Official Blog
You Choose '08 Spotlight: Chris Dodd
Thursday, June 28, 2007
In this week's You Choose '08 Spotlight, Senator Chris Dodd says he's tired of the mainstream media's coverage of the election. He wants to use YouTube to "bypass the traditional media filter... to insure that the important issues get the attention they deserve."
His video asks YOU to take political action by contacting your senator to show support for the Dodd Amendment to end the Iraq war.
Senator Sam Brownback ended his week in the Spotlight in the same way he started it -- by filing video dispatches from his campaign bus. In this video response to a user question about adoption, Brownback provides great context to his answer by including his two adopted children, Jenna and Mark.
Yours,
Steve G.
YouTube News & Politics
Category Browsing is Back in Effect
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The browse by category functionality is back up and running. Thanks again for your patience and please accept our apologies for any frustration that this temporary removal caused. We will continue closely monitoring your feedback to ensure that everything went well across the board.
Many of you also requested we put back the total number of video views, which used to display on the homepage. This statistic is now shown on your
account
page. You'll see the "Video Views" count in the blue rectangular box near the top of the page.
Take care,
The YouTube Team
Sketchies - Vote Now!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Out of the thousands that entered our sketch comedy contest, only ten have made their way into Round 2. Their
second video submissions
are up for your viewing pleasure, but you have only TWO days left (until June 28) to decide which five will advance to Round 3. Those five finalists will then submit a new video and, starting July 6, you have the power to determine which of them will be crowned the first-ever YouTube Sketchies winner.
So watch and vote. Someone's future depends on it!
Sara P.
YouTube Film
Categories - We're working on a solution!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Hi everyone,
We wanted to officially address the current situation of category browsing having gone missing from the site after the latest update (which also affected search for channel honors). We want to apologize for the upset and frustration that this has caused you. We wholeheartedly understand and we have been listening to the overwhelming feedback from all of you to "bring them back!"
It was actually not our intention to take this helpful function away from you. There were technical reasons this had to happen in the short-term, but the good news is that we're working hard on a solution to bring it back. More news when we have it, and thanks so much for your patience in the meantime.
Yours,
The YouTube Team
Four Eyed Monsters Say Thanks!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Two weeks ago, we featured a
full-length film
by one of our partners, Four Eyed Monsters, on the home page. We weren't sure how you would respond to a 71-minute film – or even if you'd watch something that long online - but, wow, have you shown your support.
With over 500,000 views so far, over 2,500 overwhelmingly positive comments and over 40 moving video responses, your feedback has been just as inspirational as the film itself. So much so that Arin and Susan extended the film's run on YouTube to August 15th and made a response video to your responses. We wanted to be sure that you saw the impact you've made:
Thanks for watching,
Sara P.
YouTube Film
You Choose '08 Spotlight: Sam Brownback
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Senator Sam Brownback rolls into the You Choose '08 Spotlight this week from his campaign bus in Iowa. Zipping past rural countryside, the Republican from Kansas talks about growing up on a farm and his "pro-life, whole-life" message.
Brownback plans to answer your questions straight from the campaign trail this week, so upload your video response and keep your eyes peeled to his
YouTube channel
for more videos.
Over in the Democratic race for the nomination,
Senator Joe Biden
released four different videos this week addressing those who responded to his Spotlight video about energy independence. Peering over a laptop and addressing users by name, Biden expounds further on an issue that he's made central to his campaign.
Don't forget that you can ask Biden and all the other Democratic candidates questions which may be broadcast and answered LIVE on CNN on July 23. Submit your videos
here
for the chance to be part of the first-ever user-generated presidential debate!
Yours,
Steve G.
YouTube News & Politics
YouTube Speaks Your Language!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Olá, Bonjour, Ciao, こんにちは, Hallo, Czesc, Hola and Hello!
Video is universal, and the incredible variety of the international content that we see on YouTube confirms just that! In the spirit of serving our communities better, we are tailoring the YouTube experience to speak your language.
Earlier today we announced local versions of YouTube in nine countries – Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. As part of this first step in our international rollout, you can now enjoy fully translated sites, with localized home pages, content and search functions. As these sites evolve, so will your localized YouTube experience, including country-specific video rankings, comments and browse pages – all while being just one click away from the worldwide view.
We're extremely excited to be offering YouTube in the languages of so many of our users, since it allows people to express themselves and unite around interesting, relevant videos. We're looking forward to seeing communities develop between people in their local communities as well as among people around the world. We can't wait to experience more original content and interesting genres of content in different languages on the site.
For those not included in this first rollout, don't despair, we have plans in the works to launch in many more countries in the near future. As usual, we'll learn from our community, and we'll adapt and innovate as you tell us to.
In the meantime, be sure to check out our new sites:
br.youtube.com
,
fr.youtube.com
,
ie.youtube.com
,
it.youtube.com
,
jp.youtube.com
,
nl.youtube.com
,
pl.youtube.com
,
es.youtube.com
and
uk.youtube.com
, and tell us what you think!
Yours truly,
Sakina Arsiwala
YouTube International Manager
You Choose '08 Spotlight: Barack Obama
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Senator Barack Obama charged into the You Choose '08 Spotlight this week by asking how you can help restore a sense that "politics matters." In his Spotlight video, he asks you to share your stories on the work that you are doing at the neighborhood level to make the country better.
Obama's campaign plans to stitch your video stories together to demonstrate what the next generation is doing in public service. At 45, Obama is the youngest of the Democratic candidates on the You Choose '08 platform. He's served in the Senate since 2004, when he became the third African-American senator since Reconstruction.
Yours,
Steve G.
YouTube News & Politics
Site Update
Friday, June 15, 2007
Greetings 'Tubers! Our engineers and product people have been very busy optimizing your experience here to be more intuitive, user-friendly, and more "breatheable" overall. Check out what they've been up to:
SEARCH LAYOUT MAKEOVER
We've made searching for videos even easier! The search page now lets you choose how you want to display your results (just click on the "
List View
" and "
Grid View
" icons to the right of the "Sort By" options). Those sort links now also appear above the search results and the search bar has been moved to the center of the page.
HOMEPAGE ADDITIONS
Now you can see thumbnails of videos your fellow users are watching in real-time. In addition, the user message center now displays alert notifications for friend requests, new messages, video responses, and videos received to your account.
WATCH 3.0
We've beta released a new version of our watch page! Major changes include: increased video player size, more videos from that user's channel are more easily accessible, and related videos are more prominently displayed. We also simplified the actions appearing underneath the video player and redesigned QuickLists. To check out the
new watch page
, just click on the 'try our new version' link showing to the right of the video you're watching. Your feedback is always important to us, so don't be shy and do let us know how you really feel about the new watch page. Please send any comments, suggestions or rants to:
watchfeedback@youtube.com
.
UPLOAD REDESIGN + GEOTAGGING
The upload page has a completely new look and now also includes a super cool Google maplet, which allows you to indicate the exact location of where your video was taken (just click the "Date and Map Options"). You can also choose Sharing Options for comments, video responses, ratings and embedding during the actual upload process. Quick Capture and Upload have also been streamlined to share the same step 1 and confirmation pages.
ADOBE REMIXER
Have you been wishing for an easy way to edit your videos without buying extra software or bugging your video-savvy friends to do it for you? The long awaited Adobe Remixer is finally live! Remixer allows you to edit your videos with text, audio, graphics, overlays, effects, and transitions…right here on YouTube (no fancy equipment required). Check out the new
YouTube Remixer
, available on
TestTube
, and you'll be an expert in no time.
Toodle-oo,
The YouTube Team
Announcing the CNN/YouTube Debates
Thursday, June 14, 2007
What do YOU want to ask the presidential candidates? For the past few months, you've had the opportunity to connect with the candidates on our
You Choose '08
platform. Today we're announcing two exciting events that will bring that dialogue to national television: two presidential primary debates on CNN in which you ask the candidates questions through YouTube.
First up is the Democratic debate, which will be on July 23. Start submitting your questions today at
www.youtube.com/debates
.
So what makes a good question? Make sure to read the
guidelines
on the debate page; CNN will choose questions that are personal, short, and relevant. When possible, make sure to give context to your question – the power of video is that you can
show
us where you're coming from instead of just telling us.
Want some inspiration before you get started? Check out these sample questions, and then get out your camera and start rolling!
And stay tuned - you'll get to face the Republican candidates this fall during the second CNN/YouTube debate, on September 17 in Florida.
Yours,
Steve
of
Citizentube
YouTube News & Politics
Aye YouTube on iGoogle
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Interested in being able to watch YouTube videos from your
iGoogle homepage
? How about the ability to search YouTube from this very same gadget? If you don't yet have an iGoogle homepage it's easy to get started. Our friends at Google have this nifty thing called iGoogle, which essentially lets you personalize your home page with all kinds of gadgets, RSS feeds, search boxes, and more. You can even change the look with different themes. Get started today and install the new
YouTube iGoogle Gadget
!
Cheers,
Igor
YouTube Engineer
Update on New Embedded Player
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Thanks for all the feedback - please keep posting your constructive comments here, as this is a huge help for us in gauging community needs. The designers are continuing to evolve the embedded player to address some of the concerns raised here while still providing new ways for people to discover videos. You may have already noticed the following changes: related videos only show when the menu button is pressed, mouseover function is no more, and the menu for related videos now displays at the end of the video you've just watched.
You'll see more changes coming up which will allow deeper customization of the embedded player -- whether you want the "classic" single video playback or some great new ways to display a variety of videos on your website, profile page or blog. Bottom line: we want this new feature on embeds to work for you.
If you'd like to turn off the option to see related videos through your embedded player, simply add "&rel=0" after the video ID number in the embed code. Here's an example of what your embed code should look like if you'd like
to turn off this feature
:
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie"
value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xxxxxx
&rel=0
"
></param><param name="wmode"
value="transparent"></param><embed src="
http://www.youtube.com/v/xxxxxx
&rel=0
"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425"
height="350"></embed></object>
Cheers,
YouTube Team
Presenting Four Eyed Monsters
Friday, June 8, 2007
When artists Arin Crumley and Susan Buice first met, they agreed they would only communicate through visuals. What followed were scribbled notes, drawings, vlogs, etc., that chronicled the start of their relationship and would eventually become their first feature film,
Four Eyed Monsters.
The film was accepted to festivals, won awards and was praised by critics. That could have been the end of the road, but Crumley and Buice did something unique: they created podcasts about the making of the film and their struggle to get it released. The videos went on to garner over 1 million views and built such a large and loyal online audience that they were able to self-distribute their film to six major markets.
Crumley and Buice are a great example of a new era of artists using the Internet to take the distribution of their work into their own hands. And as you can see from
fan interviews
, the two aren't interested in using new technologies only for themselves – they want to see all artists empowered.
Now, as YouTube partners, Four Eyed Monsters are able to share their full-length, forward-thinking creative vision with you. Check it out.
Yours,
Sara
YouTube Film/
The Storyboard
You Choose '08 Spotlight: Tom Tancredo
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Currently reaching out to voters in the You Choose '08 Spotlight is Tom Tancredo, the Colorado Congressman who's nationally known for his tough stance on illegal immigration. Tancredo's Spotlight video asks you to weigh in on the immigration issue by telling your personal stories about how illegal immigration has affected you.
Governor Mike Huckabee got back to the YouTube community last week with this reply video to his question, "Do you want to see the IRS disappear?" Click below to hear Huckabee talk more about his plan to institute the Fair Tax.
The Spotlight is your chance to speak directly to the candidates about the issues you care most about. We'll be announcing a similar opportunity very soon, when we release the details of two live presidential debates that YouTube is producing with CNN.
Keep your eyes and ears peeled,
Steve
of
Citizentube
YouTube News & Politics
New! Related Videos Appearing on Embeds
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Does watching a YouTube video on another site leave you hungering for more like it? We just turned on a new embedded player with a scroll-through feature that shows related videos to your embeds. It's fun to play with and lets you discover new, related videos without leaving your site. Just hover over the video after pressing "play" and watch the magic unfold...
If for any reason you don't want this option turned on, you can modify the video URL by attaching a
rel=0
parameter to the video. i.e. http://www.youtube.com/v/
&rel=0
Here is an example of code with the parameter in place:
Enjoy!
YouTube Team
Staff Picks of the Week
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Startin' the week off right...
TheStoryboard:
Much of YouTube's glory lies in our collective ability to comment and respond to one another's videos. As we all know, YouTube is much more than just a video-sharing site. We're a creative community. One of my favorite video responses on the site, which I think is a shining example of our creative dialogue, is
pappirus
' “This ‘n’ That Animation,” a response to
nicepaul
's over four million view count video,
"This 'n' That – You Can Learn it at WTFmagic.com."
When magicians and animators are collaborating, you know you’re a part of something special!
MicheleKtel:
I love good shoes, but not the ones you keep in the closet or hurt your feet. These Good Shoes are from London and play upbeat British-accented power pop (in the spirit of the Buzzcocks and the Futureheads). Their new CD is called
Think Before You Speak
and already includes so many great videos that it's hard to pick between the one featuring the giant spinning record player flinging off band members, the comfortable-looking cardigans, or the captured-on-Polaroid-guitar-jumping. All those things are nice, but who can resist the one with the multicolored flock of animated birds set to an apologetic love song?
BigJoeSmith:
About a month ago in Amsterdam, a 400-pound gorilla named Bokito escaped from a zoo. In order to get out of his enclosure, Bokito had to climb a very high wall and then get across a moat. (Keep in mind that gorillas can't swim!) Well, after getting out, he ended up injuring four people, including a woman he captured caveman-style. We have a video of Bokito prior to this King Kong-ish event taking place - his innocent days.
Bye now,
YouTube Programming Team
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