#8 - Find a video on YouTube

Online video hosting sites that allow users to easily share videos on the web have become incredibly popular within the past few years. YouTube, an independent subsidiary of Google Inc. is currently the worldwide leader among these sites.

Everyone can participate in the YouTube community by watching, sharing, and commenting on videos. People can see first-hand accounts of current events, relive their favorite TV moments, find videos about their hobbies and interests, discover new artists and filmmakers, and even uncover the quirky and unusual.

As more people capture special moments on video, YouTube is empowering them to share their experiences, talents, and expertise with the world.

Some of the site's features include:

• Video embedding: Users can insert a YouTube video into Facebook and MySpace accounts, blogs, or other Web sites where anyone can watch them.
• Public or private videos: Users can elect to broadcast their videos publicly or share them privately with friends and family upon upload.
• Subscriptions: Users are able to keep track of their favorite users' new videos.

Do some searching around YouTube yourself and see what the site has to offer. You'll find everything from why I love my library to library dominos, kids being kids, the evolution of dance and Kool-Aid commercials. Of course, like any free site you’ll also find a lot stuff not worth watching too. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself what the site has too offer. (Try searching for a how-to video like how to knit)

Try It Out!

1. Explore YouTube & find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog.
   
2. Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about the site and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?
3. Be sure to visit the staff page to submit this exercise as described in exercise #1. Don't forget to add a link to your blog posting.
   

OPTIONAL: Try placing the video inside your blog using the copy and paste code for the for "Embeddable Player.” Note: you'll need to use Blogger's Edit HTML tab when pasting this code.