Reminder to Check Your Content When Sharing Async Screen Recordings
Sharing async screen recordings is a great way to collaborate, especially if you're collaborating with teams in distant timezones or your calendar is overcommitted. However, there's a lurking issue that is easy to mitigate, yet so many people encounter it.
As Loom's homepage puts it, "one video is worth a thousand words". The ease of using and sharing clips with this medium is both its biggest advantage and biggest risk.
It's incredibly easy to share a five minute clip that provides an update on some work that was done, highlight a bug or feature request while using a system, etc.
It's also incredibly easy to forget that your recording may include sensitive or confidential information (that may be PII or MNPI).
Reframing Loom's tagline, your goal is to ensure that the video replaces a thousand words, not creates a thousand word legal or regulatory notice.
Here are three steps before you hit record and before you share with others:
Rehearse your flow before you hit record, which helps you stay concise for the actual recording, plus gives you a chance to see if there's anything sensitive
Watch your recording before you share to others, which doesn't need to take the full time, as practically all of the services offer 2x speed playback
Restrict the sharing permissions to only those that need access, plus ensure that the password or passcode is secure
If sharing async clips is a new concept to you, it's worth giving it a try, especially as shorter, more concise recordings are easier to revisit than trying to scroll through an hour long meeting recording. There are both standalone tools and features that achieve this functionality, like Loom, Slack Clips, and Zoom Clips.
TLDR: Remember that your screen recordings may contain sensitive or confidential information. The best way to avoid this is with representative examples.
