlanta, our venerated Atlanta Business Chronicle paper doesn’t even have a technology reporter. (I am not making that up.)
VIDDLER!
Alex: EMURSE!
I actually respect most of what they do as well, and read the site pretty frequently. But I still say the Web 2.0 hype machine is fueled by blowhards. Actually I just like using the word “blowhard” more than anything else.
Colin -
Ping me at matt at bryghtpath dot com re: interview for Blog Herald – email or podcast (or both)..
I’d email you but there’s not a contact link here that I could find..
Thanks!
m
Did Stu say “irregardless”? Wow.
Love Viddler. Keep representing Philly + East Coast.
Also, great pic. I’ve spent many a morning doing burpees at the top of the stairs with that view in front of me.
Location based echo chamber is very much a reality in our industry. I think that by sitting outside of the echo chamber, we’re often at an advantage for the reasons you described.
On the other hand, I think that more cities are unifying their efforts and closing in on the things that make the Valley “tick”. Will we ever duplicate it? No. And we shouldn’t want to. Instead, let’s work together to figure out what things make the area function, and overlay those functions over our own ways of doing things.
While imitation is the highest form of flattery, it isn’t terribly efficient. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Own it, and live it. Viddler, along with so many of our other east coast friends, do such a good job of this. Great post.
Viddler rules! I just started using it but I’m really digging it. One complaint: I can’t figure out how to make my group private, as in invite-only or at least requires approval to join. Any thoughts?
Dude, I feel your pain. We at Podcast Spot have been doing device-specific audio and video conversion for TWO YEARS but most people don’t know that (upload a WMV and we’ll encode it for the Xbox, iPod, etc). We’re small and without a lot of money for marketing, we’re in Canada, and we have the word “Podcast” in our name. It’s harsh.
I also like what you say about sustainability. Building something you’re proud of and something that people want is what it’s all about. Go Viddler!
Click to play this video.
Duncan: Point taken. Duly noted. And consider it done.
One point about “complaining”. I think if you read my post again I wasn’t complaining but commenting on the facts. I’m not much of a complainer. Someday you and I will meet up and I think you’ll see that. I’ve always appreciated your use of Viddler, so thanks for that also.
I really appreciate you coming by, leaving a video comment, and giving us the best piece of advice we’ve gotten in a long time.
I had no idea you were in Pennsylvania. I live in PA and am a big fan of what you guys are about. Thanks for this post.
Pingback: The New Media Diva
Hi Colin. I need to second what Duncan said in his video response. I love Viddler, but the company’s outreach program needs a lot of work. Like Duncan, I can’t remember the last time I got an announcement from y’all. I even commented about this on a blog post a few days ago: http://www.thenewmediadiva.com/2008/06/23/youtube-going-after-viddler/#comments
Please, please, focus more on this, not for the buzz, but to help build your community.