Videopinions: What’s the big idea?

We started Expo as a fun way to learn about products using video. That simple idea quickly collided with another powerful concept: people trust other people more than any other source of information when they are thinking about buying products. So, if we really wanted to help people learn about products we needed to bring in the real experts: the people who use the products everyday. The challenge was that no one had ever tried to combine the idea of product reviews with video before…certainly not with video shot on camcorders, anyway! So we knew there would be some trial, some error and hopefully eventually some success.

What we did have was a clear goal that has remained consistent: merging the benefits of word of mouth with the power of video to create a new tool for product research. And with each day and the newest batch of Videopinions, we get more and more excited. There is so much information and passion conveyed in video that just isn’t possible in text. Viewers walk away from watching a Videopinion feeling like they know the person who has taken the time to give them advice. Viewers remember the person who created the Vpinion and the products they reviewed far longer than they’d typically remember a written review. Viewers remember how the product works. And they remember the nuance: it’s less about it being a great product or a lousy product, but the features the reviewer loved and those they…didn’t.

Given all of that, it probably won’t surprise you that we’d like to say, ‘thanks’ to everyone who has participated in creating Videopinions (including the unsung cameramen!). We hope that you feel good about helping to create something new, that you enjoyed the creative process and that you want to continue to be part of the community. It’s that personal connection that made us start this blog. We feel like we know you and we wanted you to know us! We don’t have a lot of answers yet, but we have a lot of ideas. Based on the Videopinions we’ve gotten to date, you’ve probably got even better ideas so feel free to pass them along. In upcoming posts, we’ll write about why we pay for submissions, new features we’ll be launching and other topics we hope you’ll find interesting. That said, we’re hoping this ends up less a blog and more a bulletin board full of dialogue, feedback and ideas. Thanks for reading.

- Bill

4 comments June 27th, 2006

Emergency Preparedness – the stuff to get

Okay, so I’m a total freak. I live in NYC with my husband, have two small kids under 7, and my senior mom lives with us, too. We’ve been here for over 10 years, and we have seen the City stretched to its resource capacity during some pretty big crises. With all these ‘dependents’ in my household, I have decided that emergency preparedness is pretty essential.

There is the normal ‘plan’ that you should have…you know, make sure you know how the school handles emergencies, etc. But the part that I find comforting personally is having the stuff you need *before* the big run on the stores where everything is sold out by the time you get there. Having been through the NYC blackout, an LA earthquake and some other crises, I’ve built a list that I find to be the ‘essentials’ and some stuff that just makes me feel better. I honestly have these things in backpacks under my bed, ready to grab and go without thinking. I bought myself and my friends a kit similar to this one.

My research generally led to having a few core things:

• 2-3 days food rations for each person: they have pretty cool bars that don’t make you thirsty, and have an optimized fat/protein/calorie combo and last for 5 years. People say they taste like lemon cookies.
• Water rations: not just purification tablets, cause who knows how to use those tablets. This is actual water that comes in pouches.
• First aid kit: I decided not to go for the one with a kit for stitches, since I’d probably pass out before being able to stitch something.
• Few things that if you had your head on straight you might remember: pen & paper, whistles for family members, matches, tissues

Part 1 of 4 on emergency preparedness. Continued tomorrow.

- Daphne

Add comment June 27th, 2006