September 2012 - YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos. Contributors use Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 technology to display a wide variety of user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video blogging and short original videos.

Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, although media corporations including CBS, the BBC, Hulu, and other organizations offer some of their material via the site, as part of the YouTube partnership program. Unregistered users can watch videos, while registered users can upload an unlimited number of videos. Videos considered to contain potentially offensive content are available only to registered users at least 18 years old. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google and now operates as a subsidiary of Google.

Members rate videos they like, and YouTube chooses some recent, highly-rated videos for placement in the Spotlight Videos section of the home page as well as the Categories page.

You can enable YouTube's Safety Mode if you don't want to see videos that contain potentially objectionable material on YouTube. Safety Mode also hides comments on videos (you will see the option to show hidden comments on each video), and replaces most inappropriate language in comments with stars. While it's not 100 percent accurate, community flagging and other content signals are used to determine and filter out inappropriate content.

To enable Safety Mode, go to any YouTube page, scroll to the bottom and click the down arrow to the right of “Safety” to open the preference setting. Select “On” to enable Safety Mode. Make sure to click the ”Save” button. You also have the option to lock Safety Mode on your browser. This option prevents others from changing the Safety Mode setting on this browser.

There are lots of ways to find cool videos to watch! If you know what you're looking for, you can type keywords into the Search box at the top of every page. You can filter results by clicking on the “Filter” down-arrow at the top left of the results page. There are many options to narrow the results, including view count, rating, upload date, type, video length, features or channel.

Or, click “Browse” at the top of the page and then on the Videos tab to browse the site; the sample videos shown in each category give you an idea of what other folks on YouTube find interesting, and you can dig deeper within each category by clicking on the category name. There is also the Spotlight feature on the home page to show you what YouTube thinks is interesting.

When you find other members whose videos you like, you can create an account and subscribe to your favorite YouTube channels so that you're notified whenever they upload new videos—their 4 newest videos will show up on the home page when you sign in, or you can view all of your subscriptions to see them all at once.

SIGN UP FOR YOUTUBE

If you already have a Google Account, then adding YouTube is very simple. Just click “Sign in” on the top-right corner, and enter your Google Account login information. Using your Google Account, you can access many features without setting up a Channel. You can like videos, subscribe to channels, and flag videos and also add videos to Watch Later. While you're logged in, YouTube will keep track of your viewing history, and use videos you’ve watched, videos you’ve liked, and your subscriptions to recommend other videos for you to enjoy.

To create a Google account, click “Sign In” in the upper right hand corner and then “Create Account”. You'll enter some basic information. The Google username you choose is for your new Gmail email address only. This will not be your public name on YouTube. Once you submit all the required information and agree to follow Google policy, you'll be able to click the Back to YouTube button.

If you'd like to upload your own video content, comment on your favorite videos, or create playlists, you'll need to create a Channel first. Personal channels let you explore YouTube as a social network rather than as a simple video database -- you can find users who like the same kinds of videos you do and find out what they are watching. Your channel has divisions designed to display a short personal description, thumbnails of videos you've uploaded, members to whom you've subscribed, videos from other members you've picked as favorites, lists of members who are your friends and subscribers and a section where other people can comment on your channel. You can visit another member's personal channel by clicking on his or her user name. Here, you can view all of the YouTuber's videos as well as all the videos he or she picked as favorites

To create a new Channel with a YouTube username, click on the down arrow next to your login name in the upper right hand corner and select “My Channel”. Follow the instructions to create your own channel.

USE A WEBCAM TO RECORD VIDEOS

YouTube supports both direct webcam uploads using the Record from webcam feature as well as webcam videos created using software on your computer. If you recorded a webcam video using your own software and want to upload it to YouTube, you must format your webcam file before uploading to YouTube, Apple users with iMovie/Photo Booth and Windows users with Windows Movie Maker.

You can record a webcam video on YouTube and upload it directly to the site. Log into your YouTube account, then click “Upload” at the top of the screen and then “Record from webcam” on the upload page. You must ensure that you have a working webcam built into or connected to your computer and select “allow” if asked to permit YouTube to access your camera and microphone. Once you have taken these preliminary steps, you can easily record and publish your webcam video.

If you don't see a picture in the record section, you may need to choose a different video source from the video dropdown in the Record Video window. Once you see a picture coming from your camera, click the “Ready to Record” button to start recording your video. When you're finished recording, click the red stop button.

You can preview your video before uploading by selecting the “Preview” button in the recording window. When satisfied with your preview, click ”Publish” to upload your video, or select ”Re-record” to start over. When you click the “Publish” button, your video will automatically be uploaded to YouTube and begin processing. You can edit information about the video by going to your My Videos page.