Australia Blog
News and rising stars from YouTube Australia
Invitation to Test Our New Homepage Beta
Friday, 29 February 2008
We mentioned the upcoming limited release of a New Experimental Personalised Homepage on our blog a few days ago. As of today, the page is now available to a small, randomly selected group of users. But even if you're not in this group, you can still give it a whirl. You only need to login to your YouTube account and click
this link
to opt in to the experiment.
We want to know what you think about this new personalised YouTube experience. The more feedback we receive the better, so don't forget to leave your comments here. We'll be watching!
The YouTube Team
New Experimental Personalised Homepage
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Something we talk a lot about here at YouTube are ways to make it even easier to discover great videos that you'll find interesting. That's why, in the coming days, we will be making an experimental version of a new YouTube homepage available to a small group of users chosen at random. If you're not in the initial group that tests the experimental homepage, but want to give it a whirl, you'll be able to in the near future. We'll post another blog with a link to give everyone access.
What will this homepage look like? Glad you asked!
Alongside homepage regulars like Featured and Most Popular videos, the experimental homepage will include personalised recommendations, the latest videos from your subscriptions and an easier way to see what your friends are uploading, making their favourites and rating. Here's a bit more information on what this means:
Recommendations:
With tens of millions of videos on YouTube, finding the perfect video to watch can sometimes be challenging. That's why, based on what you've viewed and favourited in the past, you'll see an algorithmically-selected set of videos that you otherwise may never have discovered.
Latest From Your Subscriptions:
It's no secret that many people jump for joy when their favourite video creators upload new material. To help you keep track of the most current activity, we've changed the layout that displays newly added videos from your subscriptions. You'll be able to see videos from your three most recently updated subscriptions.
Friend Activity:
The experimental YouTube homepage includes a "Friend Activity" feature to make it easier to stay in the loop on all the great vids your buddies are buzzing about. If you already display your favourites, ratings, or uploaded videos on your channel, then your
existing, confirmed friends
will receive a feed of updates when you favourite, rate, or upload. Remember, you control your list of friends on YouTube. You also control the activities that appear to others on your channel and now in your friends' feeds. Just click on the
"Channel Design"
link once you've clicked on the
"Account"
link at the top of any page to turn on features or turn off features you don't wish to share publicly or in your friends' feeds.
In addition, we include a dashboard that places stats about your
Inbox
and information about your videos front and centre. The new display also showcases stats such as your uploads, total views, number of honours and more.
The goal with all of this is to gauge people's interest in having a YouTube that's tailored to the individual. Ultimately, we want to get you one step closer to the videos you'll enjoy every time you come to the site. We're excited to hear your thoughts on the personalised YouTube experience and we welcome your feedback.
Again, when the link to the new experimental homepage is available, we'll let you know so keep your eyes on the blog!
The YouTube Team
The Berlinale Talent Campus on YouTube
Saturday, 16 February 2008
This weekend, the 58th annual Berlin International Film Festival wraps
up and, with it, the sixth annual
href="http://www.youtube.com/BerlinaleTC">Berlinale Talent Campus, a
summit for 350 young filmmakers to attend lectures, classes and panel
discussions and to work on their own projects in hands-on workshops.
For the second year, the
href="http://www.youtube.com/BerlinaleTC">Talent Campus also
featured a special program called the Garage Studio, a production
platform for four lucky filmmakers to shoot and edit a short film for
the Internet under the tutelage of master filmmakers and using amazing
production resources. (Mike Figgis, the award-winning director of
Leaving Las Vegas
and
Internal Affairs
, was one such mentor.)
The best part? You can see the final four films, plus behind-the-scenes
footage from the
href="http://www.youtube.com/BerlinaleTC">Campus, right here:
value='http://www.youtube.com/cp/vjVQa1PpcFOljzJBKCaf_tiqk9PPQ-BBkmAovRawBHA='
>
name='wmode' value='transparent'>
src='http://www.youtube.com/cp/vjVQa1PpcFOljzJBKCaf_tiqk9PPQ-BBkmAovRawBHA='
type='application/x-shockwave-flash' wmode='transparent' width='500'
height='430'>
For more information on the
href="http://www.youtube.com/BerlinaleTC">Talent Campus, visit the
website
and
think about applying next year - for any aspiring filmmaker, it is an
opportunity not to be missed!
Happy viewing,
Sara P.
YouTube Film
New Face, No Significant Increase in Hair
Friday, 1 February 2008
Hi YouTubers,
I'm very excited to introduce myself. I'm your new Comedy Manager, Mark Day. Some of you might know me as a bald guy ranting in front of a yellow wall, in what some believe to be "a pretend Scottish accent." But given the countless number of users on the site, I'll be a new name to many of you. Either way, I'll be doing everything I can to bring you the full range of comedy available on YouTube today -- from the best sketch groups and the latest movie parodies to up-and-coming stand-up comedians and the kind of videobloggers who love to make their subscribers laugh.
I've been a YouTube user since March of '06, and I've been lucky enough to meet and even collaborate with many talented people since then. I know just how much work people put into creating original content, and I'm looking forward to helping our finest comedic talent find the spotlight to shine.
Now that I'm part of the YouTube team, you won't be seeing much of my big bald head any more (which is, perhaps, a blessing). But I do want to thank everyone who made it fun for me to get in front of a video camera in the first place. Now I hope I do my part to encourage more users to post their own rants, skits and amusing opinions. As for my yellow wall, it's currently hoping to film its own sitcom pilot as soon as the writers' strike is over.
Cheers,
Mark D.
YouTube Comedy
Site Update
Monday, 28 January 2008
Check out these enjoyable changes that just went live.
NEW VIEW FOR VIDEOS TAB
We've improved your video browsing experience by fully exposing the search options on the
Videos
page (searches like 'Most Viewed' and 'Recently Featured' were previously found via a dropdown menu). This makes it quicker and easier to find what you're looking for.
RECENT COMMENTS
To display the most recent comments you have made on YouTube videos, choose the new 'My Recent Comments' setting in your
profile
. On your channel page, users can also click 'View All' to see all comments you have ever made.
As always, feel free to
share your thoughts
with us on these new additions.
Yours,
The YouTube Team
A New And Improved YouTube For Mobile
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Today we're excited to announce the official debut of YouTube for Mobile, featuring a new and improved mobile website,
m.youtube.com
! Until today, many of you who tried watching videos on
m.youtube.com
from your mobile phones may have longed to see a wider selection of videos and more community features that you've come to know and love on YouTube.com. Now you can, and here's what's changed:
Millions of videos:
YouTube for Mobile now features tens of millions of videos, which includes most of the videos already available on YouTube.com and your own uploaded videos.
Community on the go:
You can now access your YouTube account, your Favourites, your own uploaded Videos and your favourite Channels. You can also share, rate, and comment directly from the mobile website to other YouTube users.
Mobile phone uploads available within moments:
Now if you upload videos from your phone to YouTube via email/mms, they will appear in moments on both
m.youtube.com
and
www.youtube.com
. This means you can easily share videos you capture on your phone with your friends and family. All you need to do is create a mobile profile at
www.youtube.com/mobile
.
Global:
Global: YouTube for Mobile is available and localised for the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, New Zealand, Germany, and Russia.
As long as your phone and mobile operator support streaming video, anyone can access YouTube for Mobile simply by going to
'm.youtube.com'
in their phone browser. There are a couple requirements for supporting YouTube for Mobile:
1. Your device has to support RTSP streaming. To determine if your mobile device supports this type of streaming, you may want to check your device's manual to find a description of its specifications.
2. Your service carrier has to allow streaming videos. You may want to contact your carrier for more information about the availability of data streaming on your mobile device.
In addition, we're also releasing a beta version of a YouTube for Mobile downloadable application. It's different from the YouTube for Mobile website (
m.youtube.com
) because it is a Java (J2ME) application you install on your phone, whereas
m.youtube.com
you access via your phone's web browser. The app is available in US and UK English and supports the following phones:
Sony Ericsson k800, w880
Nokia e65, n95, n73, 6110 navigator and 6120 classic
To download the app, simply point your phone browser to
m.youtube.com
and if your phone's one of the above, you should be prompted to download and install the application.
You may be wondering, "Is YouTube for Mobile the same as what's available on the Helio Ocean or Apple iPhone?" In a nutshell, yes -- YouTube for Mobile is all about bringing video to mobile phones. We believe in providing the best user experience possible for all users, which in some cases means different YouTube solutions for different phones. Overall, we're pretty excited about working with our partners and users to make YouTube for Mobile better and better over the next year.
So point your phone browser to
m.youtube.com
and check out the latest changes today! And if you've got any feedback for us on YouTube for Mobile, leave us a comment on this blog entry or post a video response to the video below, in which YouTube for Mobile team members Andy and Dwipal tell you about the new features:
Best,
The YouTube Team
Community Council Update
Saturday, 19 January 2008
They came, they saw, they conquered! During their visit to
YouTube HQ
in November, the Community Council had the opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas directly with 'Tube staff from various teams and participate in usability studies. Through ongoing discussions with YouTube and beta feature testing (like video recommendations and a new home page design in the works), users
bgirl5
,
bradofarrell
,
sarrycrey
,
tlg847
, and
visiblemode
have made great strides in representing the community's voice within the product. Here's a run down of features YouTube's Community Council has brought their influence to thus far:
features recently implemented with the help of council input:
--RSS LINKS ON VIDEO BROWSE PAGES
--'MOST ACTIVE TODAY' & 'PREVIOUSLY POPULAR' VIDEO SEARCH
--SUBSCRIPTIONS UPDATE - (Closed and suspended accounts now automatically removed from subscriptions)
features scheduled which are coming soon:
--CHARACTER COUNTER FOR COMMENTS - A visual counter letting you know when you are approaching the character limit when writing comments on videos.
--RECENT COMMENTS - A module on your channel page showing all the videos (& comments) you have ever commented on.
To continue the cycle of feedback and discussions going between the community, the Council, and YouTube, we invite you to send us your ideas for new features, site improvements, and your input on the following list to
suggestions@youtube.com
.
items currently in progress or under consideration that we'd like to get more community feedback on:
--'VLOGGER' TYPE CHANNEL - What type of specific features would you like to see for a vlogger account type?
--'YOUTUBE BASICS' VIDEO - A brief video with educational step-by-step instructions for things like: how to report issues to Help Centre, how to make the most of your channel design, etc.. What are some helpful tips you think would be cool for newer users?
--MORE CHANNEL STATS - What kind of stats related to your channel would you be most interested in seeing?
--VIDEO RECOMMENDATIONS - These could be based on what types of videos you and your friends watch, add as 'favourites', channels you subscribe to, etc. (ie. "If you like this channel, you might also like...").
--DISCOVERING NEW COMMUNITIES - Offering new ways for YouTubers to find other like-minded users and sub-communities more easily.
--EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS - We have heard many requests for improvements on our notifications system and want to get your take on changes you would like to see made to emails and getting updates from YouTube in general.
--FULLSCREEN PLAYER - What features are you interested in seeing on the full screen player?
--'FRIENDS' MANAGEMENT - Improving managing and organizing 'friends' on your channel.
--COMMENTS/VIDEO RESPONSES PER INDEX POINT - Referring to a specific point in the video you are commenting on or making a video response for.
Remember to send your thoughts on the features above to
suggestions@youtube.com
and we'll check them out. (Note: this email address is for feature requests and ideas only. Please contact our
Help Centre
if you are having an issue you need immediate assistance with).
Our goal is to continue bringing forth ideas and feedback from you, and the Council, and turn them into actual features on the site which will benefit the overall YouTube community. Rest assured, this group has been working diligently to turn users' suggestions into realities.
This message has been brought to you by your friendly
YouTube Community Council
.
Until the next update...
The YouTube Team
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