Over the 8+ years I’ve been with Mind & Media, we’ve been webcasting and putting video online for nonprofits with much greater frequency than we ever have for the Federal Government even though we do much more work for the latter. But the tide has indeed turned. Recently five different federal agencies have contracted with us to produce videos for different uses.

My November issue of Streaming Media Magazine features an article, “The Government Video Boom”. So it’s not just us seeing that explosion, eh? In the story author Bill Greenwood tries to explain why the boom is happening now, but I don’t think you have to look any further than the new administration. When the White House is both promoting videos front and center on whitehouse.gov and also maintaining a YouTube channel the rest of the Federal Government won’t be far behind. Roll tape! But on what? And for what?

Our four new projects include:

• Using video to promote, and train staff on, new software
• Incorporating video into emotional presentations that are replacing static print documents
• Producing a recruiting video to be distributed via conference give-away
• Producing several videos, specifically for the public Internet (with a goal to get a video featured on whitehouse.gov).

They’re all excellent projects, and not necessarily because they employ video. It’s because they’re employing video in ways that take advantage of that specific medium and what it offers over others.

Many advances in technology, combined with plunging costs, have certainly made video an attractive option for many communications campaigns. But is it always the best way to go? Other mediums have gotten better and cheaper, too. If you need to get a message out, you have at your disposal avenues like: podcasting, screencasting, tweeting, slide sharing, and even email (how archaic!). All of those can be more cheaply and quickly produced compared to video. So why use video? Here are three reasons.

1. Authority: Use video so I can see the Secretary of agency X deliver news so it has credibility. That’s easy.
2. Demonstration: They are moving pictures after all, right? Video is a great choice to show how to do something. Or how something changes.
3. Story: This one is the biggie. With sound, image, pace and movement, video is great for capturing emotion, personality, and humanity—all of those elements that come in handy when you need to persuade or change perception. To change things.

That’s why we get hired. Not to make a video, but instead to educate, recruit, persuade, support, and ultimately to affect positive change.