Email to Amanda re: ABCnews.com debut

Like a lot of other people, I've been waiting with great anticipation to see Amanda's debut on her new "pro" gig with ABCnews.com. Well, I checked it out this morning, and was itching to leave a comment and see what others were saying. But.... no comment area or link. At least that I could find. So, I up and emailed her. Here's what I wrote.

Amanda,

Just got done watching your first installment on ABCnews.com.

So, first off, congratulations!!

The good news:
1. You look and sound fantastic! The pro studio, lighting, editing and sound all contribute to a well-produced piece.

2. I like that you've kept the t-shirt, the hair flick, and best: the old Amanda attitude! (where are the paper tosses, though?)

3. Oh yeah... the content... :) Good stuff for the most part, but see The Bad News.

The bad news:

1. The ads. OMG, they play every time you to try watch something. BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD. At least have the player do a one-time per visit thing. Better yet, no video ads. PLEASE!

2. I'm sending you this email because there's no way to make a comment on that episode. Well, it may be there somewhere, but damned if I can find it.
If you want to keep your vlog-aware fans and create new ones, it's got to look more like a vlog, not ABC News sound bites. I want to comment and see what other people say.

3. No links to the topics you covered. Again, they may be there somewhere, but damned if I can find them, especially when every time I click on something I have to listen to a 30 sec ad I can't pause or skip over. After a couple of tries at finding links, I gave up. Please, please. Ditch the ads.

4. For a weekly gig, I think it needs to be longer, and slower paced. Hope that sometimes you'll also go less pro and more "commando" like AAA. It should be a balance, though. Use the pros to let you be seen and heard better, but not so much that you lose your connection to the peeps, which, as we all know is what vlogs are all about.

5. Again, it needs to look more like a blog/vlog not another brick in the ABC News wall. You need more space, your own page, and you need to have creative control on the design. Don't let the ABC style Nazis tell you different! The medium is the message.

6. On the same note...Use a more normal player please! One with frame shuttle, or at least fast forward. Tell ABC to shove their proprietary player. That would partially solve the ad problem, too. Or maybe better... Cross-post to blip! Yeah!

So, on the whole, a promising start, but you've got to lay it down to ABC. The setting they've put you in is not consistent with the vlog medium's message.

Love ya!!
Yer CT homie,
Joe C.

I followed up a few minutes later with...

I almost forgot! Where's the RSS feed?

:)

JoeC

She replied....

Yup. I'm actively working on all of these things. Turning a big ship.

There are comments though... and links. Check again. :)

did you get the whole javascript joke in the episode? I prefer embedded players too. We're working on it.

Check out amandacongdon.com for my first blog post about the abc process!

Thanks so much for your feedback. I am forwarding it to the big guys. ;)

Where else but in the blogosphere would you get a response like that?
Jeez, I luvs that girl... :)

ps. Steve Garfield has also blogged about Amanda's debut today.