Interactive is empowering.

I blogged last week about shooting a promotional spot for SportsNation on ESPN2 hosted by Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle. The show really empowers sports fans who can e-mail, Tweet, Skype™, etc. into the show. In essence, the viewers are the show and Colin and Michelle the “Ringmasters.”

Look also at your local news. Here in Colorado we’ve had a very stormy summer season. There isn’t a station in town that doesn’t provide an opportunity for you to post pictures and videos of spectacular lightning or storm damage. I’m sure you see the same thing where you live.

Viewers are now news gatherers as well.

What makes it all possible is your laptop, desktop or PDA. To be honest, when we produced our first lesson here at Video Professor on MS-DOS, this was the furthest thing from our minds. What we did realize was that people wanted to learn how to operate their computers. They saw the potential that the machines had.

Almost 22 years and 20 million customers later, we’ve seen for a long time that potential being realized.

It’s why it’s especially gratifying to us when we work with non-profits like Global Outreach in Tanzania or Serving Our World in Thailand who include computer literacy as part of their programs. They came to Video Professor as the best way for their students to learn how to operate a computer.

They’ll be able to learn more about the world around them, and at the same time share their world with the rest of us.

It is empowering. It’s great. It shows that regardless of where you live, you can be involved, that you can communicate, that you can be part of the process.

Your voice can be heard.

I like that.

John

John W. Scherer

John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.

You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.