It was a mere three years ago that YouTube streamed its first video, forever changing the way we share experiences with people regardless of time and distance. At home, equipped with ubiquitous technology like a digital camcorder, a computer webcam or even a mobile phone, we can easily create video clips and share them with our friends and family. Technology is no longer a barrier on either end. All you need is a browser and a fast Internet connection.
The same has not been true for this rich form of information-sharing in the office. Companies readily recognize the power of video as a medium for communication and collaboration, for reaching out to employees in remote offices and for knowledge transfer. Unfortunately, there hasn't been an easy way to distribute video content to an increasingly distributed workforce. Custom video sharing solutions have been prohibitively resource-intensive for businesses, and public video sharing sites don't give businesses the right level of security and privacy for internal-only content.
Enter Google Video for businesses, available today as part of Google Apps Premier Edition. Imagine YouTube's ease of sharing and watching videos, but in a secure, private environment made for content like internal corporate announcements, team member status updates, employee training materials and informal information-sharing. Videos can be easily shared with everyone in the company or with specific individuals. People can comment on, rate and tag videos that they watch, bringing even more useful information to subsequent viewers. When we started using Google Video for business inside Google, we were surprised at how quickly Googlers in 20+ countries took to the app. Many of our most popular internal videos were created of their own accord by individuals and teams for sharing with colleagues, a testament to how video has taken horizontal collaboration to the next level.
Watch this to learn how we've been using video inside Google:
You can learn more about video sharing and other innovative collaboration apps for businesses at www.google.com/apps/collaboration. And stay tuned for info about Google Video for schools and universities. It'll be available as part of Google Apps Education Edition on September 8.