Mia:
My obsession with periurban continues with this sweet video of a trip he took to the Royal Scottish Museum with his daughter, Lily. You can tell this is precious time between father and daughter, and it’s touching how much they seem to enjoy each other’s company. I remember trips to the museum with my dad, only my sister and I weren’t as accommodating as Lily. We moaned and groaned that it was “bor-ing,” but our dad did everything he could to keep us engaged, even offering bribes, like five cents for every mustache we could find in a painting. I now know that that time together was worth more than a million mustaches. Lily’s lucky she has a record of these days.
Sadia:
So I'm a Mac girl all the way. My first computer had an apple on it, and so will my last. Nothing beats playing Oregon Trail on the Apple IIe. It's who I was. It's who I am. It's who I'll always be. Is it logical? Not necessarily, but I'm OK with that. So sometimes it's hard for me to admit when Microsoft does something right. For the launch of Vista, Microsoft made a little ad campaign concoction of magic. Take two cups of the wry comedy of Demetri Martin, add 2 1/2 tablespoons of music from Film School, and mix it all together in the De Young Museum in San Francisco, and there you have it: something that makes you smile. This Clearification series has some of the driest humor I've ever chuckled to, and the short animated clips of Demetri are priceless. I'm still an Apple girl, but now I just have a tad more respect for Microsoft. P.S. Steve Jobs, if you're reading this please don't hate me.
Joe:
What the Buck? This is the type of commentary that makes your cringe and say ouch, especially if you're the subject. By the way, Tyra, it's been nothing but love since the days of Higher Learning so please don't take it personally that I've made this my pick of the week! We all love satire and this gent satisfies that desire with a polished look and demeanor that says he's headed somewhere...like Hollywood.
Steve:
A good mashup on YouTube is like postmodern art for the video generation. This one has gained some real traction: it takes a quote by Senator Ted Stevens, who, when asked a question about the internet last year, referred to it as a "series of tubes." The 84-year-old senior senator from Alaska probably deserves a break -- the Internet is, after all, dependent on miles of fiber optic cable -- but his response was clumsy enough to draw attention in the press and on YouTube. This mashup by 13tongimp and DJ Paul Holcomb from The Bold Headed Broadcast is part fantasia and part music video... and very funny. Though Stevens hasn't posted any video responses, I feel like it’s something he could have a good laugh at...
Have a good one,
YouTube Programming Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=GWyPvNemOGg
March 21, 2007
Your Community Advocate
Many of you already know the esteemed Damien Estreich, the man behind the YouTube news vlog YourTubeNEWS. Damien’s been a fixture ’round our virtual lives for some time now. He’s been in touch nonstop with great product suggestions, feature video tips, and community issues big and small. We couldn’t even calculate how many hours (days, weeks!) Damien has already invested into building the YouTube community and making it a happier place. Frankly, it’s scary how much time he spends online – I don’t think the man has seen the sunshine in months.
We thought it was time to make Damien official, and this week marks his second as a YouTube employee. He's our "Community Advocate," and before your face morphs into a blank stare, I'll explain: think of Damien as the YouTube Concierge, offering personal service to the most dedicated users (ie, the ones reading this blog!). Damien will champion your issues and concerns; if he can't personally help, he'll bubble them up to the folks who can. He's yet another set of eyes and ears out there, listening to what you're saying and making sure that the YouTube team responds ever more quickly to the community. Damien will continue to produce YourTubeNews (with plans to revamp the vlog to be more “real and personal”) and report on the movers and shakers in the YouTube universe. See him here and/or write to him directly at estreich@youtube.com.
Please join me in officially welcoming Damien to the YouTube team!
G'day,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=UCW7mG-MwsU
March 13, 2007
Staff Pick of the Week
On our screens and minds...
Sadia:
Ah, the weekends. They're supposed to be the days of the week to relax but instead I get less sleep than at any other time. I mean come on -- there are just too many good bars, DJs, and friends that keep me up all night. After staying up until 4am, it's customary to sleep away the morning but I just can't do that. I'm up at 8 or 9 getting the day started. (I might not be my most coherent self, but I'm up.) I get my Philz Turkish coffee, go home, and listen to "This American Life" on NPR. Ira Glass's weekly show gives you a glimpse into the lives of people all over this country that you will probably never meet. He takes one topic and attempts to explore it from different angles to get the broadest view possible. Well, Ira packed up his Chicago home and moved to New York to take This American Life to television; quite a bold move for a show that's a staple of American radio. One of the best parts of the show is the fact that you are only listening to the stories these people tell and can have a connection without knowing what they look like. I'm going to miss just hearing the stories. Then again, it might be nice to put a face to the name.
Joe:
Man o' man, when I heard this parody of Rich Boy's "Throw some D's," I couldn't stop it from playing over and over again in my head. Pete Rosenberg is gangster for this. In fact, I'm scared to play it -- my friends and family can't take another week of me singing "I just bought a sandwich, throw some cheese on it..." Check out the original song first so that you can get a fair understanding of the parody.
Mia:
Set anything to periurban’s “So, It's a Love Song” and I’m gonna sigh and swoon until I hyperventilate. SergeLipski put together a video that perfectly matches the song’s melancholy spirit. A rose is constructed from petals and joins other flowers in a bouquet. But hang on -- those roses are dead! A few seconds later, a note declares that there’s no hope and a wedding band appears as the final goodbye. It is so sad. And that’s why I like it.
Toodles,
YouTube Programming Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=8XGkpaNyifA
March 06, 2007
Staff Pick of the Week
What the ladies of YouTube are luvin' this week:
Mia:
I love juxtapositions of seemingly disparate things: sweet and tough, innocent and crude, brainy and bimbo-y. So when I saw BrickLaneBetty’s combo of books and boobs, I just knew I had to staff pick it. (Speaking of books, how cool would it be to have a YouTube book club? Write to me if you’re interested. It’s something I’ve been thinking about starting for a while…) Between the cleavage, the distracted cameraman, and some weird stuff happening on the laptop in the background (what the heck is that?), it takes a heroic effort to absorb what Super Amanda’s saying about the books, but she does leave you with a catchphrase worth repeating: “Dickens – a good idea!”
Sadia:
So I have to admit, winter in California is nothing to complain about. I don't want to rub it in, but it's pretty fantastic compared to other places in the States. Coming from Chicago, where the winters are brutal, it's a welcome change. But even with its great weather and landscape, I still can't let go of the fact that Chicago is the best city in the world. I could make a list of all the great things about that city but that could take hours...and it still wouldn't to it justice. But I did find a video that takes a snapshot of Chicago and captures the city perfectly. Owen's video shows the beautiful Chicago that emerges after living there for years. Throughout the harsh winters and suffocating summers you find your comrades in arms and fight the elements together. After the battles are won, the city becomes this amazing playground where you watch everything in your world grow. And every once in a while you have one of those days where you can relax and enjoy the city with the people who have made it your home.
Mwah,
Mia and Sadia
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=WgZ7mMWZYNo
March 05, 2007
Westward, Ho! YouTube's News & Politics Editor Arrives
It took me 3,000 miles to get from Minnesota to California to start working here at YouTube, and what better way to remember the road trip than by whipping out the ol' video camera. This video shows a few clips from my trip west, as well as some footage inside YouTube HQ during my first week here.
I'll be working as YouTube's News & Politics Editor and couldn't have arrived at a better time – we just launched "You Choose 08", a central hub of channels created by Presidential candidates for 2008. Check out behind-the-scenes footage from the campaigns, and make your own response videos to what these Presidential hopefuls are saying… This is your chance to interact directly with the candidates and tell them exactly what you think.
We've got a lot to come before November '08. Soon I'll be launching the YouTube political blog in which I'll be highlighting must-see videos from candidates and users, and offering my own spin on the election as it unfolds on YouTube.
I want to hear from you about the issues affecting us all (not just Americans), so send me your thoughts and videos. We want to see a lot more citizen journalism on YouTube, so get your cameras rolling and start documenting what's happening in your world. I'll be looking for the best pieces to feature in the News & Politics section, in my blog, and on the YouTube home page.
Let the YouTube election begin…
Steve
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=zADtM47GcO0
February 28, 2007
Staff Pick of the Week
Here's what we're diggin' this week:
Big Joe:
I love me some magic! XCmanipulator is an up-and-coming magician. Though you really don't learn much about him from his videos, you can tell he's a young man who has his sights set on perfecting trick after trick. I've been one of his subscribers for a while now, and when I saw him perform Jay Sankey's "Outsiders" I knew what my pick of the week would be. Check out this video and be amazed!
Mia:
I swore I would never go to Burning Man. And then, in a you-only-live-once spasm, I changed my mind. That I would be six months pregnant during my first jaunt to the desert only added to my feeling that this would be a very life-affirming experience. And it was. I don’t think you’ll ever find a place as free-spirited and judgment-free as Black Rock City, where anything goes and smiles are in no short supply. This video reminds me of those joyous, multicolored late summer days.
Sadia:
There is a war going on. A war I didn't even know about. A war on...Vegemite. Yes...Vegemite. Some of you might ask, "What is Vegemite?" To that I would answer, "I have no idea but that doesn't mean I don't care." I do care. I care about condiments. I care about yeast on bread (just ask my roommate how much nutritional yeast I can consume on toast or popcorn). I care about holding on to something sacred. And apparently I'm not the only one. Hugh from HughsNews is leading the troops fighting the war on Vegemite. Nowhere have I seen such love, determination, and bravery as I have seen from this man. At ease, soldier, you've done Vegemite proud.
See ya,
The YouTube Programming Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=T5ysqimMwOE
February 22, 2007
Site Updates
It's Bad Hair Day City around these parts (for those with hair), as many YouTubers were up very late making some improvements to the site. Hopefully you've noticed that it's moving a lot faster these days.
Here are some more highlights from the long night:
**VIDEO ADDED 2/25**
FRIENDS-ONLY MESSAGING: Let's say you just want to hear from people you know and love. There's a new setting in your in-box that will allow you only to receive messages from your contacts. Plus note that messages are all on one page now, so no more endless paging.
FREE MUSIC FOR YOUR VIDEOS: Need a soundtrack to go with your sick slam dunk or bedroom disco dance? Go to Test Tube and start tinkering with Audio Swap, a new feature that enables you to replace the song on your video with music from a library of free tracks donated by our music partners.
GUEST EDITOR PROGRAM LAUNCHES: JackDanyells was the brave soul who attempted this first, and we couldn't be happier with the videos he selected and the brilliant video he made about the process. Hundreds of folks have written in wanting to participate, so bear with us as we review submissions and pick the next lucky tastemakers.
CHANNEL PAGE ENHANCEMENTS: Some of you were not too keen when the Comments area shifted to the right side of your Channel page, so now you have a choice and can move it back to the left if you like. You'll also notice that your most recently uploaded video plays at the top of your page (if you'd like a different video to play, set a custom URL here), and friends can now be removed from your Channel.
FIND A GURU TO FOLLOW: Last time we met, we told you about a new type of account (Guru) for those with special gifts to share with the world. So far over 15,000 folks have signed up for Guru status and now there's a browse page just for their kind.
A BETTER HOME FOR BLOGGERS: We found that bloggers didn't know whether to place themselves in the People category or in the News & Blogs group, splitting up this critical community. We solved that problem by renaming the People category People & Blogs, and News & Blogs became News & Politics. Also: Video Games morphed into Gadgets & Games, and Science & Technology became Howto & DIY.
Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading.
Adios amigos,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=JsiM84a7hzk
February 20, 2007
Staff Picks Are Back!
From time to time, we YouTube editors stumble upon videos that speak to us on an intensely personal level – we’re not sure everyone will love these clips as much as we do, but we nevertheless want to make our affections known and give you a glimpse into our personal tastes. With that, we anoint Tuesday "Staff Pick of the Week" Day and vow to share our highly subjective favorite videos here in this blog and on our individual YouTube channels.
Big Joe:
One of my first homepage features was "Piece of Mind" by VancouverFilmSchool. It was a perfectly blended mix of CG animation and live action. Ori's film became a runaway success and really helped me gain confidence in my feature selections. To me, the message of the film was to break free from your confines, though I'm sure it resonated differently with everyone. No matter how the film made you feel, it certainly made you wonder, "How did they pull this off?!" VFS just released "The Making of Piece of Mind" - now we all can know!
Mia:
I am a sucker for all things Scottish. That brogue always brings me to my knees, and when it's combined with semi-sad folk music it's all over for me (calling periurban!). Folk singer James Yorkston doesn’t so much sing here as a craft a wistful, existential video poem. I mean, how gorgeous is this? “Now I’ll be leaning over and waking you up/And you’ll squint at me through the cracks between your eyelids/Woozy with cider/As if you’re asking just exactly where we are and exactly what I wanted/And I’ll be happy, as we won’t be taking anything too seriously.” Swoon.
Sadia:
Every once in a while you come across a video that seems to know all of your hidden desires. For me, that's food, blue eye shadow, and doublewide trailers. I know it sounds crazy that there are two people that have those passions, but it's true and my other half is Jolene Sugarbaker: The Trailer Park Queen. If you've never had the pleasure of watching her cooking show, you are missing out on some true entertainment. She pushes the boundaries of American cuisine. Rachel Ray is not inventive enough to come up with "Oatmeal Raisin Asparagus Cookies." And I don't think you'll ever see Martha Stewart making "Circus Peanut Salad." Although I have not tried one of her recipes at home (to be honest, I'm a little afraid to), I regularly check her channel to find out what new cooking adventures are in store.
A bientot,
The YouTube Programming Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=gpHPWui5q84
February 12, 2007
A Note on Terminated Accounts
There's been a bit of buzzing on the blogs today with people suggesting that we've taken down a video because we didn't agree with the point of view of its content. This simply isn't true. Unfortunately, we're partially to blame for the confusion because a user was accidentally sent a generic message about inappropriate content instead of the appropriate copyright notice. We corrected the mistake earlier today, once we figured out what had gone wrong.
We realize that sometimes users whose accounts are closed have fans who feel the loss as well. Many of you have written to us requesting that accounts be reinstated. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) actually requires that the accounts of "repeat infringers" be terminated.
We hope this clears up the confusion and want assure everyone that we will never censor videos because they favor one viewpoint over another. We only remove videos for terms of use violation and copyright disputes, as laid out under the DMCA.
For more information about our copyright guidelines and takedown policies, please check out our Help Center.
Thanks for reading,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=VaLXzI92t9M
February 06, 2007
Meet Another YouTube Editor
Well, last week was my first time programming the home page and it was nerve-racking but really fun. After endlessly reading blogs, watching videos, and checking out all of the suggestions that everyone e-mailed in, I had to take a leap of faith and put out a group of videos I thought worthy of the home page. Some of them you really liked (Six Drummers , Peter, Bjorn & John's "Young Folks", Adrian Wilson's 66" Jump), others not so much (Operator Please and Sundance Diary), but whatever your opinions were you made them known. Of Montreal had a new album out, with a video that was so imaginative that it was hard not to notice. I found B-Boy Stance when BigJoeSmith passed it on and could not stop laughing. At one point there was even a snort...yes, that's right, a snort. My favorite experience was putting up NickyNik's response to "A bit of me". After getting an e-mail from a YouTuber telling me that Nickynik's the "un-found entertainer on YouTube," I had to check out his channel. I came, I saw, I loved. And it's cool to see that a lot of you did too. So I guess we'll have to wait and see what my next home page stint will bring. But in the mean time keep sending e-mail's for videos you want to see featured, since they really are what helps us find great stuff.
Talk to you later,
Sadia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=c3r3vYf9uD0
January 27, 2007
YouTube Editor Speaks
Alright, alright, I finally made a video. It only took about 1,000 takes, an emergency run to Radio Shack, a few glasses of wine, and a trip to the salon.
Um,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=PvTmxDBxtLs
January 25, 2007
Lotsa Cool New Stuff
The YouTube team was up until the wee hours last night rolling out some key changes and enhancements to the site. Read on for more details (video summaries coming soon to this blog and the YouTube Channel).
**Video added 1/29**
MESSAGING IS BACK IN BUSINESS: Messaging should really truly be fixed now, including messages that contain e-mail addresses and URLs. Thanks for your patience as we worked out kinks related to an over-enthusiastic spam filter.
GOOGLE SEARCH!: Thanks to, ahem, a certain parent company, our search is now vastly improved so it should be even easier to find your favorite sleeping kitty video exactly when you want to show it to grandma. Moreover, YouTube videos are now indexed on Google Video Search, which means more potential viewers for your videos!
B-B-B-LOCK THA HATERS: Stopping the haters in their tracks is now easier than ever. Not only is there the “Block User” feature on each person’s Channel page, but now you can instantly zap anyone you like by using the new "Block User" feature next to each comment on your video.
CHANNELS ARE EVEN MORE CUSTOMIZABLE: Don’t want to show folks who your subscribers are? Would rather not have Favorites display on you page so your own videos can get all the glory? Now you can turn modules on or off by going into the “Channel Design” area under “My Account” and choosing to show or hide various boxes. You can also select one video to display at the top of your page (go into “Channel Info” to do this).
VIEW VIDEOS THAT HAVE THE MOST RESPONSES: Under the Video browse tab, there’s a new page showing videos that have the most responses. Go to the Most Responded >> All Time to see a great set of videos that have inspired other users to post their own clips.
NEW AND IMPROVED HELP CENTER: The contents of the Help Center have tripled and it’s hopefully easier to read and navigate. Plus now you can search within the Help Center, see the Top 5 questions most asked by users, and let us know whether the information was helpful or not.
MORE ROOM FOR YOUR FEATURED VIDEOS: The categories page got a facelift and now shows two featured videos for each topic. But then, when you click through, brace yourself: we’ve got room for – count ’em – 20 featured videos within each section. More space for your incredible work! Sadia, whom you'll meet soon, is the editor in charge of this area, so write to her with feature requests.
MEET THE GURUS: There’s a new type of Channel for people who create “how to” videos for fitness, cooking, video production, guitar playing and more. So if you’ve got a special skill, sign up for your Guru account now!
POST TO DIGG, DELICIOUS, FURL AND MORE: If you click on "Post Video" under a video, you will see a row of icons that lets you quickly post the video to these neat-o bookmarking services.
Now you see why our engineers are still sleeping?!
Enjoy,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=9_wU0qhEPR8
January 16, 2007
Behind the Features
People always wonder how videos are chosen for the homepage and as part of our effort to improve communication with you, I thought it was time to introduce you to some of our editors and give you a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes here at YouTube. First up is Big Joe Smith -- everyone say, "Hi Joe!" -- who made this video for you and then outlined a typical week on homepage duty (including some extra video goodies). Let us know if you like this kind of stuff and we'll make it a regular feature. I'm even charging up the battery on my own video camera and getting out the rouge and mascara... -- Mia
Mon 1/8
Ask and you shall receive. A while back we got a request from a user to feature picniccasket's Monument Valley. I was quite impressed with the energy in the video and the fact that it was a solo project, so it had to go on home. Rock on, my man, rock on.
It was Mac World last week and this spoof of "The Special Christmas Box" by RandiandJen couldn't have come at a better time. Mac love runs deep here in Silicon Valley and these ladies figured out how to steal back some of that affection and shared their secret with us.
Tues 1/9
Triponic taught us how to make our own steam room inexpensively. The video was set to great music and made his idea seem all the more inviting… I got to make me one of those things -- have any of you tried it yet?
Talk about cuteness, The Cuppycake Song has been a classic in many homes for many years and finally credit can be given where it is due thanks to the sonoman posting the original material to YouTube. Make sure to check out the bloopers for even more adorableness.
Big Dancing, Small Town…I have to commend QuadMagicalNESS for their hard work. We received this video via email from a user and I'm pretty sure it hit the homepage the next day. My favorite scene is a toss-up between when they are dancing on top of the Goodwill building and when they are dancing on the billboards. Excellent way to turn your small town boredom into something unique, productive and well…big. Nice job, guys.
Wed 1/10
From the hills of Matheran came a video chock-full of sincerity and love. Congratulations David and Susie on your engagement. Check out this video response after seeing the original video -- even Susie liked it!
We also like to feature videos that encourage community interaction. Zakgeorge21's latest video did just. If you haven't submitted your video response yet, please do because we're watching! In the meantime, here's a great response to his video from NicholasPickolas.
Thurs 1/11
Our ears were sent tingling by the playing of DukeRightious when we heard his "C minor Etude". This original composition evoked emotion and was a perfect way to start the day. Duke actually emailed us himself to nominate his video and when I reviewed it, I knew it had to find its place on the homepage. He's got some other great material as well; I'd recommend checking out his short version of "Things".
Talk about talented: the eight-year-old Puehse twins could show a lot of veterans a thing or two about skating. Check out the air these kids can get off the ramp.
Fri 1/12
When I happened to stumble on the World Freehand Circle Drawing Champion, it was already gaining some traction on the site, but I felt it deserved even wider exposure. A lot of users said that it's easy to draw a perfect circle, but I encourage you to try it. I did and well…let's just say I'll leave the perfect circle making to the pros.
Sat 1/13
Nalts gave us insight into the world of a Viral Video Genius. Special thanks go out to Nalts for deciding to be nice from now on. .
Sun 1/14
So we know most of you are qualified to have a Bachelors Degree in YouTubery (here I go making up words) but The YouTube Guided Tour by JackDanyells is very informative. What's even better is that if you watch the video response by Therapix, you can learn how to make your own green screen.
BaratsandBaretta…pretty much 'nuff said. These guys are legends and have been bringing us viral classics for quite sometime. The Other Son is a funny venture into the life of Jesus' other brother Wesley. Make sure you check out their other videos.
Mon 1/15
The great thing about a holiday like Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is that it not only inspires progressive thought but also (hopefully) progressive action (hint hint… make your video response, like this one). Daniel Stringer brought a strong message to YouTube. What's your dream?
There is a great story behind Drawing YouTube. Marcoseiji contacted our video Czarina Mia about his channel. It was a simple message that said he felt his channel could make a lot of YouTube users happy. When Mia checked it out, she was in awe and asked Marco to make a compilation video for a possible feature. This all happened yesterday within about three hours (despite the Brazil-San Francisco time difference) and the video made it to the homepage the same day.
Keep on Tubin',
Big Joe
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=fEjJOXRoWwg
January 11, 2007
Messaging, Vlogging and Guest Editors
Hello! Wanted to update you on some progress this week:
• We know there were some major things wrong with commenting and private messaging. Our engineers looked into it and discovered an over-enthusiastic spam filter. (There are people with racks of machines sending out spam and the filter helps to cut down on the junk that gets through.) Anyway, things should be working smoothly again in messaging land, but please let us know if you continue to encounter problems. **UPDATE (1/12): Messages that contain URLs and email addresses are still problematic. We're testing a new spam filter to see how well it catches spam that includes URLs. Based on that performance, we will lift the URL restriction.**
• Many of you have pointed out that we should be vlogging more ourselves, including site updates like this. I’m terribly camera shy, but we’ve asked a high-profile and well-connected member of the YouTube community, Damien Estreich, to help broadcast these messages (in addition to the ones we produce ourselves). He’s working on his first one as we speak.
• Of course you can expect to hear from (and see) the YouTube staff more often too. Every month we’ll be asking you a thought-provoking question which we’ll introduce by answering ourselves. The first will revolve around Valentine’s Day, so get ready to film some lovey-dovey (or not!) video responses. We'll be asking you to tell us about the person or thing you love the most in this world.
• Finally, we’re opening up the programming of our home page to guest editors. We’ll pick one user a month to take over for a few days. All you’ll have to do is send us 10 videos you’d like to place on home (make sure they adhere to the terms of service!) along with a short video about why you chose what you did and how you found the experience. If you’re interested in participating, please let me know.
Well, that’s it for now. Keep on letting us know how we can improve things.
Ciao,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=B8DTd9ZXJqM
January 05, 2007
2007: Get Set, Go!
Now that our hangovers have worn off and we’ve picked all the confetti out of our hair, it’s time to get down to business. We’ve got big plans for 2007, and while we can’t reveal all the details of our quest, we did want to let you get a whiff of what’s cooking.
First and foremost, we heard you loud and clear when you told us you don’t necessarily want more features added to the site, you just want the current features to be working well. High on our list of priorities is ensuring that private messages work the way you expect them to and it doesn’t take eons to reply to one.
We’re also aware of how frustrating it can be when you have a question or an issue and you get stuck in automated reply hell. We’re going to strengthen communication internally so that your biggest concerns are heard by the people who can fix them. And then we’re going to improve how we communicate with you – if we don’t address your issue via a personal email response, you can check this blog for more frequent general updates.
In short, we want you to know that we’re listening to you and doing our best to give you a site that you find as essential as oxygen. We’ll be tapping power users to help guide us along the way (more on that later), and we’ll be launching new programming initiatives that will encourage you to speak your minds, to show your limitless creativity, to reach out to us and to each other. I can't wait.
Be back soon,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=MMSF9CZE4Fg
January 01, 2007
Happy New Year! + Best of 2006
Wow. What a year 2006 was, eh? For us at YouTube, it exceeded our wildest dreams. I don’t think anyone could have predicted that the year would end with a Time magazine cover that celebrated exactly why the site is so successful: you! We got to know you through your videos (what else!) and some of them stayed with us all yearlong.
Because I love lists and firmly believe that no year is complete without reflecting on (and savoring) those moments of pure delight, I took an informal poll among YouTube staffers to find out which videos were their favorites in 2006. Here are the highly subjective results, in no particular order, in general and music flavors.
Best of 2006
Best of 2006 – Music Edition
So what were your favorite YouTube videos of 2006? Send us your playlists and we'll feature a few here, and then start collecting your votes for 2007!
Happily hangover free,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=U45UqIF2gFs
December 13, 2006
Out From the Underground
If you haven’t heard yet, the Underground contest was a huge success. We had about 2,200 submissions and four great bands rose up: Greenland, Ostrich Head, Pawnshop Roses and Maldroid. Not only are these bands extremely talented, but they are kind, funny and entertaining. We had a blast hanging out with them in New York. We worked hard to make sure that everything went well, and they worked even harder to make sure we had fun doing it. There was never a dull moment and one of the best parts was all the bands not only got along, but they became friends. There was a lot of intermingling of bands, and they jammed together as often as they could. I felt like it was the old days of rock 'n' roll, when bands were friends and played together constantly, unlike nowadays when it’s every member for themselves. We could not have asked for a better group.
We wined and dined them at the nicest spots New York has to offer, running up some hefty bar tabs, and schmoozed with press and record labels. One of the highlights was our appearance on Good Morning America. The GMA experience was pretty surreal. We were hustled passed the crowed into the backstage room, where we hung out with NASCAR drivers (I think Jeff Gordon was there). Then we were hustled into the studio where each band was presented a “Golden Mouse” award by Sam Champion and Diane Sawyer. Later that day we set up a cocktail party at the Gibson Showroom, which is in the old Hit Factory in Hells Kitchen, with record labels, press and friends. There were photo shoots, jam sessions, tequila shots, guitar hero competitions and the Gibson VIP Tour Bus. We could not have asked for a better end result from our first YouTube contest.
And with that, here are the winning videos/bands:
Greenland
Ostrich Head
Pawnshop Roses
Maldroid
Cheers,
Spencer
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=npYvuMz0_es
November 27, 2006
The Lines Are Open
Since the very beginning user feedback has been critical to us. Without direct feedback from you, we have no idea what features you like, what you don't or when we've just plain pissed you off (because that never happens right?).
We get feedback in a number of ways, through the contacts you send to our customer service team, through usability studies, and through the direct emails you send to me and Mia. Sometimes users make contact with other members of the YouTube team through other various venues - like video responses, groups, youtubetalk.com - or just by guessing our email addresses.
As both our site, and our company continues to grow and expand it's become more important than ever to us that we stay connected to our roots - the YouTube community. We've recently started to become much more proactive with reaching out to our members by email, by phone, and even by video (yes video!) to get feedback and have an open, two way dialogue. We're focused on constantly working to improve our site and product, and we need your help and feedback to be able to achieve that.
You can expect to hear more about our community outreach efforts in the coming weeks, but in the mean time don't be surprised if we come a knockin at your door! ;-)
Best,
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=CLIGTJ3y4LY
November 13, 2006
Let's Share Success Stories
I'd like to keep on destroying the myth that featured videos are paid advertisements by continuing to share success stories with you, to show you that we really are watching and listening to what you're doing and that our feature slots are for the best of your work. So once a month, I'll blog about the videos that were featured on the home page because you wrote to the editor and we agreed that you're on to something good. Videos like these (in no particular order):
Greg Hits Hollywood
Alien Vlog 1 - First Contact
So Why Walk 1000 Miles?
Pre-School Political Ad
"We Are the Strange" Trailer
YourTube SPOTLIGHT #3 'Your Selection!'
"Moonbeam Death Ray" CG Music Video
Die By Dawn
SNOWMEN HUNTERS Ep 08: Michael Jackson F@#*s Boys
I also hear amazing stories about opportunities that came up for people after they were featured on YouTube, and I'd like to share those with the community, too. Here's some recent news that made us proud:
• After we featured his hilarious response to superlunary's Five Questions! video, Zipster08 says he was contacted by VH1 to do a rant on the show Web Junk 20: You Tube for Dummies?
• Thanks to his brave ingestion of spices, Gisthename told us he "got a lot of attention in Norway and was on the absolute biggest talk show in Norway. I have also got some job offers in entertaining on the internet."
• YouTube's promotion of the Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring Story! video, which so many of you told us about, led to an appearance on Oprah, among other shows, as well as a bidding war to sign Sick Puppies, the band responsible for the song in the clip. This video is now up to an astounding 6,159,324 views.
• showwhat's Pre-School Political Ad was featured on CNN Headline Morning News on November 10.
So before you get so famous you forget all about us, do drop us a line when something good happens to you because of YouTube. Or better yet, make a video about it and send us the link.
Thanks,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=tfVeAbJzihs
November 08, 2006
Dealing With Haters
Imagine this: you worked on your video for weeks, months, maybe years. You're incredibly proud of your work, and you want as many people as possible to see it. You post it to YouTube, maybe it gets featured, and the comments start flowing in. And in. You get some genuine praise and possibly some constructive criticism. And then you get some comments of another kind – we'll just call them unconstructive criticism. The haters descend, making you wonder (hopefully just for a nanosecond) if you'll ever post to YouTube again.
It's not easy dealing with pointless negativity, but a user named Duke Rightious alerted me to an acronym YouTubers are using in the fight against haters and I thought it was worthwhile sharing with the larger community. It was originally outlined by Pipistrello in this video and it's called R.I.D.:
R - Recognize. Recognize that a "hate" comment is different from constructive criticism or a WTF total lack of comprehension.
I - Ignore. Do not dignify the hater with a reply making your case or pleading for understanding. And don't bother blasting them, either. Your energy is really best spent elsewhere, like on your next video.
D - Delete. Remember, you always have the option of deleting deliberately hateful and mean comments. After all, these are your videos.
R.I.D. activate!
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=VeoKClsewfA
November 07, 2006
Staff Pick of the Week: theresidents
It's always to neat to find bands using YouTube in creative ways. As you would expect from a group that's been anonymous for 35 years, whose members usually appear as giant eyeballs with top hats and who never grant interviews, San Francisco's the Residents have posted a series of short clips that are just a bit strange and twisted. The films evoke a kind of 1950s Leave It to Beaver-esque suburban utopia, complete with gee-whiz-style narration from nine-year-old Timmy, son of a barber. I just love the earnestness with which Timmy chirps about car accidents, menstrual blood, dead dogs, and learning about sex from a creepy lawyer. Here are two of my favorites:
Tracking Timmy,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=UIZMLVpUwyE
November 01, 2006
Election Day + Featured Videos
Greetings, everyone. How's that candy hangover today?
Now that the Halloween revelry is over, it's down to some serious matters. First, Election Day is around the corner in the U.S., so if you're over 18, don't forget to vote. These might be midterm elections, but there are still some important issues at stake, namely the balance of power in the Senate and the House, not to mention some fierce local races. You've probably noticed a lot of politicians using YouTube to showcase their campaign ads; we've built a special area to highlight just some of the candidates. We encourage you to explore YouTube to find other politicians relevant to your area, party or ideals.
Second, we've noticed a rash of videos and commentary claiming that "the only featured videos we're seeing [on the YouTube home page] are paid advertising videos." This is totally untrue – anything you see in the box marked "Featured Videos" has been selected by a team of editors who are constantly thinking about what might appeal to you, the users, and trying to balance the types of videos and subject matter seen here. We don't always nail it, but the intentions are never commercially oriented, we can promise you that.
Cheers,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=YZ8rk5oqCHg
October 26, 2006
Staff Pick of the Week: Nerdkiller
I've had my eye on Nerdkiller for a while now and not just because the mildly agitated honking outside his window reminds me of my Manhattan home land. Nerdkiller is an often-shirtless, somewhat spastic twenty-something who seems tragically stuck between teenagerdom and adulthood. He'll whine until you just. can't. take. it. anymore. (the "I Don't Have a Job" song) and then celebrate living on his own with a one-man watermelon party where he thinks it's a good thing that he doesn't have to shower if he doesn't want to. The longwinded but occasionally brilliant "Being Grownup Can Suck" petulantly details all the things that adults do – like drink coffee made in a French press and read the New Yorker (you know, all those words). His pet Chihuahua Miguel is a stabilizing force on the sidelines, but we shall see if the pooch's zen-like aura will be shattered by the latest visitor to Nerdkiller's air-conditioned lair. Enter Miss Allosaur:
Sexier than a T.Rex,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=TqT4amHTF48
October 19, 2006
Please Be Decent and Kind
We may be peaceniks from the Bay Area (Maryrose has never tasted a hamburger! Can you believe it? -- Mia), but we've seen some comments lately in response to featured videos that have really disturbed us. As human beings.
We've got thick skin, so we're not talking about the "wtf-why-is-this-featured" jabs at our (sniff, sniff) senses of humor and taste. We're talking about the hateful comments directed at users who've done nothing to hurt anyone. Comments about their sexual orientation or weight or looks or skin color; things that we all know don't count a bit toward what's really important.
We'll stop short of a full-on lecture, but we just want to ask you to please treat each other decently and kindly. It's really not too much to ask -- and will make you look a whole lot better.
Peace out,
Maryrose and Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=e-Fk7vMPqLE
October 19, 2006
Greetings from the YouTube SQUAD
Hi Tubers,
We wanted to follow up on Maryrose’s recent post and talk to you all about what’s going on with our content policies and the flagging system on the site.
Our little department administers all of the community areas of the site, from rejecting porn, to responding to copyright notices, support email and much, much more! Our number one job is to keep the site safe, so that it can continue to exist. Our greatest challenge is maintaining this in an open and transparent way that helps users follow the rules and treats everyone equal.
When a video is flagged, it goes into a queue for us to review. It doesn’t matter how many times a video gets flagged, it will never be removed without us reviewing it first. If a video violates our Terms of Use, it is rejected. At this point, a warning letter is emailed to the user letting them know that the video was removed and that repeat violations will cause their account to be terminated. Lately the volume of videos to review has taken away from other things, like responding to support messages. This means that a lot of you haven’t gotten the attention you deserve.
One problem we’ve been experiencing is that sometimes these warning emails go into people’s spam buckets, other times people presume the warning was sent in error and choose to ignore it. Sometimes it’s not readily apparent which part of the Terms of Use was violated and users will look at what else is on the site to judge what is allowed. While this seems like a logical approach, the problem is that many of those videos may be prohibited but simply have not been flagged yet.
With all of this in mind, we’re working on improving the system so that we can finally get ahead of the game and serve you all better:
# We have published new Community Guidelines which spell out, in plain English, just what is and is not allowed in videos and in text.
# We are developing new tools to help users defend themselves from harassment, spam and other abuse.
# Our team is growing every week, including some folks dedicated to support email.
# We’re going to improve our communication with you. When something happens, you’ll get a notification on the site (not just in email) and we’re working on more detailed notifications. We sincerely want our warnings to be helpful so that people will learn not to make the same mistakes twice. We’re confident that better communication will make a huge difference. So expect to see improvements in this area very soon.
# Once this is all in place, we hope to have tools that will allow us to review more videos in less time, allowing the rules to be enforced more evenly.
We’ve been planning and working on these things all year and we’re excited to be aggressively pursuing all of them.
The YouTube SQUAD
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=XP6y1TfR1-w
October 18, 2006
It's Like Niagara Falls Over Here
My in-box overfloweth. And I love it that way. But it's also making me feel guilty for not being able to respond to each and every one of you who sends in feature suggestions (yes, Casey from Maryland and Clive from England, I mean you!). So I wanted to reassure you that even though you may not get a personal response from me, I do really watch all your videos and consider them for the home page. Don't believe me? Here are some videos we featured thanks to your email alerts:
Free Hugs
You Tube: The Movie
Spamland #1
La grúa y la Jirafa
Crutch!
Spice Test
Mr. Pringles Press Conference
Taco Bell Dog
Some helpful hints when writing to editor@youtube.com: include the link to your video in the email and don't forget that we don’t allow content that uses copyrighted soundtracks or images. Oh, and I can also sniff out when you get your friends to spam me about a video. But that's OK. It's good to have friends.
Alright, I’ve spent enough time on this post and have to get back to…your emails. Not that I’m complaining. In fact, please keep ’em coming and thanks so much for your patience.
Always,
Mia
The YouTube Team
P.S. I'm in the market for baby names. Got any ideas? "Lonelygirl15" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue...
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=UGaUKf43r6s
October 11, 2006
Thank You
I was trying to think what I should title this blog entry...'GooTube', 'YouTube is here to stay', 'Who's a moron now Mark Cuban' all came to mind, but I settled on the only thing I really can say - thank you. YouTube would not exist and be where it is today without the YouTube community. We owe everything to you guys and we will never, ever forget that.
I've been watching your videos, reading your comments and emails and I know there is a lot of concern and speculation of what may happen to YouTube because of the acquisition. I am here to say, if anything changes it will only be for the better. Being a start up, we have struggled a lot over the past year. We've had site performance problems and nasty bugs. We haven't always been able to respond to your emails or help you with your problems. There have been things we know we need to improve (like spamming and flagging) but just haven't had the time or resources to get it done as quickly as we would like. While there are still a lot of things to be hashed out over the coming months, many of the obstacles that used to stand in the way of us delivering you the best possible product have now been removed. And for all of you who have complained about our sucky search, well you can bet that will change. :)
So no, you won't have to start paying for videos and YouTube won't be replaced with Google video. We aren't going anywhere. YouTube and all the wonder that you have brought to it is here to stay.
From day one, every single thing we have done has been about building the site, building features for our users, continually making the product better. Our goal has always been users first, everything else second - and that will not change.
I honestly never expected to have this much passion for YouTube - but it is each and every one of you who has brought that out in me. You have awed me with your creativity, humbled me with willingness to share your lives, and yes, at times shocked me with your...well...nevermind. You have changed my life and opened my eyes in so many, many ways.
So once again, thank you, from all of us at YouTube.
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=d9w7SXe87kE
October 08, 2006
How Flagging Works
A few days ago I posted that we've been feverishly working on ways to combat both abusive flagging and spamming on the site. We've gotten tons of emails with some really great ideas of things we could implement to help in these areas, so thank you for both your patience and your suggestions.
There does, however, seem to be a fair amount of confusion about the way flagging currently works so I think some clarification is probably needed. A video gets 'flagged' by a user clicking on the 'flag as inappropriate' link located below each video. Once a video is flagged, it is sent into a queue for our customer support team to review. Videos are NEVER automatically removed simply because they've been flagged. Every single flagged video is reviewed by someone at YouTube who then determines if the video contains material that is against our terms of use. You may have noticed that sometimes you're asked to login or register to verify your age because the video you're attempting to view may contain content that is inappropriate for some users. Sometimes flagged videos that we review do abide by our terms of use, but are not quite appropriate for all YouTube users. This could be due to a number of things - profanity, violence, adult content etc. Although they still abide by our terms of use, you can think of these videos as 'R' rated.
There are thousands of videos that are flagged for review every single day, and since we're still a small company with an even smaller team of people reviewing videos we do admittedly make mistakes at times. Occasionally a video gets flagged and we accidently take it down, or mark it as inappropriate. We're doing everything we can to diminish that margin of error but we would be lying if we said it's a 100% fail proof system.
We'll be continuing to roll out improvements to our flagging and spam filtering controls over the coming weeks so please check back here for continual updates. As always, thank you for patience and your feedback.
Best,
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=19wva-QR0aI
October 05, 2006
Our days are numbered
Last night was our last feature release in this office. That's right, we're moving on to bigger, less rat infested digs next week. I can't even begin to tell you what a crazy ride it's been this past year and moving out of this, our first real office, has definitely been a little emotional for me. But more sappiness and nostalgia later. Tomorrow we're having a last day in the office shin dig and we'll be sure to post some videos from that.
So, what were we doing here until the wee hours of the morning last night? Launching a few new features. First off, QuickLists. The idea for QuickLists actually came from us watching users open up multiple browser windows so they could 'load up' a bunch of videos to watch later. Well, ⌘ N no more. See those little + icons on all the video images? Clicking on it will add that video to a list that is saved for later viewing. You can access your QuickList at anytime by clicking on the link at the top of every page, or by clicking the QuickList bar under any video you watch. You can watch all the videos in your QuickList at once by clicking 'play all', and if you want to keep the list permanently you can save it as a PlayList.
We've also been working diligently to combat two issues that have been somewhat plaguing YouTube lately - abusive flaggers and spammers. We get a lot of emails about both problems, and although we're not able to respond to everyone individually, please be rest assured that we are actively working on both of these issues and developing ways to abolish this type of abuse from the site. It's one of our highest priorities right now and we promise that in the coming weeks there will be much continued improvement in these areas.
In other news, The Underground contest is now accepting submissions. We've all spent countless (and I mean countless) hours this past week watching the entries and there are some truly amazing ones. Submissions are open until 10/18, so if you're a musician get your butt in gear and go make a video!
Best,
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=E96FI5-L6-0
September 27, 2006
Wanna work here?
First of all, thanks so much for all your emails about videos we should feature. I'm still going through them (and rapidly falling behind), but hopefully you've noticed that they're already having an effect on the site. You told me about YouTube: The Movie and the Free Hugs video in droves, and you were right – these deserved to be seen by the wider community. We even told our friends at Good Morning America about Hugs, and they featured the video on their weekly YouTube segment this morning. How you like that?
Now, you may have heard that I'm looking for two editors to join my team, and it struck me that some of you might have exactly the kind of passion for YouTube that I'm looking for. You don't have to have tons of work experience, but you do have to live in the San Francisco Bay Area and have an eye for quality content. You instinctively know what makes an exciting viewing experience, and you're incredibly plugged into the Internet and pop culture. You're brimming with so many ideas you just don't know what to do with them all, and generally you cannot conceive of life without this amazing Web site we all call home. For the full job description and how to apply, click here.
I look forward to hearing from you and – who knows – maybe even working together.
Rock on,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=rml1upjr1Rw
September 22, 2006
Greetings, YouTubers!
My name is Mia (I won't bother with the 12-syllable last name) and I'm the new czarina of programming. Huh, you say? Basically, that means a big part of my job is making sure we are finding and featuring the best videos in the YouTube universe – your original videos that never cease to amaze me with their creativity, senses of humor and, sometimes, strangeness.
I'm closing in on my second week here, and already I love working at YouTube (and it's not just the Oreos that call my name daily from the pantry behind me). In fact, you might think it's amazing I didn't run from the building on my first day, when I was greeted by an engineer snoring on a couch and I heard about The Rats (who better not touch my Oreos!).
Now I've worked at some pretty neat non-rat-infested places – MTV Networks, Rhapsody and Apple – but rarely have I felt such an immediate connection to the people who actually use the product. We feature a video, and you instantly tell us what you think about it. We can watch you acting silly, see what an awesome drummer you are, meet your whole family, and go deep inside your world on a daily basis. I can't think of anything much cooler than that.
So I'm really excited to be here and hope you'll continue to be as vocal as you are. Click here
to send me an email with suggestions of videos you think we should feature or to tell me about a new clip you've just uploaded or a new talent you've just discovered on the site. We may not be able to feature everything you send us, but we'll certainly pay close attention to what you're thinking and doing. After all, that's the YouTube way!
Yours 'Tube-ly,
Mia
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=sPxRWlafRhA
September 21, 2006
Underground
We love our indie musicians at YouTube. Their spirit, creativity and often raw talent make for some of the best content on our site. I'm always filled with glee when someone tells me they 'discovered' a new band on YouTube. As a life long music junkie and avid supporter of local music scenes I take great personal pleasure in being part of something that can help indie musicians bring visibility to their music in a whole new way. We're constantly working to find new ways for musicians to promote themselves and connect to each other, so it's with great excitement that we announce our first-ever contest – The YouTube Underground (well, besides all those goofy contests we did last year, but nevermind that). It's pretty simple, really: if you're a musician, make a video, enter it in the contest and the YouTube community will vote for their favorites. Four grand prize winners will get a whole lot'o stuff, including:
# All-new equipment from Gibson Guitar
# Roundtrip airfare to New York City and lodging
# Use of Gibson's pimped-out tour bus
# Appearance on Good Morning America
# Photo shoots and interviews
# Video featured on YouTube
and of course...the envy of all eyes.
So go make videos, musicians! This is your chance to shine like the rock star you were always meant to be.
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=enxfH49OVRs
September 18, 2006
The Deal with Warner
No doubt you've read the news about the partnership we announced with Warner. This is great news for the YouTube community!
Up front, let me say that the details will be worked out with Warner, its recording artists and YouTube over the next few months. Our goal is to provide you with the most entertaining service and more creative options.
The cool thing is that Warner will be posting top music videos, interviews with your favorite artists and behind-the-scenes footage, and more. You'll be able to enjoy and share these videos without concern that they could be removed.
What's even better is that Warner is the first record label to embrace and support your creativity by authorizing use of their music content for free, in partnership with your favorite artists! This new architecture will be available by the end of the year. We will have more details to share then.
Meanwhile, we love hearing from you and want to know how we can continue to be the best way to share your talent with a growing audience.
Cheers,
Powers
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=3xDEdJmPDI0
August 17, 2006
A few new things
We took the site down tonight to do some maintenance and to push out a few new features. The new features are obviously more fun to talk about than the maintenance so here it goes:
Custom Channel URLS: Have you ever tried to tell people how to find you on youtube? "Go to youtube.com/profile? errrr...I think then you put user = or wait, is it user?...maybe just do a search." Well, now you can create your own customized channel url which will be simply youtube.com/name. Your custom URL can be your username or what ever name you want with a few exceptions - you can't pick someone else's username and you can't pick any words that would make your mother stick a bar of soap in your mouth.
My Account: We've been continuing to enhance the My Account page over the past couple of weeks. This is the one consolidated place for all your stuff - your account settings, inbox, channel information, videos, favorites and more. We also added a dropdown with some quick links to your most important things from the My Account link in the upper right hand corner.
Eye Candy: We're starting to pretty up some little things here and there on the site. Nothing too fancy, but you may notice new buttons in embeds and at the end of a video.
We also quietly launched a few new features that aren't quite ready for prime time. Come back in a few days to see what's been cooking.
One other thing, while the amount of spam I get to my email account steadily increases, I'd still like to get more feedback emails from all of you. I may not be able to respond to each and every email - but I really do read them all. Please continue to send me your thoughts, ideas and feedback, no matter how random or absurd, we want to hear it all.
Best,
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=vCOHzojB4Jg
August 15, 2006
Growing Pains
YouTube was down today from approximately 7AM to 1PM. There's really no enticing story to tell here, we weren't hacked and we weren't pushing new features. Simply put, our primary database crashed. We did make a very intentional decision to not immediately fail over to our redundant database but to instead bring up both databases simultaneously to ensure we had absolutely no data loss. Although we may have lengthened the time of our outage to do this, our number one priority was to not compromise our users' content in any way.
Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience the outage may have caused you. We can confidently say that the site is now completely restored and that we're working around the clock (literally, just ask our ops team) to ensure that this sort of thing does not happen in the future.
We will be taking a planned downtime this Thursday night to address some of the issues from today's outage as well push out some new features, so check back here in a few days for a more exciting update.
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=F5W-gOoh2gs
August 01, 2006
Keeping it Real
Want to know what it's really like to work at YouTube? Check out this video of Chris (our head of BizDev no less) hunting down that stinky smell in the office. The fun never ceases at YouTube! :)
For all my fellow animal lovers - we did NOT set up those horrible rat traps, they were left in our office by the old tenants. I'm personally quite fond of rats.
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=UfHZzrtXzMI
July 20, 2006
Our Terms of Use Clarified
You may have seen some of the blogs out there talking about our 'new' Terms of Use that would supposedly allow us to sell any videos our users uploaded to the site. Before going further, allow me to clarify: YouTube has never had the rights to sell, nor do we have any intention to sell, our users’ content. Plain and Simple.
These blogs posted a section from our Terms of Use completely out of context omitting a few key sentences (always be mindful of those darn ellipses). The section in question is quoted below and the sentences in bold were the ones omitted. If you don't want to read all that boring legalize, here are the CliffsNotes:
# You keep ALL the rights to your videos.
# We have the right to syndicate the content of our website. We have to have this to allow for our embed and API functionality.
# As soon as you remove your video from YouTube, we lose all rights to redistribute or syndicate that video in any way. So once your video is gone from the site, we cannot do a thing with that content.
Terms of Use Section 5 (B):
For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting the User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube's (and its successor's) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the YouTube Website (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the YouTube Website a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Website, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such User Submissions as permitted through the functionality of the Website and under these Terms of Service. The foregoing license granted by you terminates once you remove or delete a User Submission from the YouTube Website.
Hopefully this clarifies matters and puts any unrest at ease about who owns the rights to your videos on YouTube. YOU own the rights to your videos.
Best,
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=al0Sb4gNaB8
June 25, 2006
Comments Restored
Just a quick update for all of you that were affected by the comments bug on our site the last few days. In addition to fixing the bug we have now restored all comments that were mass removed. Again, our most sincere apologies for the inconvenience and aggravation this caused many of you. If you any questions, issues or just want to rant (we deserve it), please don't hesitate to contact us.
sheepishly yours,
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=ZxSpdmexrRA
June 24, 2006
Comments Bug
It recently came to our attention that there was a bug in our comment code that allowed users to delete comments from videos which were not their own. Unfortunately, by the time we became aware of the issue several users exploited the bug to maliciously delete thousands of comments from other users videos. We have since fixed the bug and are actively working to restore all the comments that were removed.
To all of our users who had their comments deleted, please accept our most humble apologies. There is absolutely no excuse for what happened, it was a bug in our code - and one we should have caught. We can only say that we are feverishly working to restore your comments and we'll do everything we possibly can to make sure something like this does not happen again.
To all of our users who have been abusing comments with flagrant spamming, hate speech and other malicious activities - this behavior will simply not be tolerated on our site. If you engage in such activity be forewarned your account will be deleted and you will be permanently banned without warning.
YouTube is a place for everyone to express themselves. It is meant to be a creative, entertaining and democratic environment. Let's not allow a few bad apples spoil the bunch.
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=UR1y8kP-vh0
June 02, 2006
Not Hacked, Just Pushing
Last night we pushed out a bunch of new features, and apparently tricked the online world into thinking we were hacked with our down page message. Sorry if we scared you, we often forget how closely everyone is watching our little 32 person company. So bad spelling and jokes aside, here are the new features we pushed out last night.
Channels:
We think our users provide some of the most entertaining content in the world, and we're working to continuously develop new and exciting ways for you to broadcast yourself. What better way to do that than to give every user the ability to become their own channel? Now all content creators and collectors, be it professional filmmakers, videobloggers or just people who love chihuahuas can broadcast videos from their channel for all the world to see. You can visit our Channels tab to check out YouTube's most subscribed channels, or simply go to your profile to start creating and customizing your own channel. Here are just some of the new features included in channels:
# Color customization: make your channel look as cool or as ugly as you like.
# Video Log: showcase and discuss videos (yours or others) on your Channel
# Channels I'm watching: check out what channels other users are subscribed and find great new content
Blog It:
You can now post videos directly to Blogger, BlogSpot and LiveJournal (and we'll be adding support for more blogs soon). Once you set up your blog options, just click the 'blog it' button when watching any video - and voila! your blog entry is created.
Viewing History
Many of our users have been asking for this feature, so we've created a viewing history log of the last 100 videos you've watched. We absolutely respect your privacy and do not store any of this information on our servers. You can also clear your viewing history at any time by clicking the 'clear viewing history' at the bottom of the page.
That's all for now, but check back often - we've got a bunch more features coming out very soon! And remember to send me an email with your thoughts, feedback and any other new features you'd like to see.
With Love,
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=-6hg9XPX6_c
May 16, 2006
Video Responses
We recently noticed that within many of the different ecosystems on YouTube our users are doing something really cool - they're communicating with each other through their videos. Text comments and messages are great, but our users have once again created something really innovative completely on their own - video responses. It's been amazing to watch our users create an entirely new mechanism for communicating with one another. However, one of the challenges with these video dialogues has been there is no way to 'link' your response back to the original video. To encourage and simplify this type of communication we just launched a new Video Response feature that will allow you to upload your own video reply while you're watching a video. Just look for the 'post a video response' link on any video watch page. All video responses will show up directly beneath the original video (just like text comments).
Check it out and let us know what you think!
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=-UV0BmDAq1c
May 11, 2006
YouTube Goes Wireless
The below video of me and Powers (your humble product servants and amateur acrobats extraordinaire) was uploaded directly to YouTube from Dwipal's cell phone. That's right, with YouTube's new mobile uploads feature you can now broadcast yourself to the world without ever using your computer. Check it out!
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=lLlBie7ifdg
May 04, 2006
Stephen Colbert Goes to Washington
By now many of you have seen that the videos posted earlier this week of Stephen Colbert roasting President Bush at the annual White House Correspondents' dinner have been taken down. We know these videos were extremely popular and of immense social and political importance to many of you. The videos were not removed due to the content or any political bias. They were removed at the request of CSPAN, who claims to be the copyright owner. A number of you have inquired about whether or not the speech was considered 'public domain' and therefore exempt from copyright protection. Unfortunately, CSPAN has asserted that the video footage uploaded was broadcasted and owned by them.
When we become aware that there are videos on the site that were uploaded without the copyright owners permission we remove them and in most cases, (as was the case with the CSPAN videos) we become aware because the copyright owner contacts us and requests that the video be taken down. Copyright laws can be a tricky and a somewhat complicated matter but we want our community to be one where everyone's creative rights are respected.
Best,
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=assC--885ys
April 28, 2006
Lots 'O New Stuff
You'll notice lots of new and redesigned things on the site, much of which is from direct feedback we received from you (special thanks to everyone who participated in our usability studies). Below are just some of the changes we pushed out.
# Redesigned video watch page and video player. You'll still see the old watch page by default because we wanted to have you take the new page for a test drive and give us feedback. If you click the 'watch this video on our new video watch page' link in the upper right hand corner you'll see the new (and hopefully improved) watch page. Let us know what you think!
# Your playlists, your videos and your favorites are now one click away. Simply click on My Videos to get access to all your stuff. We also redesigned the playlist manager (yes, for the 3rd time), so it's easier than ever to organize all your favorite videos.
# Steve finds great videos, but I really have no interest in seeing 8 million videos of his cat Stinky (sorry Stinky). Now I can subscribe to his favorites and get all the great videos he finds delivered straight to my inbox. If you want to subscribe to Steve's (or anyone else's) favorites, just visit his profile and click the 'subscribe to favorites link'. Oh, and if you do want to see 8 million videos of Stinky, you can subscribe to his uploads too.
# Speaking of subscriptions, if you check out our Members tab, you can now see our most subscribed Members. This is a great way to find some of the best content creators and collectors on YouTube.
# We get lots of questions. Questions on copyright, questions on how to make and optimize videos, questions on why unicorns are called unicorns. Check out our Help Center for a bunch of new 'How-To Guides'. Oh, and the word unicorn comes from the Latin 'Uni', meaning one, and 'Cornu, meaning horn.
That's all for now! Remember to send us your thoughts, concerns, feedback and questions. Oh, and make sure to check back here in a few days, because we've got another really cool feature we'll be pushing out very soon.
love,
Maryrose
The YouTube Team
Permalink: http://www.youtube.com/blog?entry=ZUhUjN8MMfo
April 10, 2006
Introducing YouTube Director
A few weeks ago I posted about the new 10 minute video limit we put in place. While the main driver of this limit was to help prevent copyright infringement, we also knew it wasn't the best solution for all of you legitimate content creators out there. Ever since that posting we've been inundated with emails with your thoughts, ideas, feedback and frustrations about the 10 minute limit. First off, my apologies if we weren't able to respond to all of your emails individually. But the one message that came through resoundingly loud and clear is that there are plenty of you out there that are creating original content over 10 minutes in length, and you need a platform to broadcast yourself.
You, the videoblogger, the comedian, the professional content producer, the amateur filmmaker, the independent musician, represent the very core of what YouTube is about. We wanted to do something more for you beyond accepting your videos that are over 10 minutes in length. That being said, we're thrilled to announce our new Director program. Upon successful registration, YouTube Director accounts will receive the following benefits:
# This: smokin logo on all your video pages and profile.
# Your own logo, company/organization URL, and description on all of your video pages
# Ability to upload videos longer than 10 minutes
# Customizable name & value fields for each of your videos (ex: "Price: $4.25" or "Show Time: 9 pm PST")
# Ability to attach a per-video URL to each of your videos
And the best benefit of all? The YouTube Director program is completely, 100% FREE. The only thing we ask? That you be a legitimate, original content creator. Remember, this is just the first release of the YouTube Director program! It's our goal to provide tools and functionality to help you, the best content providers on YouTube, achieve maximum distribution. And in the middle of the night if a sudden idea or suggestion comes to you on how YouTube can improve the features we offer for our Directors, please get out of bed and contact us. So, go apply to become a Director and start creating your next masterpiece! We can't wait to see what you come up with.
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