YouTube's Blog


Help Center Videos Made By You: Call for Submissions - Round 2
Last month we took video submissions from the YouTube community to be included in our Help Center. We received a ton of creative, informative videos and have embedded six of them in our Help entries. Check out the Round 1 selections in the Favorites section of the YouTubeHelp channel.

Based on such great success last month, we are opening the floodgates for Round 2! We're asking you again to use your skills to create videos that we can embed in our Help Center. If selected, your video will be seen by many of the 1+ million users who visit the Help Center each day.

To participate, here's what you need to do:

1. Decide which Help Center entries you'd like to make an original video about:
2. Upload your video to your YouTube account, then submit it through this page.

Here are a few tips to help you along the way:
  • Keep it brief (1-2 minutes is perfect. Last round we got some epics, which were great, but just too long).
  • Be creative, clear and 100% original
  • Stay on topic (only submissions which address the Help Center entries included in the list above will be accepted)
  • Keep our Terms of Use and Community Guidelines in mind
  • Have fun with it
The deadline for submitting your video is December 19, 2008.

Grab a camera and show off your helpful community spirit!

The YouTube Help Team

YouTube Live! The Buzz Builds...
Is Katy Perry really going to dress as a tube to sing "Hot And Cold"? Who are The League of Extraordinary Dancers, and what is their mission? Has Tay Zonday unwittingly stumbled upon the solution to The Economic Crisis? The answers to all these questions and more lie but three days away…

This coming Saturday, November 22, YouTube hosts YouTube Live – the first ever live streaming event on the site, designed to celebrate our extravagantly talented user community. In preparation for the big day, today on YouTube's home page we present a selection of videos from some of the personalities you have come to know and love – and one from Nalts:



Brilliant beatboxing, perfectly formed philology, Will.i.am and Soulja Boy Tellem… all these elements are going to come together at YouTube Live, and the best part is you don't need a ticket to attend – or even to be in the country. Starting at 5PM PST/8PM EST, YouTube will bring you the entire show, streaming live as it sparks into life and builds to a thunderous climax at Fort Mason Center's Herbst Pavilion in San Francisco. Part concert, part variety show and part party, YouTube Live is like… well… it's like YouTube. Only Live.

We hope you are as excited as we are to see all of this talent gathered in one place for your continued entertainment. Enjoy today's preview of the big day as participants announce their arrival and start to rehearse for the big event. Join us online!

Have fun,
The YouTube Team

Project: Report - Local Stories, Global Impact
Since the launch of Project: Report, aspiring journalists from around the world have produced video reports on issues not covered by the traditional media. Voting for Round 2 is complete, and the panel of journalists from the Pulitzer Center is in the process of tallying the final counts. Tomorrow, we will announce which five of the 10 semi-finalists will advance to the final round of competition and get one step closer to the $10,000 journalism fellowship to report on a story abroad.





Tomorrow, these five finalists begin their work on the third and final assignment: produce a piece of collaborative storytelling that empowers an underrepresented community to share its own story with the world. First, choose a group of people rarely covered by the traditional media. Then, let them use the camera to document their own lives.

The video must be five minutes or less. All entries must be submitted in English or have English subtitles. For those of you who were not selected as finalists, you can still complete the Round 3 assignment to compete for additional technology prizes from Sony Vaio and Intel.

If you're looking for some examples, take a look at this video from Pulitzer Center journalist Andre Lambertson on child soldiers in Liberia. He also offers tips for how to produce a piece of collaborative storytelling.

All accepted entries will be reviewed by a panel of journalists from the Pulitzer Center and judged based on the depth of the reporting, the clarity of the narrative, and the power of the story. The videos from the five finalists will also be voted on by the YouTube community.

Though only five reporters will move on to the final round, all ten of the semi-finalists produced impressive work, and in today's homepage takeover, we feature the videos they submitted in Round 2, each of which tells a story unfolding in a local community that touches on global themes and issues.

We hope you enjoy!

Yours,
Olivia M.
YouTube News & Politics

The Spirit Takes Over the YouTube Screening Room
Lionsgate's new film The Spirit is hitting theaters everywhere this Christmas, and to honor the occasion, the YouTube Screening Room is going graphic. Graphic novel that is.

Directed by Frank Miller and based on the comic by Will Eisner, The Spirit tells the story of a rookie cop who returns from beyond the grave to fight evil in Central City. So, for the next two weeks we'll be featuring four shorts that reflect the film's spooky subject matter and comic book roots.

In "The Aviatrix," the only escape for a young woman woman living with cancer exists in the form of her comic book alter ego. A young couple attempting to salvage their marriage by dressing as superheroes find themselves faced with an even greater task after being unexpectedly forced out of their apartment in "Super Powers." Based on a 19th century urban legend, "Spring-Heeled Jack" tells the story of a goblin who steals the voices of naughty children. Finally, a little girl overlooked by everyone in her village takes her savage revenge in "The Little Girl Who Was Forgotten."

Happy viewing!

Sara P.
YouTube Film

Flagging at YouTube: The Basics
The YouTube flagging system works best when you take the time to understand our Community Guidelines before you flag a video. Then, if you come across a video that you think may not belong on YouTube, it will be easier for you to let us know the reason you flagged it, whether it be for hate speech, nudity, violence, or another Guideline violation. Once a video is flagged, we review it quickly, and if we find that it shouldn't be on YouTube, we remove it within hours. It's as easy as that.

Lots of users ask us questions about flagging. Whether you're brand new to the Community Guidelines or looking to get a flagging refresher, check out this new video to get a closer look at how it works.



The next time you come across inappropriate content on the site, flag it!
We're counting on you.

The YouTube Team