Video Brings Caveman Instincts Back
Over a million years ago, cavemen communicated and stayed alive by reading each other's gestures. They could tell if someone were angry by the snarl on their face and tone of voice -- who was their enemy and who was their friend.
It wasn't a civilization that included vast amounts of written communication as we have today. For the past few hundred years most people communicated through writing: books, newspapers, and more recently blogs and text messages. And now photos are ubiquitous -- but gestures and tone of voice have been lost.
Video communication -- both live and asynchronous -- has become key to bringing back our caveman instincts. Although we can't meet in person these days, through live video such as on Skype and Facetime -- and asynchronous video such as video messages left on Instagram -- we can now once again judge others by their tone of voice and gestures.
Live video calls and video messages leave thousands more data points -- millions more impressions -- than any text or photo could possibly achieve. And those impressions harken back to our cavemen (women) roots. Are they friendly? Do we trust them? Should we beware? All answered in just a few seconds of video.
How far we've come.
Video communication -- both live and asynchronous -- has become key to bringing back our caveman instincts. Although we can't meet in person these days, through live video such as on Skype and Facetime -- and asynchronous video such as video messages left on Instagram -- we can now once again judge others by their tone of voice and gestures.
Live video calls and video messages leave thousands more data points -- millions more impressions -- than any text or photo could possibly achieve. And those impressions harken back to our cavemen (women) roots. Are they friendly? Do we trust them? Should we beware? All answered in just a few seconds of video.
How far we've come.