Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Youtube. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Youtube. Sort by date Show all posts

YouTube for you

Back in April, we introduced you to another great non-profit resource: our YouTube Nonprofit Program. Since then, thousands of you -- from the Smithsonian Museum and the Alliance for Climate Protection to the New York Public Library and the Children's Defense Fund -- have joined the program and started using YouTube to raise awareness about important issues, fundraise for causes, and engage with supporters.

We still get a lot of questions, however, about how organizations can best leverage YouTube to spread their messages. To help answer those questions, we've created tip sheets specifically for non-profits in mind. Whether you're operating on a shoestring budget, looking to launch a video campaign, or just need some basic pointers, we've got you covered. You can access them from our YouTube Nonprofit Program page.

In addition, we've posted the first in what we hope is a series of YouTube non-profit case studies. Our first video features Tim Fullerton, the Online Communications Manager at Oxfam America, who discusses how Oxfam used YouTube to start a fruitful discussion with Starbucks about fair wages for Ethiopian coffee farmers.


If your organization is using YouTube in a particularly compelling or unique way, please let us know -- our next video could be about your work! And if you're looking for a little more inspiration, you can always visit the YouTube AgentChange channel, which features monthly playlists of our most interesting non-profit content.

Finally, we always welcome feedback. If there are other things you think we could do to help non-profits create meaningful social change through YouTube, please email agentchange@youtube.com.

Posted by Ramya, YouTube Team
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I clicked to buy and I liked it

When you view a YouTube video with a great soundtrack, you often see comments from YouTube users asking about the name of the song and where they can download it. Or when users watch the trailer for an upcoming video game, they want to know when it will be released and where they can buy it.

Today, we're taking our first steps to providing YouTube users with this kind of instant gratification, by adding "click-to-buy" links to the watch pages of thousands of YouTube partner videos. Click-to-buy links are non-obtrusive retail links, placed on the watch page beneath the video with the other community features. Just as YouTube users can share, favorite, comment on, and respond to videos quickly and easily, now users can click-to-buy products -- like songs and video games -- related to the content they're watching on the site. We're getting started by embedding iTunes and Amazon.com links on videos from companies like EMI Music, and providing Amazon.com product links to the newly-released video game Spore(TM) on videos from Electronic Arts.

This is just the beginning of building a broad, viable e-commerce platform for users and partners on YouTube. Our vision is to help partners across all industries -- from music, to film, to print, to TV -- offer useful and relevant products to a large, yet targeted audience, and generate additional revenue from their content on YouTube beyond the advertising we serve against their videos. And those partners who use our content identification and management system can also enable these links on user-generated content, by using Content ID to claim videos and choose to leave them up on the site.

These retail links are being gradually added to our library of music videos and are currently only available to users in the United States, but our goal is to slowly but surely expand the program to additional content and product partners, as well as our international users. We'll be experimenting with the UI over time to make sure this works for our community, and we'll continue to innovate based on your feedback. We're just getting started, so stay tuned for other innovative new features and product options soon.

YouTube partners interested in this program should contact their partner manager.

Posted by Glenn Brown, YouTube Strategic Partner Development Manager, and Thai Tran, YouTube Product Manager
Related:
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Google on Android: YouTube

On September 23, T-Mobile announced the world's first Android-powered phone, the G1. The phone comes preloaded with Search, Maps, Gmail with Contacts, Calendar, Google Talk, and YouTube. The applications are easy to use, fully synchronized with the web, and work together in new and innovative ways, as explained in our first post in the blog series: 'Google on Android'. Over the next couple of weeks, we will put the spotlight on each one of the Google applications for Android. Today: YouTube. -- Marc Vanlerberghe, Product Marketing Director.

Whether it's the infectious laughter of "Dad at the Comedy Barn" or Randy Pausch's uplifting "Last Lecture," YouTube on Android can bring news and entertainment to you in an immediate, personalized way. Let me tell you about my favorite YouTube features and how I use them.

I walk into the local coffee shop to get a dose of caffeine -- double espresso is my drink of choice. The Formula 1 race in Singapore was two weekends ago, the first night race F1 has ever held. I wonder if there are some highlights on YouTube. I slide open the keyboard and type "Formula 1 Singapore" and sure enough, there's a video with some footage from the first practice session. The cars look fantastic under the lights. I wonder if my friend Ken has seen this video. I click on the "Menu" button, select "Share," and up pops the email application - I know Ken will appreciate the video as much as I do.

When the video is done playing, a bunch of related videos pop up.


This is great because I can simply choose from any of them to see more F1 racing footage. This feature makes it easier to find more videos that interest me.

While I am busy watching the F1 video, my wife emails me a link to a YouTube video of the San Jose Taiko company. She's a big fan of taiko drumming and is asking if I want to go with her to the concert on Sunday. I tap the link in the email message and watch the video. Wow, I can't wait to see the concert. I hit the back button to take me back to the email conversation and reply to my wife, "Yes -- let's go!"

In addition to the tight integration with Gmail and other applications that are already on the device, I find it really cool that YouTube on Android exposes its search functionality to other Android apps through the open application framework, giving applications like the built-in music player the power to quickly find relevant videos. All I have to do is long-press on the artist, song name, or album to do a search on YouTube for a related video. I'm really looking forward to seeing how developers will integrate YouTube features into their own applications.


Posted by David Sparks, Technical Lead, Android Team

Link - from Google Mobile Blog
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Link To The Best Parts In Your Videos

Here at YouTube, we still pride ourselves in listening closely to our community and building what you ask for. In this spirit, we are pleased to announce the ability to "deep link" to YouTube videos. This means you can now not only link to a YouTube video itself, but you can also link directly to a specific time within each video. This is something you have been asking us for and we are happy to deliver.

To create a deep link, append the following to the end of a YouTube video URL: #t=1m15s. This says to link to the time 1:15 - you can replace the numbers before the 'm' and the 's' with anything you like.

As an additional bonus, if you mention a specific time in a video comment, e.g. "haha 1:14 is funny", this will become a hyperlink. Viewers can simply click on the time and the video will automatically jump to the point you are referencing. Pretty cool huh?

Leave a comment here or in our Community Help Forums to let us know what you think. We'll be reading what you all have to say as we think about ways of making YouTube even better.

The YouTube Team

Help Center Video Submission Results

Posted: 29 Oct 2008 11:00 AM CDT

We challenged our fabulous community of YouTube experts (that means you) to come up with some creative videos to accompany a selection of our Help Center articles. And...the results are in!

Congratulations to IceflowStudios, KOHPelord, rewboss and Torley for their awesome contribution to helping the community learn more about the following site features:

Thanks to everyone who submitted a video. If yours was not chosen, or you didn't get a chance to participate this time around, don't fret. We'll be doing another call for submissions soon...

Stay Tuned,
The YouTube Help Team

Link - from YouTube Blog
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Video Your Vote! And Then Watch the Election on YouTube

After thousands of campaign stops, tens of thousands of speeches, and billions of videos viewed on YouTube, the 2008 Election is finally here. What began almost two years ago -- when seven of the 16 primary presidential candidates announced their campaigns on our You Choose '08 platform -- is finally coming to a close as Americans turn out to vote for should lead the country these next four years.

The influence you've had on this political season has been well noted in this blog and by most every major media outlet in the world. Your use of video to document and describe this Election on your own terms has created a new, more democratic political ecosystem and has caused many to call this the "YouTube Election." But while the profound increase in online activity has reshaped our national dialogue in so many new ways, today is where we see just how much it matters: the ultimate political action isn't to upload a video to YouTube or to watch "Yes We Can" or "We Need McCain" one more time; it's to GET OUT AND VOTE.

Today we're featuring all political videos on the homepage of YouTube; check them out and get a flavor for what's coming in on Election Day. We're also plotting videos of your polling place experiences on a special Google Maps mash-up on our Video Your Vote channel with PBS. So bring your video camera with you to your polling place to document your experience; then submit your videos to the Video Your Vote channel and keep an eye on PBS's Election coverage -- they'll broadcast the best ones on TV.

And as always, you can keep track of what the candidates are up to on our You Choose '08 platform.

Congratulations, YouTube users. You've made this a historic Election -- now get out and vote in it! Then stay tuned here to see the first YouTube Election unfold, on video.

Steve Grove
YouTube News & Politics

Link - from YouTube Blog
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Your YouTube video: Hot or Not?

YouTube Insight has helped millions of you learn more about your YouTube videos and figure out when, where, and why your videos are popular. But what if you could learn not just which of your videos are hot on the site, but which specific parts of those videos are hotter than others? What if you could know exactly when viewers tend to leave your videos, or which scenes within a video they watch again and again?

This information is now available to all YouTube video uploaders with an innovative new feature for Insight called "Hot Spots." The Hot Spots tab in Insight plays your video alongside a graph that shows the ups-and-downs of viewership at different moments within the video. We determine "hot" and "cold" spots by comparing your video's abandonment rate at that moment to other videos on YouTube of the same length, and incorporating data about rewinds and fast-forwards. So what does that mean? Well, when the graph goes up, your video is hot: few viewers are leaving, and many are even rewinding on the control bar to see that sequence again. When the graph goes down, your content's gone cold: many viewers are moving to another part of the video or leaving the video entirely.

Here's an example of Hot Spots in action:


You can see that many viewers are not impressed with the dance moves of Michael Rucker, Associate Product Marketing Manager at YouTube; they're leaving the video at a faster than average rate almost immediately after the video begins. But the longer the video goes on, the more people tend to stay, generating a hot spot at the end of the video. Better late than never -- kudos, Rucker!

We think you'll find Hot Spots useful in several ways. For example, users can figure out which scenes in their videos are the "hottest" and edit those videos, or include well-timed annotations, to keep their audience more engaged. Partners might similarly create better content -- like more exciting promotional trailers -- for use on and off YouTube, and advertisers and agencies can study the effectiveness of their creative, to make sure they keep viewers' attention throughout an ad. Now that Insight shows what parts of videos viewers are watching and skipping, creators no longer have to play guessing games. YouTube, the world's largest focus group, provides them with answers. You can find this new feature under the "Hot Spots" tab within the Insight Dashboard.

As with all of Insight's features, we learn about the most creative examples from you. We can't wait to see what you come up with next.

Related:
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On Saturday, November 8th, 2008 the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10AM to 2PM PST, for maintenance. While you won't be able to

You don't have to be on the YouTube site to watch videos. The YouTube player can be added to virtually any website, giving website creators and web surfers infinite access to the YouTube library. With close to 44 percent of our users watching embedded videos, we're committed to constantly refining the player. Today, we are pleased to announce four new features:


  • High-quality start images (thumbnails) – Before you press play on embedded YouTube videos, the thumbnails for the video will be presented in high-quality. We're pleased with the results – let us know if you agree.

  • Search in embeddable player – At the close of an embedded video, along with the usual recommended videos and URLs, a search box will appear. Not only will you be able search from within the embedded player, you will be able to watch videos through the same window. That's right, you can search all of YouTube from the comfort of your favorite blog, news, or humor page.

  • Integrated video annotations – Annotations enable video producers to incorporate text information into their videos, create choose your own adventure-style stories or add links to any YouTube video. People watching videos through the embedded player can now join the fun.

  • Integrated closed captions – Back in August we started allowing video creators to add captions to their videos. Closed Captions are now available in embedded videos like this one:




Our open APIs and embeddable players allow more and more people to transform the way they distribute and enjoy videos while avoiding the traditional cost and hassle of hosting videos. We look forward to seeing the fun and creative ways you will use these new features.

Have fun,
The YouTube Team

Link - from YouTube Blog
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YouTube Live TOKYO: All Systems Go

Today we are pleased to announce that Japan will be hosting its own YouTube Live event on Sunday, November 23, in Tokyo, with the show available to view on the site for an audience across the globe.

After the curtain falls on YouTube Live in San Francisco, YouTube Live TOKYO feat. iQ will kick into gear, featuring a mix of the best that Japan's user community has to offer and performances from topline Asian talent, including a star turn from pop sensation BoA.


Tickets for the event are now available for users resident in Japan through the YouTube Live TOKYO channel . Attendance is limited to 2,000 and tickets will be allocated on a lottery basis – you'll need to sign up by November 7 if you want to come and enjoy the show.

Stay tuned to YouTube Live TOKYO for developments in the line-up. We've got a lot of great acts to unveil between now and the event.

Until then: sayonara!
The YouTube Team

Link - from YouTube Blog
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The ONE News YouTube Election Debate in New Zealand

Over the course of the long U.S. Presidential election campaign, millions of people have checked out the candidates' YouTube Channels on our You Choose '08 platform, and communicated directly with all those running for President. Thousands more submitted questions for candidates in the CNN/YouTube debates, participated in our You Choose '08 Spotlight, or made videos for the Democratic and Republican conventions. Outside the U.S., YouTube has also become an important part of leveling the political playing field. A couple of weeks ago, for instance, the 2008 New Zealand general elections were called, with Kiwis going to the polls in early November.

Now, we're thrilled to announce the ONE News YouTube Election Debate between Helen Clark and John Key, a history-making initiative with New Zealand's public broadcaster, TVNZ. This marks the first time the head of a national government and a challenger will face YouTube video questions in an official live TV debate. The debate will be broadcast live on TV ONE on October 14.



If you're a Kiwi, head on over to the YouTube New Zealand blog for details on how to submit your own questions.

Posted by Steve Grove, YouTube News & Politics
Related:
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Helping You Shape Your YouTube Experience

As YouTube grows, more and more people from all parts of the world are communicating and connecting. We want to make it easy for you to reach out and learn from each other, while you engage only in those conversations you choose. That's why we've developed the Help and Safety Tool to help you manage communications with other community members.

Using the tool is easy: Once you are logged into your personal account, the tool lets you connect directly into your channel so that you can see all communications you've had with a particular user, remove comments you'd rather not keep, and even block the user from further communication.

In addition to letting you decide which communications you would like to see, the Help and Safety Tool also gives you a simple way to let us know about additional concerns you may have related to other users. This is only the first step; we'll continue to add more features to the tool to keep the power in your hands.

Remember: you have choices on YouTube. Check out our Help Center for more information about this tool and other ways we can work together to make the YouTube experience safe and exciting for all of our community members.

The YouTube Team
Link - from YouTube Blog
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Gorillaz Creators take over YouTube's home page with "Monkey"

If you can't imagine an ape taking the lead role in a Chinese Opera , then you can't have heard about the new project from the masterminds of virtual alternative music act, The Gorillaz. Their new CD is based on the 21st century production of a Mandarin Opera reinterpreted by Gorillaz creators Damon Albarn (music) and artist Jamie Hewlett (visuals). In celebration of simian-starring project "Monkey: Journey to the West", the duo will premiere their "Monkey Bee" video and curate related featured videos on YouTube's homepage for 24 hours.



Other highlights of this monkey-themed takeover includes a BBC produced feature-length documentary on staging the "Monkey: Journey to the West" opera that is currently touring the UK, titled "Damon & Jamie's Excellent Adventure." Damon (also the vocalist behind Blur and The Good Bad & The Queen) and Jamie (co-creator of the comic strip Tank Girl) have recorded a personal introduction describing the additional videos they have selected that relate to the themes and inspirations behind the project, which involves 40 Chinese circus acrobats, martial artists and singers, and an orchestra of both Western and traditional Chinese instruments. See them share the details about puppetry, kung fu, "flying" and their enthusiasm for YouTube here:


Head over to Damon & Jamie's YouTube channel for more Mandarin-influenced Monkey madness and enjoy this homepage themed takeover, which links a 16th-century Chinese epic saga with animation, opera and modern music.

Cheers,
Michele K-Tel
YouTube Music

Link - from YouTube Blog
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YouTube Blog: Your Election, Documented on YouTube

In high school gyms, small-town churches, and McDonald's drive-thrus across America, over 130 million Americans voted in this week's presidential election. Thousands of citizens documented their experiences on camera and shared them with the world here on YouTube to commemorate this historic event.

Marking the end of an epic and exhilarating election season, the videos on the homepage today include clips that chronicle the excitement of the big day, and capture the euphoric reactions to Obama's election as the next President of the United States. Jubilant Obama supporters celebrated everywhere -- in their living rooms, in front of the White House, even half-way across the world -- and produced records of their experience that they can one day show their grandchildren.





Over 2,000 videos (and counting) have poured into the Video Your Vote channel thus far, which is where YouTube and PBS teamed up to collect videos capturing the American voting experience. Each one is plotted onto a Google Map, painting a fascinating and important picture of what took place on Tuesday. This record will exist far past this election, allowing you to search and find videos uploaded near your home - and to experience how historic November 4th, 2008 was for America.

Yours,
Olivia M.
YouTube News & Politics.
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Addressing Youth Violence on YouTube

Like you, we're continually surprised, moved, and entertained by the videos people post on YouTube. And, like you, we're occasionally dismayed when people use YouTube for less positive purposes. That's why we count on you to know our Community Guidelines and flag videos you believe don't belong on the site.

We've recently made a change to our flagging menu we think you should know about: We replaced the category "minors fighting" with "youth violence." You can find it in the pull-down menu under "Violent or Repulsive Content," and we'll still follow our usual process of reviewing all flagged videos quickly and removing those that violate our Guidelines.

The reason for this change in language is simple: We want to make it easier for you to help us take down the increasing number of videos showing children involved in violence of some sort, including threats and actual altercations. The "minors fighting" flag simply wasn't being used enough, yet the number of these kinds of videos has been increasing. Now you can more easily flag violent videos that include underage people, and we'll take it from there.

Think of the Guidelines and the flagging pull-down menu as part of our ongoing conversation with you. We give you a structure that makes it easier for you to talk to us, and you become the eyes and ears of the site. Of course, the best conversations are never static, and the same is true about this one. We're always reviewing our Guidelines and the flagging categories to make sure they reflect what you see on the site.

The new flag is part of a larger, continuous effort here at YouTube to keep the community safe for all of our members. But we can't do it alone.

Literally.

With 13 hours of video uploaded every minute, we need you to be our first line of defense against content that violates our Community Guidelines, and we'll keep doing all we can to make doing your part clear and easy.

We're committed to having transparent, effective policies and to helping you understand them through blog posts like this. (If you haven't seen it, check our our first post in this series about how to contact us to report abuse.)

Let us know how we're doing and what you think about this new flag. And check back here soon for the next post in our series: How to Flag Videos.

The YouTube Team

Link - from YouTube Blog
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we launched "In My Name,"

A month ago, we launched "In My Name," a global effort to raise awareness around the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and hold world leaders accountable for the promises they made in the year 2000 to end global poverty. The program launched with the help of celebrities like Will.I.Am, Scarlett Johansson, Fergie and John Legend:



Hundreds of you from around the world have already answered the call to action, using YouTube as your platform to urge world leaders to end extreme poverty. Here are a few of the most notable submissions thus far:



If you haven't joined the "In My Name" campaign, it's not too late. All you have to do is visit www.youtube.com/inmyname and upload a simple video, stating your name, home country, and a message to your government about the need to meet the MDGs.

At the culmination of the program, a mash-up of the most powerful submissions from around the world will be broadcast directly to global leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, as proof that global citizens are holding them to their commitment to create a better world for everyone. The mash-up will also be broadcast at YouTube's first-ever live event, YouTube Live, on November 22nd.

The deadline to submit your video is November 1. Click here now to add your name and tell your leader that promises are meant to be kept.

Sincerely,
Ramya R.
YouTube Nonprofits & Activism

Link - from YouTube Blog
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Happy Halloween from Horror Film Legend Wes Craven

Last year, heavy metal frontman Rob Zombie turned up on YouTube's doorstep to deliver the tricks and treats. This year, our nightmares were answered when legendary horror film director Wes Craven offered to host the holiday -- immediately proving that the father of Freddy Krueger and the Scream trilogy certainly knows his way around scary movies. He personally introduces his top selections here, a combination of sheer terror, the frighteningly funny and even a few monsters who won't forget to vote.



Along with curating today's Halloween home page, Wes has collected some rare clips where he appears in front of the camera. He created this haunted Video Vault playlist on his YouTube channel for anyone interested in learning more about his directing and writing career.



So, thanks to Wes Craven, this All Hallow's Eve we all can celebrate our own "Nightmare on YouTube" – and remember: whatever you do, don't fall asleep...

Happy Halloween,
The YouTube Team

Link - from YouTube Blog
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Attention Filmmakers: Who Wants To Go To Sundance?

Project: Direct, YouTube's annual short film competition, is back to offer another talented filmmaker a chance to be discovered!

This year we've partnered with AOL Moviefone and The Sundance Film Festival to bring you this challenge: direct an original short film incorporating three specific props. One must be a red phone and the other two must be chosen from a list of 25 props that have played stand-out roles in some of the most memorable films to emerge from the Sundance Film Festival over the past 25 years. To choose your props, visit www.youtube.com/projectdirect.

Submissions open on November 16 and close at 9PM PST on December 14. A panel of Sundance Film Festival executives will review your film and whittle the competition down to 10 semi-finalists. Then, on December 27, the YouTube community will start voting for the winning film.

If you win, you'll be off to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, where you'll meet with the Festival's Director of Programming and screen your film at a festival event. The top three films will also take home cash prizes and be distributed on DVD to industry executives at the Festival.

While the competition proper is only officially open to entrants in the US, Canada, Brazil, UK, Spain, Italy and France, everyone is welcome to submit and we will feature top films on the YouTube site.

Need some inspiration to get started? Check out last year's three finalists:



Visit the Project: Direct channel to learn more, and take advantage of a rare opportunity to introduce your work to both a global audience and key industry executives.

Good luck,
Sara P.
YouTube Film
Link
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Your Election, Documented on YouTube

In high school gyms, small-town churches, and McDonald's drive-thrus across America, over 130 million Americans voted in this week's presidential election. Thousands of citizens documented their experiences on camera and shared them with the world here on YouTube to commemorate this historic event.

Marking the end of an epic and exhilarating election season, the videos on the homepage today include clips that chronicle the excitement of the big day, and capture the euphoric reactions to Obama's election as the next President of the United States. Jubilant Obama supporters celebrated everywhere -- in their living rooms, in front of the White House, even half-way across the world -- and produced records of their experience that they can one day show their grandchildren.





Over 2,000 videos (and counting) have poured into the Video Your Vote channel thus far, which is where YouTube and PBS teamed up to collect videos capturing the American voting experience. Each one is plotted onto a Google Map, painting a fascinating and important picture of what took place on Tuesday. This record will exist far past this election, allowing you to search and find videos uploaded near your home - and to experience how historic November 4th, 2008 was for America.

Yours,
Olivia M.
YouTube News & Politics.
Link - from YouTube Blog
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The future of online video

The Internet has had an enormous impact on people's lives around the world in the ten years since Google's founding. It has changed politics, entertainment, culture, business, health care, the environment and just about every other topic you can think of. Which got us to thinking, what's going to happen in the next ten years? How will this phenomenal technology evolve, how will we adapt, and (more importantly) how will it adapt to us? We asked ten of our top experts this very question, and during September (our 10th anniversary month) we are presenting their responses. As computer scientist Alan Kay has famously observed, the best way to predict the future is to invent it, so we will be doing our best to make good on our experts' words every day. - Karen Wickre and Alan Eagle, series editors

Ten years ago the world of online video was little more than an idea. It was used mostly by professionals like doctors or lawyers in limited and closed settings. Connections were slow, bandwidth was limited, and video gear was expensive and bulky. There were many false starts and outlandish promises over the years about the emergence of online video. It was really the dynamic growth of the Internet (in terms of adoption, speed and ubiquity) that helped to spur the idea that online video - millions of people around the world shooting it, uploading it, viewing it via broadband - was even possible.

Today, there are thousands of different video sites and services. In fact it's getting to be unusual not to find a video component on a news, entertainment or information website. And in less than three years, YouTube has united hundreds of millions of people who create, share, and watch video online. What used to be a gap between "professional" entertainment companies and home movie buffs has disappeared. Everyone from major broadcasters and networks to vloggers and grandmas are taking to video to capture events, memories, stories, and much more in real time.

Today, 13 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and we believe the volume will continue to grow exponentially. Our goal is to allow every person on the planet to participate by making the upload process as simple as placing a phone call. This new video content will be available on any screen - in your your living room, or on your device in your pocket. YouTube and other sites will bring together all the diverse media which matters to you, from videos of family and friends to news, music, sports, cooking and much, much more.

In ten years, we believe that online video broadcasting will be the most ubiquitous and accessible form of communication. The tools for video recording will continue to become smaller and more affordable. Personal media devices will be universal and interconnected. Even more people will have the opportunity to record and share even more video with a small group of friends or everyone around the world.

Over the next decade, people will be at the center of their video and media experience. More and more consumers will become creators. We will continue to help give people unlimited options and access to information, and the world will be a smaller place.


Link - from The Official Google Blog
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Holiday Solutions Center

The holiday season is quickly approaching. For all the fun that ensues, there are always lots of things to do and sometimes a little stress. Well, YouTube is here to help. This year we've teamed up with Lowes Home Improvement and created the Holiday Solutions Center to help with your holiday hassles and share some great ideas for the special season. This YouTube checkpoint is built to get you through the holidays without a hitch. From cooking to decorating and gift giving, our Holiday Solutions Guide brings together some of our favorite festive experts in one place.



First time hosting Thanksgiving dinner at your house? Epicurious.com gives you recipes and tips on the staples. Want to give your place an inviting feel for the holidays? E-How has plenty of DIY ideas that are quick and simple. Whatever your quandary, the Holiday Solutions Center is the perfect place to visit when you need answers to your holiday questions.

Happy Holidays
Sadia H.
YouTube HowTo & Style
Link - from YouTube Blog
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Customize Your YouTube Homepage

We've heard lots of suggestions ever since we launched our new personalized homepage a few months ago. We just launched three of those suggestions to make your personalized homepage even more useful and customizable:
  • You can now customize the number of videos shown within each section, as well as switch the layout between grid & list views. Want to see more subscription videos or friend actions each time you load your homepage? Just click on the "edit" button in the upper-right corner of each section and get customizing!

  • Do you use Insight to learn how, where, and when your audience watches your videos? Then you'll love the new Insight dashboard you can plug right into your homepage. We have two flavors to choose from: one that showcases which countries your videos are popular in, and another that showcases your videos' traffic over the past few days. Both versions will show which videos of yours are the most popular, as well as alert you to major changes in viewership - so you'll learn when that two-year-old video of you dancing in your room has suddenly made it big. You can turn these on by clicking "Add / Remove Modules" at the top of the homepage.

  • We've cleaned up and upgraded the design to better separate all the different sections - we hope you'll like it.
Want a personalized homepage but don't have an account? Then sign up!
Love it? Hate it? Have ideas for other changes? Let us know in the comments or join the discussion in our Help Forum.

The YouTube Team

Link - YouTube Blog
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