This year 2007 will be the Year of the Video. (Or so I predict.)

Now maybe you thought it was the year of the iPhone. Nope, as great an implement as the iPhone might be, it’s still hardware - and does not make a paradigm shift.

And the founders of Skype just announced Joost, which someone called the “YouTube Killer” . While that's not so, it is another video breakthrough in entertainment distribution. But this is still not where the power is.

Maybe you thought that last year was video’s year, with YouTube’s dramatic success in the marketplace and then Google’s $1.65 billion purchase. Nope, that’s just the start.

Compression has made mass distribution and small distribution possible – and it is in the ‘everyman’ (and woman) nature of the creation and distribution of this powerful medium that the power lies. I think it has now reached the critical mass necessary. Think of desktop publishing in its infancy, and you get the picture. Anyone can be a video producer (not necessarily a filmmaker however - see below) and anyone can see, or get seen, on video on demand - anywhere.

Movies have always been the most powerful medium in communicating emotional impact – but distribution was mostly in theatres, then VHS and DVDs – but it still was primarily theatrical movies. After all, that is the ultimate communication experience. Now there is a distribution revolution for ‘movies,’ and it will be profound. I’ll have several posts over the next few months on how to take advantage of these new distribution possibilities with video to multiply your influence and impact – and as a learning tool.

Video technology has changed so rapidly that few are experts - and there are many varied interests and needs. And that's just the start - as more distribution avenues become available, people will find new ways to communicate with this great medium that we haven't even thought of. As a past filmaker, and using video myself in a variety of ways, I'll try to bring you some of the ways you can take advantage of this revolution no matter your interests.

And from the WSJ last week: "Corporations are just beginning to see [online video] as a real option to help cut costs and communicate," says Colin Dixon, a research analyst for Diffusion Group, a research firm. "Just from last year to this year, there's been a significant jump." But the real revolution will be how individuals can use it - and quickly edit their own clips.

One of the most massive uses will be (soon) everyone embedding video in their PowerPoints, simply and easily. More on that in a separate post.

And here is just one example of a new approach in using high quality, targeted programming (via internet only) that I found in my inbox a couple of mornings ago:

• Candid Conversations with Great Americans – a very well produced 15 minute video of General Norman Schwarzkopf. Not just talking heads here, but action footage.
• You can subscribe soon (it looks like the site is just up, and there are evidently some bugs, and their questionaire takes forever). You will be inspired by what you see now, and also be able to see it on demand.
• Not only is Stormin’ Norman one of the best communicators in both the big speech and the informal interview – he is one of the most respected. One of my favorite memories is a clip of Schwarzkopf doing a briefing and interview on the Barbara Walters show when he was in his prime, (actually, he’s still in his prime) and he was willing to be open and emotional on camera – very powerful.
• This is a new way to communicate to a specific audience (or with a specific agenda), with this emotionally evocative medium. One used to be able to only target the printed word and short TV commercials to a specific audience. No more – it is easy and inexpensive for anyone to use longer videos with more substance to now reach very diverse audiences, and reach them to move them.

Stay tuned, for

• video on the desktop, (Desktop Video is now where Desktop Publishing was in its infancy – and now anyone can be a ‘movie producer,’)
• movies embedded seamlessly in PowerPoints (further avoiding PowerPoint abuse)
• making your own sales video
• bookmarking your video clips
• using the medium for a new type of business card
• streaming AND downloadable, (YouTube move over)
• video as an immediate feedback tool (very powerful and unfortunately underutilized)
• know the difference between being a filmmaker vs. a videographer
• and more…..