Some people have got rid of their TV sets. They are happy to watch programmes on iPlayer, 4oD or ITV Player, or to browse YouTube or Google Videos. Millions of others divide their viewing between TV and internet, and have come to think of the latter as a prime source for visual entertainment.
A big advantage of internet video is its viral potential, as people sending links to friends and colleagues fuel a surge in viewing. The clip of the killing of student Neda Soltan spread during the recent unrest in Iran provides the most dramatic example. Nobody would expect a public sector video to match its impact, but it does help to explain why more organisations are beginning to exploit the medium.
Jeff Whatcott, senior vice president of marketing at video platform provider Brightcove, says politicians and public bodies now appreciate how it can be used for a number of purposes. One, favoured by the prime minister, is to get a message across. Another is in providing a commentary on the news of the day.
"Video can be effective in providing timely messages in a very personal way," Whatcott says. "Press offices can make sure they are quickly prepared for the web so they can get ahead of the news cycle." He points out that making videos easily downloadable can do a lot to ensure they are picked up by TV news.
Public bodies have become more able to harness these factors with a fall in the cost of production, the easy availability of video editing tools, more widespread training and the fact that the public has more bandwidth to receive the messages. He also says that platforms such as Brightcove's remove the need for complex server software.
The Commonwealth Secretariat was one of UK government's earliest users of the medium, beginning to publish videos on its website five years ago. Its online manager Kevin Nellies says that on average it now posts a new video every two weeks, focusing on a variety of issues affecting member countries such as human rights, healthcare and education.
"These issues can sometimes get quite complex and video is more engaging than reams of text," he says. "It's basically about making them more interesting, summing things up in three minute slots. If it's much longer than that we find that people won't watch it."
Even within this discipline, it tries to avoid three minutes of 'talking heads', mixing it up with background shots and graphics relevant to the issues using an Avid video editing system. One of the main problems is obtaining relevant clips, as it is not always financially possible to send a team to a distant country.
The secretariat now has its own studio for preparing videos, and does most of the editing in-house rather than contracting out. It has also used a Brightcove platform to launch Commonwealth TV, which houses all its archived video content. This platform optimises delivery for the conditions on different networks, assesses the bandwidth and processing capability of the recipient's computer, and adjusts the rendition of the video accordingly.
Another feature is that it enables the publisher to change colour palettes and customise templates with logos and overlaying graphics. It also provides the ability to develop syndication relationships and viral distribution strategies, enabling the secretariat to share the videos with bloggers and journalists and broadcast its message more widely.
"This is crucial, as we are often trying to communicate important messages to an audience that is not necessarily web savvy," Nellies says, adding that awareness of the potential is increasing through the secretariat.
"There is a lot of demand for video inside the organisation, and we're getting a constant influx of requests. The more successful something is the more people want of it."
Bristol City Council has been one of the more prolific users of video on its website since it produced its first two and a half years ago. It posts promotional videos and webcasts council meetings and other proceedings using Public-i, the service developed specifically for local government. It even has a section of the site reserved for an archive of its webcasts.
Consultations manager Philip Higgins says this was prompted by a belief that it had to make it easier for people to grasp the nature of its services, and encourage them to take an interest in consultations. Since the early days it has tied in videos with the latest material on its Viewfinder public engagement site.
"What we are trying to do is communicate in a different way, in a format that people prefer now," he says. "Younger people are very web savvy and you need something like this to grab their attention.
"With videos you can humanise the personalities involved. Also, we don't get much news coverage on local TV now, but with this we are in charge of how it is presented and feel we can make it appealing to the audience." Another advantage is that it is possible to monitor viewing figures.
Higgins says that, despite having made about 200 videos, the council is still feeling its way in the field, but that it has learned how to do things effectively. The most persistent problem is in outdoor filming due to heavy background noise, but he says the filming process is relatively easy, and that editing is straightforward for graphic designers using Adobe Premiere Elements software.
The council began by posting videos using links to Google Video, has since switched to YouTube, but is now considering another change as viewers find themselves looking at links to unrelated videos. There are also some cases, notably in offices with restricted internet policies, where people are unable to access YouTube.
"Some organisations have multimedia services and we're taking a look at that, but it comes at a cost in buying and maintaining it," Higgins says.
It is already possible for the public to upload their own videos or photos onto the Viewfinder site, although he says this move has been "ahead of its time" and that so far few people have taken advantage of the facility.
He adds that there are no serious problems with viewers having sufficient bandwidth as Bristol is well served for broadband connections.
Recently the council has begun to post regular 'video podcasts' on its Leading Bristol page, in which council leader Barbara Jankel talks about current issues. Higgins says this is not a podcast in the strict sense that it can be downloaded onto the user's computer, but that this is a possibility for the future.
There are also examples of teams within council departments producing their own videos for webcasting. Stockport MBC's social services department has been carrying out two strands of work since early in the year for the council's staff intranet and its public website.
The department's personalisation services manager Jude Wells says: "We've been using different methods to engage with staff and the public for some time – we know that people don't want to read dry reports and presentations – and realised that the spoken word is more accessible for people with standard navigation formats."
The department bought a number of web cameras and provided them to various teams, and community groups, and left them to get on with developing their own messages. Wells says the technology is quite straightforward and there has been no problem in finding the people to film and edit the videos. Among the subjects covered have been introductions to dementia care and fostering in the borough. She also emphasises that the input from community groups has been important.
"It opens a dialogue and says to staff 'These are the people receiving the services and this how they think of us at the moment'," she says.
The general rule has to been to keep the videos to about three minutes, enough to convey the key messages. The team received support from the training and publishing consultancy OLM-Pavilion in the preparation and presentation of the videos. It used the firm's CareKnowledge web portal for social care organisations to deliver the videos, along with audio clips, blogs and written articles.
There were a couple of problems for people using the Internet Explorer 6 browser to access the site, but Wells says the overall response has been very positive and that since they began to use videos activity on the intranet has risen by 65%. Her team is now planning to use the skills in developing the council's dedicated website for social care, named My Care, My Choice.
This was soft launched in early July and will be promoted to the public in September, with plans to increase the use of video content specific to social care. Use of the site will be monitored over the next three months before setting a baseline for future targets.
The council is also aware that many users of social services do not have internet access, and is placing more terminals in libraries and GP surgeries to help spread the message.
"What we are doing in Stockport is quite innovative," Wells says. "We're testing different ways of getting the messages out and trying to do something different in the way that we engage with people."
Bristol's Philip Higgins argues that many people are becoming more receptive to video than the information on more static websites. "This is not for everybody but councils have to move with the times in their communications. It's not just for young people; there are plenty of people in their thirties who have grown up with the internet, and they're used to having a visual experience."
From the September 2009 issue of GC magazine.
