YouTube can change your life. It''s not just for kids.
What is YouTube? Look at the home page and you may find it rather
strange that I
am telling you that this site can change your life. So what is it all
about? Well, put simply, YouTube is a website where you can upload
videos so that anyone else can see them. Simple idea. BUT
REVOLUTIONARY. Just think about the possibilities. They are endless.
You can enjoy YouTube in two ways: you can make videos and upload them; you can watch others'' videos. Videos can be anything (apart from blatant pornography or anything illegal). You can have a conversation via video or you can make a short film or become a YouTube diarist like the currently popular mememolly. You can explore and search the site creating
favourites and playlists which can provide you with your own, tailored enetertainment on almost any subject or interst you can think of: you have access to films,
concerts, music videos, documentaries, TV clips, sports action and more.
The first thing you need to do is register - it''s free. You just need an email address and a password and you are ready to go.
So what do you do next? What are you interested in? Frank Sinatra?
Brigitte Bardot? Star Wars, Rugby? Just enter the words in the search
box and you will be shown a list of all videos which match your search
criteria. Click on the one you want to view and, after a short time, it
will, begin to play.
Whenever you choose a video, other related videos are shown on the right.
So there you are. You have now watched your first YouTube video
clip. So what else can you do? How about adding a video you like to a
list of favourites? When a video is running, just click the favorites
button below it and that video will be stored against your account (you
have to be logged in, of course). To view your favourites you need to
scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the link. You will now be
able to see all your favourites and replay any one of them.
Once you have mastered this it''s time to make your first playlist. A
playlist is any number of videos which you can collect under any
heading you choose (and you can have as many playlists as you like).
You can then play the play list and all the videos will automatically
play in the
sequence you choose. You can alter the sequence by editing
the playlist and allocating a different sequence number to any video
and then clicking ''rearrange''.
So try to make a playlist of your favourite videos and see how easy it is.
By making your playlist public you can share it with a friend.
There is a lot more to this site and even No.10 and the US Presidential candidates are uploading videos daily. By ''subscribing'' to the BBC you are automatically alerted to clips from programmes from the previous day. Most TV stations provide this.Whatever you particular interests, you will find it on YouTube. If you don''t, make a video and upload it yourself!