To The Defense Of A Veteran Of The Video Blog World

Why is everybody ragging on Rocketboom?

Jason Calacanis, formerly of AOL, was heard talking down Rocketboom on a recent episode of the TWiT podcast due to its supposed lack of substance (while making sure to direct listeners time and again to keep an eye out for a daily video show currently being prepped for launch in the next few weeks as a complement to Mahalo, a sort of human-powered search engine. And in a post published this morning on the venerated blog TechCrunch, Michael Arrington tells of a new daily blog by the name of WebbAlert and, in comparing the debut production to Rocketboom, snubs the latter as “uninteresting.”

What gives? Why are these notable persons of the Web taking swings at the Baron-Colan (that’s Andrew Baron and Joanne Colan, FYI) operation? What do they have against the collection of rhyme and skits and puns and clips that have them claim that Rocket ain’t got no more “boom” in it?

Okay, first, let me clarify just one thing. Not everyone is taking swings at Baron and Colan. From what I gather, only have the foremen of Mahalo and TechCrunch so publicly sounded their negative feelings about the daily jumble that put the term “video blog” on the map for good. (That’s Rocketboom, for the clueless.) Nonetheless, those two naysayers alone have irked me enough to sit down for a moment and explain why Rocketboom has in fact not lost its edge.

Calacanis and Arrington both consider Rocketboom unsubstantive. They’re apparently more interested in facts and figures and updates from The Valley than what Rocketboom offers them. To which I rebut: Rocketboom is not a news show. They do divulge truths to viewers in various ways and at various points, sure, but they usually just throw those things in for garnish. Variety is the big picture. Bizarre segways, the occasional (and informative) field correspondence, the regular play on words. It’s all there. Variety.

For instance, only a few days ago, Rocketboom spent a day documenting the strange allure humans take to trees strapped with the spritely pitch of ‘Free Hugs’. Simple it was, and concocted entirely by the Rocketboom team. And it no doubt was an amusing piece with which to start one’s day. Which is presumably all it was meant to be.

Many more episodes/entries/whathaveyou are similarly unique. Some are equally interesting. Some more. Some less. Some much less. You get the idea.

Put rather simply, there’s no comparing Rocketboom to much else. If anything, one should think of it as a mashup of many different things. Then again, some days it’s completely different than anything else out there.

Ah well, I think that pretty much proves my point. Rocketboom is unique. Deal with it, Calacanis. You too, Arrington. Your rants are rubbish.