YouTube – View And Share Videos Online

YouTube is a video sharing site where anyone can become a broadcaster. To get started with YouTube all you need to do is create a video with a video camera, camera, mobile phone or other recording device. Then sign up for an account and upload it. YouTube accepts video in a wide range of formats making the process rather painless. Once uploaded you can add the video to a channel, edit the description, and tag it with keywords so anyone with access to the site can watch it. Members can also comment on videos and share them on a variety of social networking sites. For publishers, YouTube is an easy way to get their content in front of a huge worldwide audience, so it’s no surprise that many mainstream content providers use YouTube to broadcast their programs even further.

For viewers, YouTube also has a lot of advantages. You can search for videos in different categories, view them, rate them, comment on them or publish them on your blog. It’s an easy way to find relevant and interactive blog content. The site has a strong social component, too, so you can make connections with others who share your tastes or who are broadcasting in the same channel. Video publishing and viewing doesn’t get much easier than this.

Practical Uses

• Catch up on the news and current events you missed. YouTube has partnerships with many news providers
• Research your next holiday destination by watching other people’s travel videos
• Create and share your own series of tutorials on gardening, scrapbooking or another hobby

Insider Tips

• If you want to upload videos longer than 10 minutes, then you need to change your account type (which also offers additional features)
• Use YouTube’s uploader software to upload several videos at once rather than just the standard web browser method
• If you want to watch a video later, save it using the ‘Favorite’ link bneath the video
• You can choose who is allowed to see your video by setting the broadcast option to private

What We Liked

• You can upload as many videos as you like – YouTube does not impose an uploading limit like several competing sites
• It’s easy to use a video on your blog or website by copying the code you need from the ‘Embed’ box in the ‘About this video’ section. You can also autopost videos to your blog if you add it to your account
• The Playlist feature is a permanent list of videos stored in a collection. You can create several of these

What We Didn’t Like

• If you need to update your video, then you have to upload it again and lose any comments or ratings on the original video
• Sometimes videos don’t appear in the right place on your profile

Alternatives

• Seesmic – http://www.seesmic.com
• Vimeo – http://www.vimeo.com
• 12 Seconds TV – http://12seconds.tv

Company Info

• Launched: 2005
• Owned by Google
• Headquarters: San Bruno, CA
• Founded by: Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim
• Website: http://www.youtube.com

Costs

• Free (ad supported)

Rating

• 4 out of 5 (great)