Did you ever show someone how to do something online and then show them over and over and over again? Sure you have. A couple of years ago I started using screencast apps (like ScreenFlow) to record brief “how-to’s” that I could put online rather than do the same demo again and again.

ScreenFlow and Camtasia and similar products enable you to record your demo once, and then let folks watch it when –and as often– as they want. These apps are very good… and maybe too good. (I tend to go on and on)

Lately I’ve been using Jing, which is made by the same people that make Camtasia. The difference is Jing is free and it limits your screencast to 5 minutes. Which I consider a feature, not a limitation. It forces you to focus, to be concise. If you need more than 5 minutes, you’re probably rambling and wordy.

I’ve done a few screencasts showing our reporters how to put stories online using our new WordPress websites. Recorded on the MacBook and uploaded to Screncast.com ($15/year). I then just send the links to our folks and they can watch the short videos (without downloading files). Works on Mac and PC.