Rocket Boom Turns One!

The rise of blogs during the past four years from the Internet's old-school margins to the mainstream has made words like blog (from weblog), blogger, blogosphere and the recent "blogebrity" part of the media's discourse on technology, society, politics, culture and media itself. The blogger model, coupled with the features of radio and digital audio, provided the framework for podcasting, which has exploded in just the past year.

Now that Apple has released its video iPod and a platform for distribution of AV podcasts, we may see a similar rise of videologs or vlogs. The ever-increasing growth in bandwidth and broadband connectivity to the home will only help vlogs or video podcasts find a much larger audience.

But vlogging isn't so new. We've been keeping our eyes on a few vlogs during the past year and our favorite is a vlog from New York called Rocket Boom.

Produced by (and "starring") Amanda Congdon, Rocket Boom recently marked its first anniversary. To celebrate, Congdon posted a special vlog entry that shows her dancing in the streets like a maniac at famous locales throughout New York City.

Rocket Boom is produced almost daily. That Congdon has managed to keep the vlog going for a year with consistent -- and consistently entertaining -- vlog posts is a testament to her talent and dedication.

But what's the content like? Rocket Boom is like a blogger's version of The Late Show with David Letterman and the Daily Show with John Stewart, mixed with the DIY, guerrilla aesthetic. But Congdon has a personality, wit and style of humor all her own. Rocket Boom and Congdon have not gone unnoticed, as her audience has grown and with it the amount of bandwidth given to her for free by some supportive Internet angels.

Predictions? We'll say this: Amanda Congdon will be videoblogging's first real star, it's first real ... er, "vlogebrity." Yup. you heard it here first.

Happpy birthday, Rocket Boom!

Essential Links

Rocket Boom One-Year Anniversary - Dancing in NYC Vlog Post

Posted by Robsam at November 3, 2005 11:33 PM