Digiwonder?

For the past two nights I've been glued to my online tube. I've decided I'm waaaay overdue to turn in my American Idol– oh so 1.0– obsession, and enter into my first vlog crush. Seems like Rocketboom is a fine little site on which to embark.

Tonight, in less than 20 minutes, I learned that 28% of my Yankee Western PA speech is southern influenced, what George Soros thinks about his legacy, the health perks of a ropeless jump rope, and how some savvy bloggers are fundraising for African health clinics. Groovy. Rocket's a cocktail of do-gooder spots, ADD whimsy, and juicy Internet finds all presented by one hip anchor chick Amanda Congdon, who I'm sure has the boys (and some girls) a-talkin'.

While the episodes are short– only three minutes a pop, when I watch, I can't help but be lured into a bunny run from link to link. Who produces? Andrew Baron. What's his bio? Hmmm.. composer, photographer… No way– Electric Company's out on DVD! Gotta see that.

There's a sincerity in this vlog that reminds me of MTV's early days. It encapsulates the 2.0 media dream by reaching an audience of 200,000 up to a million viewers on some downloads with a production budget of pennies and only two worker bees– at least for now. What cable or broadcast show can claim that?

Rocketboom's popularity has got journalists, pundits, and big media types speculating about the future of mainstream TV. It's attracted its first advertisers, will soon start selling subscriptions and has the plan to start hiring more correspondents around the world. (See the Businessweek article.) Could Rocketboom be the Internet 2.0 equivalent of the once frontier launches of MTV and CNN? Are we making a new leap as revolutionary as radio to TV? My Magic 8 Ball tells me "very likely."

How fast this revolution will go, though is an interesting question. I just showed Rocketboom (and my new blog) off to my 30-something roommate. She turned her nose up at Amanda who she finds annoying and pronounced she doesn't get the appeal. OK, so maybe not everyone's going to dig a three minute video on National Day of Slayer, but when Oprah– or a yet to be discovered Oprah-esque Internet goddess– starts a vlog, I know my roomie will come around.

Suz

PS. Like my space theme that I've kept going? The moon, rockets…