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Chapter 12: Blogs, Vlogs, Podcasts and Webinars

 Our current media age is one of constant sharing and updates on our personal happenings. Everywhere you look on the internet there is a fragment of someone's personal life floating right there for everybody's viewing pleasure. But how did we get here? Well in 1994 a college student named Justin Hall created a website to share his personal opinions and daily events in his personal life. This was the first blog. Through a long time of evolutions and new technology we eventually arrived here to me writing this blog! But what happened in between then and now?

Well for starters, blogging set a few precedents and ideas that would persist throughout all who use it and it's successors. That being timely updates, humanizing digital presences, generating meaning, and personal connection. These benefits extend to marketers too as they can use these to connect with customers on a deeper level than general ads on social media. This is why people like blogs so much, they are more than just an advertisement, they are a way for people to feel like the person or company is a real living thing like them.

Vlogs eventually arose as platforms like YouTube became popular. This gave way to blogs being live recorded and in a format you could watch intently or listen to in the background. It allowed the personality of blogs to extend to a visual medium where people could actually see the figures they follow. Visual mediums create a connection that words cannot do alone. 

Podcasts are the flipside of the spectrum and remove the video completely and solely rely on audio. This format is surprisingly effective for attention because of its ease-of-listening value. People can absorb and be up to date on all manner of information with just a pair of earbuds and a phone. This holds a interesting value because of how it still humanizes and personalizes the blog format even further but no longer requires the visual component of the vlog. There are several ideas that don't work well with vlogs, but also just as many that podcasts can't do either. So podcasts pick up where vlogs can't reach.

All of these formats prove a concept that people like to feel connected. Ads are effective, but to create that deeper connection, marketers need to look at how to become personal with their viewers. Make their readers feel like they are more than just revenue but valued customers. That is the purpose of a blog and it's various formats.

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