I am afraid Jacey Eckhart has the wrong idea of why the Macho Spouse prefers video. When I first introduced her to my project to support male spouses and their families using video rather than written articles, stories and blogs, Jacey was excited.
“This is a great idea cuz men don’t read!”
What? Wait, that’s not why I use online video. Truth be told, I’ve met a great number of intellectual male military spouses who hold advanced degrees and love to read. So has Jacey. What she meant was that industry standards indicate men don’t read self-help. If that is true, how do you get the best info about making a military family work to guys?
I say video is the way to go. I am a seasoned video producer with over 15 years of experience creating award-winning marketing and educational content. After our latest PCS, I decided to use my experience and skills in video production to create content that deals with the concerns of men.
We need rich, deep, sophisticated content on topics as complex as marital communication problems, masculinity issues, societal expectations, fears of suicide, fears of a spouse being sexually assaulted, career planning, child care, financial planning, and basic military life information. Macho Spouse videos include insightful interviews and real-life stories from other male military spouses, military family research specialists, marriage counselors, and military spouse career experts.
The amount of time it would take to write and read such in-depth perspectives on these subjects is too great. There is no way I could hold an internet audience’s attention for that long, especially young men and women. But with a fully-produced 5-10 minute video, I can deliver these same stories with just as much detail and information while keeping my viewers entertained.
The final reason I chose to use video is simple … because it’s cool! An online, interactive, educational video experience for male military spouses and their families just sounds more appealing than a book.
And this is where Jacey’s statement that “men don’t read self-help material” holds some truth, but it’s not just men. Response to the Macho Spouse videos has been overwhelmingly positive by both men and women. Everyone seems to enjoy the uniqueness of an engaging video that allows them to decide what information is important while actually being able to see and hear the information in full context. I understand the written word also provides a similar capability, but without the “cool factor.” I invite you to see for yourself at MachoSpouse.com .
Jacey may have had it right from the beginning maybe men don’t read self help. But I don’t see it as a knock on our ability to understand and grasp the written word; I see it as a choice. Give me video every time.
Chris Pape is the founder of Macho Spouse and a multiple, national award-winning video producer with over 15 years of experience developing educational and marketing videos for public school systems, large corporations, small businesses and state governments. Chris is happily married to an active duty Air Force officer who is currently instructing ROTC at the University of South Carolina. When he is not dotingly taking care of his wife, Chris is busy developing his organization, Macho Spouse, an online resource and educational video series for male military spouses and their families.
About Chris Pape
Comments
For the record, I don't watch many videos online. I don't even listen to many podcasts. I can read so much faster than I can possibly listen that it actually saves time to go out of my way to find information in a text rather than audio/video format.
Even if that wasn't the case, I also have a preschooler who is instantly distracted from whatever he is doing by any noise coming from my laptop and won't walk away from any moving pictures. Video that loads immediately when navigating to a page, rather than waiting for input, is my nemesis.
But that's OK, anyone who has talked to me once would say I'm a strange one. Congrats Chris on being able to work and make a difference in your chosen medium.
Thank you for your input John, you are not the only computer user who doesn't appreciate the "instant play" feature. In fact, this debate between die-hard readers and video lovers has been circling for over a decade. I've learned that supporters from both sides of the argument have valid points and preferences. This is why I always place a few seconds of "black" at the beginning of each video, to give the reader an opportunity to hit pause before the video launches. In this article, the video player is down just far enough to where the reader doesn't know it's there until play begins. I apologize for any inconvenience. However, I am one of the video lovers that always defers to a well-produced video rather than text. I appreciate you taking the time to read about Macho Spouse and writing a comment, I am always open to constructive feedback and will continue to monitor viewer preference.
I think video has great potential for communication although I prefer written text. I am often reading while in my office on breaks from work. Video (well specifically the audio portion) is not practical, but I can read articles without interupting the workspace.
When I was in a combat zone a video (movie) from home wuld of been nice however a letter or a letter with a picture is something you can easly carry with you and be able to read over and over again and it helps a lot more than anyone that has never been can ever know. Bob
Wow awesome article and video, I'll be passing this on for sure!
I tend to automatically hit escape when loading "strange" pages – it will stop all animation on the page. However, I have never encountered an instant playing video on these forums before. It certainly makes me less likely to frequent them if that is going to be the case from now on. I don't watch them if they are instant. I consider it excessively rude to be bludgeoned on what someone else thinks I should watch.
I realize that was not the intent of the poster but the fact remains that it is still playing without my consent or desire. That's intrusive.
Syven, have you ever considered simply hitting the "pause" button before hitting escape? Both instant play videos and push-to-play videos can be controlled with one simple click of your mouse.
I have. That does not change the fact that people who post instant play videos are rudely believing that their content is what I should be seeing. Yes, I can stop that content after the page loads but that doesn't change the freedom-killing aspect of the content.
I am a grown, intelligent woman. I do not require someone else's "good intentioned" decision of what is "best" for me.
I always use my computer with the sound off and I didn't even notice the video until I scrolled down. I read the article first and then decided if I wanted to replay the video. I don't have any issues with this type of format and, like someone said, you can always hit the pause button. I think that to reach the broadest audience, it makes sense to offer a video and text.