Thing #20: YouTube & You

The most popular website/service in the Web 2.0 world is YouTube. The committee is sure that you knew about YouTube even before the web challenge. Each day, people view hundreds of millions of video clips on YouTube, ranging from news, sports clips, music videos, classic television commercials and more.

What makes YouTube special is the "you" part--anyone can post videos to YouTube.

Libraries can use YouTube in a variety of ways. Videos can be made and placed on YouTube to promote library programs and services. The Public Relations department put together this video to promote an Anime Event at the Toms River branch this February.

YouTube videos can also be used to show what is going on at your library branch. Katelyn Nesi posted a video of Maggie Worsdale's "Great Jewish American Songbook" concert that was held at the Jackson branch.

The library also gets promoted inadvertently through YouTube. Remember the anime program we mentioned earlier?

The program at the Toms River branch featured voice actor Vic Mignogna, and
there are several videos of him speaking at this program.

Discovery Resources

1. View this video. It tells the story of how YouTube was started.

2. This is a great article on how YouTube's popularity is starting to rival television.

Discovery Exercises

1. Play around with YouTube and use the search tool to look for some videos that interest you.

2. Post the link to a video you found, blog about the clip that you found on YouTube.

Advanced Optional Exercise

Embed the YouTube video you selected in a blog post.