Do You Know Who Really Runs YouTube?

[Britethorn]

Last April YouTube held its first ever Partner's Meeting in Chicago at Google's headquarters in the Loop, and I was one of the fifty or so Partners who had been invited and who showed up. The meeting was mostly about advertising related issues; YouTube is very interested in its Partner's making money on the site, because we are in a revenue sharing arrangement with them. When we Partners make money, YouTube makes money. So its very much in the company's interest to see its Partners prosper.

During the question and answer session, I raised a point with Margaret Healy, the Director of the Partner Program, that YouTube was making it too difficult for people to Subscribe to the site. She and another member of their team maintained that they didn't want to make it too easy to Subscribe because they only wanted people who were really interested in video and YouTube to participate in and influence the YouTube experience. My counter-point was that in my day to day life I ask people all the time if they have YouTube Accounts and that the overwhelming answer is: No. I hear this from people of all walks of like, education levels and ages, with the sole caveat that the younger a person is the more likely they are to have a YouTube account -- which makes perfect sense. The older you are, the less likely you are to be tech-savvy and comfortable with the internet, with the reverse being true. Teens today have had the internet available to them (and broadband) their entire lives. They take it for granted they way the rest of us take electricity for granted, and they tend to be very, very good at using it. They love Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter and, of course, YouTube.

And because they love these sites and are unafraid of them, they are far more likely to open accounts on them then people in their thirties and up are. And because of the way YouTube works, they hold an influence far out of proportion with their numbers over the success or failure of content posted to the site.

Only YouTube Subscribers can rate videos, save them to Playlists, share videos with a host of social media links the site provides, and Subscribe to YouTube Channels-- with this last ability being the most powerful and influential. Every time a YouTube Channel picks up a Subscriber, its as though its been giving a small piece of ad space. Whenever the channel posts videos to the site, they are automatically displayed on the channel pages belonging to their Subscribers. If you have a million subscribers, your videos instantly appear on a million channel pages. And those subscribers can then hit on the videos, driving up their hit numbers, which then kicks in the YouTube Algorithms leading to them becoming Featured on the site and given even more exposure. When you don't have a million Subscribers, its as though you've been tossed into the middle of the Pacific in a life-jacket awaiting rescue -- which usually will never come.

So getting large numbers of Subscribers is key to driving up the popularity and exposure of your videos. And with Teens opening YouTube accounts in far greater numbers than any other demographic, they drive the numbers up for content which they like. Just check out this list of the Most Subscribed Channels of all Time on the site: http://www.youtube.com/... You see ANYTHING in that list that doesn't appeal to Teens?

At the Consumer Electronics Show this year, a panel with four of the top YouTube Partners confirmed this: Teens make up a large proportion of their subscribers, and they know it (be warned, its a LONG video): http://www.youtube.com/... And there's nothing "wrong" with this -- except that older demographics also go to the site and watch videos, but their likes and dislikes are undervalued because they can't subscribe to channels. It's as though there's an election being held every day at YouTube, but teens are voting in far greater numbers than any other age group. Its actually a reverse image of what happens in a real election; older voters go to the polls while younger voters stay home and never bother to register to vote. So the bottom line is that if YOU don't have a YouTube account, you're handing over control of the third most visited site on the internet (Google and Facebook are #1 and #2) to a demographic that doesn't even pay the phone bill for the phones that they are constantly texting on. Think about it.

And if you don't already have an account at YouTube, go get one today.

[JDPriestly]

1. I'm older. Technical things are just beyond me.

I'm not a YouTube subscriber, but then I can't say that for certain because I don't understand internet matters enough to be sure that I am not somehow a subscriber. I use DU a lot because I am a staunch Democrat and kind of stumbled on this website. I am really ignorant about how the internet actually works.

I'm afraid of subscribing to something and having all of my opinions registered somewhere. Seems to me that someone might try to manipulate me.

I'm making these rather embarrassing confessions just so you know how we older people feel and why we aren't joining YouTube. It's intimidating.

[Toon Me Out]

3. hi JD!

There's no need to be embarrassed in the least! (Even younger folks just get info from other people.) YouTube is quite easy to use,
whether you're planning on uploading videos or not. Open a Google account (or use your existing one), and log onto YouTube with that. Each user on YouTube has what's called a "channel" (basically a video homepage) where his/her video content is displayed. If a viewer is logged on while accessing YouTube, he/she can cast "votes" on whether they like or dislike videos and "subscribe" to people's channels. If you "subscribe" to channels, videos from these subscriptions will be made easily available for your perusal. That's all there is to it.
There is a wealth of information to discover on YouTube; it's not just modern music and viral videos (although there are a lot of those). Luckily, YouTube is searchable by keywords and phrases! :hi: Hope this helps.

[JDPriestly]

5. Thanks. I think that we who are older have a different sense of privacy.

I don't want to have a Google account or a Facebook membership because I believe those websites track the activities of their viewers on the internet. I really don't like that idea.

My children laugh about the fact that we always close our windowshades and curtains in the evening and sometimes at other times of the day. I guess that is a habit that remains from a time when people valued privacy more than they do today.

[Toon Me Out]

2. Compelling argument

Great post!

[wilt the stilt]

4. I am subscribed and have been for a long time.

and I am older.

[earcandle]

6. I am 60 years old and have two youtube accounts, but I didn't know you could

subscribe without having videos for peeps to view.

Great article.  Thanks.  I will repost on my Facebook page so
more people will have a channel to put their favorites on.

BTW, you can control your privacy on Facebook except for that
crazy link where someone can enter your name and read all of
your posts at once.  I have that somewhere on my computer. 
Now that I am on Facebook, I should test it out and see what I
get.  

[Shagbark Hickory]

7. What am I doing wrong?

My google account automatically logs me in to yt. I subscribed to some channels but have no interest in making or posting video content.
A lot of what you see on yt puts commercial tv shows to shame. There's some very entertaining videos and you can learn a lot from them.
When my tv sets are no longer any good, I'm going to get a google tv or some tv with a browser so I can watch you tube from the sofa or from bed.

I don't recall ever seeing an ad on yt. What am I doing wrong?