I’ve been thinking about using the excellent flip for internal communications. There’s no doubt that internal use of video can be a very engaging way of bringing corporate news to life, however the overheads in terms of cost and time get in the way of doing it on a daily basis.
I believe there will always be a place for the video profesionals to work their magic on the bigger events but that this can sit comfortably alongside impromptu low budget clips of staff commenting on issues, products, etc.
I just stumbled across a useful video and discussion on this subject here. The one thing missing that would make the flip an absolute winner for me is a wireless microphone. Picture quality is not a problem to the YouTube generation, but without great sound quality the best you’ll get is close-ups of people shouting at the camera, which just doesn’t do it for me.
By way of update, I have just seen an excellent piece on Good Company http://www.goodcompanyblog.com/2010/03/24/professional-vs-off-the-cuff-videos-for-internal-communications/ that has changed my mind somewhat. the link to eBay CEO John Donahoe interviewing an eBay merchant works beautifully. That’s enough for me. I’m off to buy a Flip!
Jon,
I’m excited that you’re giving Flip a shot. I’d love to hear how it works out. I’ve never heard anyone mention problems with audio on a Flip cam, but I’m sure if you were recording somewhere with a lot of background noise it would be noticeable. Anyway, keep us posted!
Best,
Jen