What is video sharing?

If you've ever seen a YouTube video like the one to the right, you've experienced video sharing.

As I'm sure you've figured out, the good, the bad, and the ugly are on YouTube for all to see, which is one reason many districts and libraries block YouTube. Another reason is bandwidth—like music, video is a bandwidth hog. We recommend you complete this exercise during light Internet usage times.

YouTube revolutionized the way video is shared on the Internet by making it easy to upload and share videos. Other video sites have popped up, including Google Video, and now Flickr allows video.

Discovery Exercise

1. Go to YouTube and find the videos posted by Pima County Public Library (hint: use the search box)
   
   
2. Watch at least one of the videos.
   
   
3. Come back to Pima County Public Library's TeenZone. Notice how we've embedded the videos into the page. YouTube makes this easy! They provide code for embedding videos right on their site. Just copy the code from the "Embed" box on the video's YouTube page. You can find the "Embed" box in the "About This Video" box when you're watching the video. Feel free to vote in our poll!
   
   
4. Explore YouTube or Google Video & find a video you like.
   
   
5. To complete this exercise, go to the bottom of this page, where it says Threads.
   
   
6. Click Post a new thread.
   
   
7. Paste the URL of the video you found in your thread (you can also embed it on your Play Page!). Tell us why you like it. What else did you find browsing around? Did you find any library videos? Please write at least one paragraph about your experience.
   

Why should you know about video sharing?

It's popular
According to PEW (don't you just love PEW?), 57% of internet users have watched videos online and most of them share what they find with others. 74% of broadband users watch or download video online. And those stats are over a year old (July 2007), so you know they have to be higher now.

*heart*
People love video. You love video. Admit it. And you've had someone, somewhere, send you a link to an online video. That's the sharing aspect.

There's more than one way to share
Of course, there are other ways of sharing. By embedding the video on this page, I've shared it with you. I can also share it on other social sites, like Facebook, MySpace, Digg and others. YouTube has these handy "share" buttons that make this whole sharing business pretty easy. If you want to see something cool about embedding, see this blog entry:
Embed Your YouTube Videos With Cool Skin Flix Skins.

Trash and treasure
Of course, you’ll also find a lot stuff not worth watching. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself what the video sites have to offer.

How Libraries are using Video
Think about the possibility of sharing library information via video. Lots of libraries are doing this already.

• promote a program
  
• introduce your library to the community
  
• something else

More information for the curious

Want to make your own videos? Find out how:

• Making and Optimizing Your Videos from YouTube
  

Feeling brave?
Make your own video and upload it to YouTube or Google Video. If you do, be sure to embed it on the Play Page. We all want to see it!


Don't forget!

Threads
Feel free to post questions and concerns and respond to others comments in the threads at the bottom of this page as well. Remember, learning and collaboration are the reason we're here.

Play Pages
If you find interesting links, photos or videos you want to share, head on over to Play Pages to find out how to post them to this wiki.

Back to The 13 Things.