Yes, we are indeed well into the 21st Century now; yet by and large the Internet (with the exception of YouTube.com and a few other places) remains a mostly text-based experience.
My friend and mentor, Philip Banks, makes a powerful case for why audio and video should be part of your website, in this post on his blog. Here is, in my view, the key paragraph…
It is often claimed that people don’t like audio and video on websites but the fact is that the claim is an incomplete sentence that should read “people don’t like pointless audio and video on websites”. If you honestly believe people would rather wade through 9 pages of text rather than watch and listen to something that communicates effectively test your claim by making a telephone call between 7.30pm and 8.30pm on any weekday evening and ask the people you call if you disturbed them reading something or watching television. These people are content hungry but content is not 50 pages of text unless what you are selling is text.
But, read the whole thing.
gotta love Philip! Pointless video and audio are a no-no, but I think people (and I’m one of them, at least most of the time) don’t like audio or video popping up automatically when they visit a website.
Give them a choice.
Bill,
Indeed. Thank you for the comment.
And I would say Mr. Banks own site is a brilliant example of the exception that proves this rule.
Be well,
Bob
Hi Bob,
Thanks for posting on this matter!
A while ago, one of your colleagues Elaine Singer contributed an article called “Sound Off or Sound On, That is the Question” to Casting Voices that covers the same topic, focusing in on audio on websites.
It’s a very entertaining, smart and useful piece.
Cheers,
Stephanie
Stephanie,
Thank you for reminding me about that article from Elaine. I liked it quite a lot.
Be well,
Bob