Pros and Cons of the Internet’s Top Video Sharing Site

An IntroductionCreated in 2005 as an

alternative to paid services already in existence.

Purchased by Google in 2007.

According to Alexa, it is currently the third most visited site in the world (fourth in the US).

What YouTube Does For YouYouTube offers free hosting of short user

generated content in the form of short video clips

Allows for users to post almost anything with a few exceptionsNo copyrighted materialNo ‘offensive’ materialNo pornographic material2gb maximum per clip10 minute maximum length per clip

DemographicThird most visited website in the worldAlmost a quarter of all internet users will

visit YouTube at some point in a given monthGenerates 100 million unique visits in the

U.S. alone in a given monthUsers will watch close to 10 billion videos in

a given monthEncompasses all demographics; most

prominent are males 18-24 years of age.

Pros of UsageExtremely easy to use

No technical training neededNo special equipment needed

Free bandwidth for video streamingAllows for videos to be embedded into a

personal website or blogMassive audience potential

100 million unique visits in the U.S.A.400 million unique visits worldwide (est)

Cons of UsageMassive website that could cause video to be

lost in the crowdHosts millions of videosThousands of active channelsDifficult to generate page views

Immature content and viewershipYoung demographicMost popular videos all time and monthly best

labeled as entertainment videosYouTube video is almost synonymous with

funny video in internet searches

Ways to Mitigate ConsEffective Promotion

Proper “Tagging”Descriptive video captionsCreation of a YouTube channel

Target the proper audienceTailor YouTube messages towards 18-24

demographic if possibleUse in conjunction with more traditional forms

of media.“See more videos at YouTube.com” advertisementsEmbed video in an established website or blog

How to Upload a VideoSign into your

YouTube accountIf you don’t have an

account create oneIt is freeIt allows control

over posted content

How to Upload a Video (cont’)Once signed in the

username will appear.

Click “Upload”

How to Upload a Video (cont’)Select “Browse” and

find the video you wish to upload

Once selected the video’s location will appear in the text box

Click “Upload Video”Multiple videos can

be uploaded at once

How to Upload a Video (cont’)Once uploaded some

descriptors need to be addedTitleDescriptionTagsCategoryPrivacy

These help promote the video

How to Upload a Video (cont’)Once everything is

complete, verify the upload by going to your profile

Video will appear with all information pertaining to it

ConclusionYouTube offers an almost zero risk opportunity for

advertisement of a causeEffective tool if used properly

Must play to YouTube’s weaknessesNot an effective replacement for traditional media

Should be used in conjunction with traditional mediaYouTube messages can be supplemental

advertisement for costly broadcast messagesTo ignore YouTube would be wasting a golden

opportunity