YouTube.com is an Internet video sharing website that allos access to channels through which users can upload and share their personal videos. YouTube was started in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-10-11-youtube-karim_x.htm In November 2006, YouTube.com was bought by Google for $1.65 billion. YouTube.com hosts a wide range of user-generated videos, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos. MOst popular categories are 'Comedy', "Entertainment', 'Music' and 'Sports'.
Anyone is able to watch YouTube videos by visiting the website. However, participation like commenting, rating and uploading personal content requires a free sign-up to the site. At sign-up, a Channel is created for that user, which acts as his 'Home Page'. The YouTube Channel is typical for YouTube's "Broadcast yourself" slogan. allowing the user to upload videos, favorite other member's video's, provide a personal info, and build up a network with other members. The YouTube Channel comprises of several sections. The main section shows the last uploaded video by the member, accompanied by a section describing the video, comments, shares, ratings and other useful information about the video.
How to Create a YouTube Account
Pakistan Blocks YouTube.com
On May 20, 2010, Pakistan shut down access to YouTube.com because of its "growing sacrilegious content". YouTube was not he only site to be shut down, Facebook was also included in the blockage, as well as several other (social) websites, including parts of Wikipedia.
On Wednesday, May 19, a Pakistani court ruled access to Facebook to be blocked as a result of a Facebook page inviting people to draw pictures of Prophet Muhammad, which in turn was a reaction of the censorship of an episode of South Park, in which Muhammed appeared, dressed in a bear-suit.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/22/south-park-mohammed-censo_n_547484.html
The blockage of Facebook ,YouTube, Flickr and Wikipedia was ordered by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. In total, the blockage consists of more than 450 links on the Internet, containing derogatory material".
In a reaction, a Youtube spokesman stated:
"YouTube offers citizens the world over a vital window on cultures and societies and we believe people should not be denied access to information via video. Because YouTube is a platform for free expression of all sorts, we take great care when we enforce our policies. Content that violates our guidelines is removed as soon as we become aware of it." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10130195.stm
How to Upload a Video to YouTube
YouTube LeanBack
On July 7, 2010 YouTube released the beta Leanback service for computers.http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2366229,00.asp LeanBack plays a stream of videos continuously without the need to search or click with the mouse.http://www.youtube.com/leanback Instead it works with only the enter key and four arrow keys, and allows the user to sit back and watch videos continuously. The videos are chosen based on the user's preferences, subscriptions and Facebook contacts. The service will be available on televisions.
YouTube LeanBack
Here is a video introducing the new YouTube LeanBack site, where you can sit back and watch videos without the need to search. The engine uses your preferences and subscriptions to select videos for you to watch.
YouTube Turns Five
In May 2010, YouTube.com existed five years. To celebrate its fifth birthday, a special YouTube Channel was created, depicting all major YouTube videos along a timeline.. The YouTube Five Year channel called FiveYear, also includes the top picks by its 'Curators', Conan O'Brien, Jonathan Adler, Vint Cerf, Katie Couric and Pedro Almodovar.http://www.youtube.com/fiveyear
What to Watch!
Navigating YouTube.com is facilitated in several methods. When first visiting YouTube, one can search the many Categories provided by Youtube. This section shows varying channels within presented categories. In the Categories section, videos are presented and sorted by 'Most popular Today'. Custom sorting is available: one can sort by Spotlights, Rising, Popular, HD, Most Viewed, Most Discussed, Recent, Top Favorited, Top Rated, Rentals and As Seen As, and select a period, including Today, this week or this month. For an overview of available categories, see below.
To personalize video selection, users are encouraged to favorite videos or subscribe to other user's channels. When this occurs, users are presented with "favorite" videos or videos made by channels to which they have subscribed. Once subscribed, recent additions to those channels, and recommendations based on favorites are presented on the person's home page.
Categories
- YouTube TV Shows
- YouTube Movies: Action & Adventure, Animation & Cartoons, Bollywood, Classics, Comedy, Crime, Documentary & Biography, Drama, Family, Foreign, Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Romance, Science Fiction, Shorts, Spanish Language, Sports, The Screening Room;
- YouTube Contests
- YouTube Events
In order to allow easier navigation, uploaded videos are grouped in the following categories:
- Autos & Vehicles: Motorcycles, Motor Sports, Planes, Racing, Trains;
- Comedy: Late Night TV,Sketches;
- Education: YouTube EDU, Business, Education, Engineering, Fine Arts & Design, Health & Medicine, History, Humanities, Journalism & Media, Law, Literature, Mathematics, Science, Social Science;
- Entertainment: Commercials;
- Film & Animation Animation, Anime & Manga, Bollywood, Cartoon, Montage, Stop Motion, Trailers;
- Gaming: Flight Simulator, Machinima;
- Howto & Style: Beauty Tips, Cooking, Dance, Fashion, Housing & Real Estate, Outdoors, Technology & Electronics;
- Music: Blues, Classical, Country & Folk, Electronic, Indie & Alternative, Jazz, More/Other, Pop, Rap & Hip-Hop, R&B & Soul, Religious, Rock, World Music;
- News & Politics: Documentary, Elections, Politics;
- Nonprofits & Activism: Commentary;
- People & Blogs: Pet Videos, Video Blogs;
- Pets & Animals: Birds, Cats,Dogs, Fish, Other, Rabbits & Rodents, Wildlife;
- Science & Technology: Gadgets, Hardware & Software;
- Sports: American Football, Boxing, Extreme, Fitness, Golf, Hockey, Martial Arts, Soccer, Tennis, Winter Sports, Wrestling;
- Travel & Events.
YouTube has its own channel, labeled "Broadcasting Ourselves" This channel is simply named YouTube.
YouTube on Twitter
YouTube also has created a range of associated lists. Subscribing to these lists allows followers to stay up to date of main additions to selected categories:
Popular YouTube Channels
Popularity of YouTube channels is defined by the number of times the individual videos uploaded through the channel have been viewed. User accounts can be monitored to deem what videos are being watched and by whom. This number can differ greatly from the actual number of times the channel itself is viewed. As an example: The most popular Youtube Channel was Vevo, which has only 10 uploaded videos, with over 15 billion video views, but 'only just over 2 million channel views. Number two, Expert Village, has nearly 18 million channel views, but 'only' 1,1 billion video views, which puts it on the #2 spot.
In May 2010, the following YouTube Channels were the most popular all time channels: http://www.youtube.com/channels?s=mv&t=a&g=0
- Vevo - 17,568,985,119 Views
- Expert Village - 1,209,269,742 Views
- machinima - 1,180,694,604 Views
- Hollywood Records - 1,061,138,875 Views
- FAIL Blog - 846,510,857 Views (All views as of June 20, 2010).
For more information on these and other interesting channels, visit the YouTube Channels page
The Webbys Awards on YouTube
YouTube.com is a major sponsor of The Webby Awards. The Webby Awards are the leading international awards celebrating the best of the best on the Internet. The most popular of YouTube Channels are featured here. The Webby Awards, or Webbys, were established in 1996, when the Internet was still in its infancy. The Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. In 2010, the Webbys were awarded on June 14, 2010. All Webby nominees and winners and their winning submissions can be found on the YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/webby Webby.http://www.youtube.com/webby
Some of the winners were:
YouTube News / Information
YouTube Blogs
YouTube Forums
Best Youtube Videos of April 2010: The cupcake cannon
"The cupcake cannon", shooting cupcakes straight at people's faces, being captured on high-speed video, and then played back in slow motion. According to the video makers the cupcake shots were captured at 700fps, using a Phantom HD Gold.
The cupcakes were fired at a speed of 120 psi. The Youtube video was launched on April 28, 2010, on YouTube channel KmpGrz, and has been watched over 210,000 times already.
Best Youtube Videos of April 2010: U.S. Soldiers cover Lady Gaga's Telephone
Two U.S. Soldiers feature in a remake of Lady Gaga's hit song 'Telephone'. The Youtube video was uploaded to youtube.com on April 23, 2010, and received well over 2 million views ever since. The video was uploaded to youtube channel malibumelcher.
Best Youtube Videos of April 2010: Pixels
Pixels by Patrick Jean is a clever short movie, in which pixels form several well known enemies including Donkey Kong, Bomberman, Frogger, Pac Man, and other characters from gaming history, attacking New York, turning everything into blocks.
YouTube, the new page layout
In two and a half minute, Youtube shows the new features and layouts, which have been introduced earlier in April, 2010. The new page has discarded the five star rating system for an easy thumbs up or thumbs down, places the video top-left, related videos on the entire right side, and simplified fold-out views statistics, comments and video commentaries below the video.
Leave Britney Alone
When a highly emotional Britney Spears fan uploaded his plea on youtube.com, he became an unintentional hit on the site. Over 30 million people have viewed the video since it was first released on youtube. The video has lead to several reaction videos, in which the Britney fan is mocked, or in which his plea is changed to other persons, including Barack (Obama).
References
Fast Facts
-
Launched
-
Founder(s)
-
Headquarters
-
Funding
US$11.5 million by Sequoia Capital
-
CEO
-
Employees
67
