Something odd happened yesterday. Well I thought it was odd… odd in a very positive way. Something happened that made me really realise that in future we’ll rely less and less on the written word online, and instead consume content like this blog post as video.

So yesterday I was delighted to receive 2 comments on my recent Google Local 7 Pack post. So what’s so odd about that? I’m generally very lucky that people do comment on my posts, but these comments were different:

Richard and everyone else,

Anyone have any ideas how this happened????

http://screencast.com/t/vLQFNIJn

Thanks,

Becky

and:

This might be the answer to my previous question. Do you think this is how it happened?

http://screencast.com/t/uh0iS5eOr

Thanks so much for your thoughts,

Becky

Becky had gone to the trouble of recording her comments as video, and think about this for a moment – how much more fidelity was added to Becky’s question and subsequent answer by using video:

And now Becky’s own response:

It really made my day, firstly becasue I was flattered that anyone would go to so much trouble, but secondly because it opened my eyes to the future – people will be leaving video comments on blogs just as they leave text comments today.

So How Might Google Use Phone Numbers?

Actually the issue Becky raises is very interesting in its own right – there’s a bionic over on the Google Webmaster Support Group called Phil Payne, and one of Phil’s favourite tricks is to look up phone numbers to see where else they’re published (gives some insight into businesses running multiple websites). I had never before considered the impact of phone numbers on local listings, and I think it’s entirely plausible that Becky’s hypothesis above is actually quite correct.

So thanks so much Becky for leaving those video comments – really made my day, and hopefully will help other users out in the future!