YouTube

On Friday October 19th, Professor Dr. Daniel gave our Social Media Strategies class a presentation on YouTube. He called it, "The Mini Internet, YouTube: Analytics and Application."

As a user of YouTube and a subscriber to a variety of channels, I was able to gain new information about this video sharing platform. The history behind YouTube is something I never looked into, but something that Dr. Daniel talked about. YouTube was founded in 2005 by employees of Pay Pal, and the first video posted on this platform was called "Me At The Zoo." In 2006, YouTube was bought out by Google and eventually started growing its content.

The main point through his presentation was to talk about the algorithm for measuring videos and how it has changed over time. There are three components to measuring videos: 1) what do they use 2) how do they use it and 3) why is it effective. This started in 2012 and has grown to the conclusion that what we can measure and focus videos with is through duration and/or retention. It is said that a viewer must watch at least half of the video in order for it to count into the algorithms. Basically, YouTube will look at how much you are actually watching versus how many videos you click on.

Dr. Daniels informed us on how to publish successful content on YouTube. There are so many successful YouTubers that have made YouTube their career and there are many tips and tricks with becoming successful. These include:

1. Search key words

2. Keep material consistent

3. High quality filming - out of video and audio, audio is the most important

4. Frequent posting

5. Longer videos

Along with this, what makes your videos become successful is through your par asocial interactions.

1. Eye contact

2. Attractiveness

3. Credibility

4. Likability

5. Originality

After all of the information that was given, the best advice that Dr. Daniels probably gave us about YouTube is that if you are going to start a YouTube channel, just keep doing it. The consistency and the frequency will eventually catch up to you in the long run. Don't do YouTube for money, but do it for passion and as a hobby.