Rocketboom Archive

Tonight in NYC is the NY Video 2.0 Meetup. The event tonight is a bit special because several VC partners are going to review the startup pitches. Companies presenting include Aniboom, Clearspring, SesameVault and VoloMedia.

Also, Andrew Baron of Rocketboom is going to present the launch of his “Magma” video product.

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Over the past 24 hours, a story has blown up regarding video blogging and the lack of disclosure. We first wrote about the issues of video blogger disclosure with regards to Morgan Webb and her show Webb Alert. When she launched the show, it was produced (and still is I believe) by ad network Federated Media.

It sure seems to me like video bloggers have a different code when it comes to disclosure. Whether it’s with stories like the above, Amanda’s fiasco with DuPont, or other video bloggers, there seems to be little to no disclosure. Is that ok?

Let’s recap what happened over the past 24 hours. Techcrunch had a post about mobile video technologies and included Sarah Austin of Pop17 in the videos. Apparently Sarah is paid by Flixwagon to use their service and for some "consulting". There was no disclosure of this on the Techcrunch post. Author Jason Kinkaid says that Sarah was just the video model and didn’t actually comment on the reviews in any regard. Editor Mike Arrington says TC didn’t know of this sponsorship deal when they wrote their post. Pat Phelan caught word of this and posted an investigation of the Flixwagon deal. There’s a good discussion about video blogging disclosure on his post.

Let me disclose that I am friendly with both Sarah and her boyfriend Andrew Baron, Rocketboom founder. When Sarah uses Flixwagon it’s not required that she discloses that she is getting paid from them. But when she is promoting their service, she does need to disclose. Here’s what disclosures I believe were missing from the Techcrunch post:

1. Sarah is paid by Flixwagon
2. Techcrunch sponsors Sarah’s show Pop17

These simple statements would have avoided this entire issue. Sarah notes that she always discloses but I am not sure this is the case. Earlier this week she had Rocketboom on Pop17 but there was no disclosure of her fiduciary relationship with Rocketboom or her personal one. Should there have been? Hells yes. Last night she wrote about this topic and linked to Techcrunch. Should there have been disclosure that TC is a sponsor of Pop17? Hells yes.

Now let’s take this topic one step further to really drive home the point of video blogger disclosure at the macro level. In the videos she pimps her Web site, and says her favorite blog is Techcrunch. Which by the way is her show sponsor. Now let’s watch this video outside of the context of Techcrunch and view it on the Qik site. Here we see a video with a "popular" video blogger who pimps Techcrunch. Where’s the disclosure? The key to remember is that videos will travel further than text will and disclosure needs to be included in the videos so they travel with it.

Perhaps video platforms need to build in a disclosure option - this would certainly save us from future issues like this. As product placements in videos (see Diggnation) grow, this topic will become more widely discussed.

Here’s my video with some further thoughts on the topic of video blogger disclosure:

On a side note, it’s interesting to hear that for "a few dollars more" Sarah is willing to abandon Flixwagon for Qik. She says she would never take money if she didn’t believe in the product but she’s so willing to jump ship for a few more dollars. If I was running FlixWagon, she’d be fired immediately because that statement shows she is in it for the cash, not for the quality of the service. She pulled a Tila Tequila. Update: Just to be clear, this paragraph has nothing to do with disclosure, but more to do with endorsing products.

It’s simple. Disclose your relationships. Whether you blog on video, text, audio, whatever.

Two of my favorite video bloggers hooked up today on the WineLibrary.TV set. Joanne from Rocketboom joined WineLibrary.TV host Gary Vaynerchuk for the thunder show today. I’ve embedded it below. Joanne really classied up the place — they worked very well together.

Gary is looking for people to join him and he is specifically looking for "Web 2.0 personalities" - send him a note if you are interested. I will throw my hat into the pool and I would totally bring my Giants spitcan. I don’t know a damn thing about wine but I would totally bring the thunder.

Check out my interview with Joanne and our WineLibrary coverage.

NY-based videoblog Rocketboom is said to be expanding it’s videoblog portfolio says Tilzy.tv. Back in November, Robert Scoble took Rocketboom founder Andrew Baron hostage in his car for an interview and Andrew noted that a "live" Rocketboom was in the works (currently the produce the shows ahead of time).

Today Tilzy sat down with Rocketboom producer Elspeth "Ellie" Rountree for an interview (I’ve embedded it below) and Ellie noted that she is also working on a new show which will be produced by Rocketboom and will feature "interesting content". Unfortunately someone offstage cut her mic so we don’t yet know what that interesting content will be. Both the live Rocketboom and Ellie’s show are "coming soon."

Check out my audio interview with Joanne and Andrew from 2007.

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