Video podcasting has its merits, put there’s also a dark side emerging.

• Two kids in Toronto caused 2nd degree burns to a young girl as they poured gasoline on her chest and lit her on fire, all in an attempt to capture the deed on camera. Now, it’s not clear what they were producing their video for, but if it were for a video podcast, I’m sure that this would count as one of those on the “dark side.”
• While at the Podcast & Portable Media Expo (PME), I was alarmed at the number of women who are sexualized in video podcasts. I noticed that I’m one of the few women using podcasts as a business strategy, yet the more popular women at the Expo were those who wore tight shirts or explored suggestive themes as a star (or host) in their video podcasts.

Those are just a couple of what I consider to be video podcasting’s dark side. I have come across audio podcasts that I deem to be crass or crude, however, after hearing that news story above, I was just anxious to start the conversation about video podcasting.

Technorati: podcasting, video podcasting, women in podcasting, marketing