Finding the next generation of talented video educators with YouTube Next EDU Guru

Finding the next generation of talented video educators with YouTube Next EDU Guru

Across the Northern Hemisphere, students and their teachers are heading back into the classroom for another year of reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. While what we learn has broadly stayed the same for years, how we learn is changing rapidly as technology advances. The rise of online educational videos is giving learners access to the world’s greatest thinkers and teachers, leveling the playing field for all.

We believe that inspiring online educators can come from all walks of life, and we want to find the next generation of educational YouTube stars - people with a talent for explaining tough concepts in compelling ways, and the passion and drive to assemble a global classroom of students. YouTube educational channels like Khan Academy,CrashCourse, Veritasium, Numberphile, MinutePhysics and Ted-Ed have grown to millions of views and subscribers - could you be next?

Today we’re teaming up with Khan Academy to start a search for the Next EDU Gurus--10 super talented and engaging content creators who we’ll support with training, promotion, and a $1000 B&H gift card for production equipment, so they can take the next step in their YouTube - and education - careers.

Do you set historical events to music? Doodle your geometry? Sing your Shakespeare? We’re looking for content creators who create all kinds of curriculum-related videos, from grammar to geography, history to histograms. You can submit any style of video as long as it’s educational and family-friendly--just bear in mind that we’re looking for content creators who can take people on a journey through a topic, so if you could imagine making ten, twenty, or fifty more videos on the topic in the future, all the better!

The 10 YouTube Next EDU Gurus will be selected by a panel from the YouTube Education team and the Khan Academy. One of these 10 will also be awarded the Khan Academy EDU Guru Prize. The program is open to creators in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand; it opens today and closes on October 1.

Our new EDU Gurus will help meet the growing demand for great educational content on YouTube. In the last year, you all spent 50% more time learning from YouTube Education’s 700,000 videos, and the number of subscribers to YouTube’s educational channels more than doubled. Check out the YouTube.com homepage today for the latest videos from some of our most engaging educational creators. You can also see a playlist of their latest and greatest below.

  

If you’re an educator, visit youtube.com/teachers to view more than 300 playlists curated by teachers to align with common education topics. And if you’re looking for inspiration about incorporating YouTube in your school curriculum, see how one school from Kent, WA uses YouTube to experience the world beyond the walls of their classroom.

  

Introducing a new YouTube app for your iPhone and iPod touch on youtube

Introducing a new YouTube app for your iPhone and iPod touch

For all you diehard YouTube fans out there who can’t get enough YouTube on your mobile, we’ve got some great news: starting today, you can download the official YouTube app for iPhone and iPod touch from the App Store, bringing you more of the videos you love and more ways to share them with the people you care about. 

The new app is built by YouTube engineers, to give our iPhone and iPod touch users the best mobile experience. Here’s what you’ll find:

Tens of thousands more videos: Watch official music videos like Taylor’s latest hit.

New YouTube channel guide: Swipe your finger from the left edge of the screen to reveal a guide with your subscribed channels on YouTube, giving you instant access to everything from Alli Sports to YOMYOMF.

Find awesome videos faster: Get to videos like “Gangnam Style” faster with new search tools that give suggestions while you type, and let you sort through videos or channels. Flip through related videos, comments and more info, all while watching a video. 

More ways to share with the people you love: Share that incredible video you found on YouTube on Google+, Facebook or text message in the app, as well as from Twitter and email.

There’s even more to explore with the new YouTube app for iPhone and iPod touch, available for download from the App Store today. We’re working on an optimized version of the YouTube app for iPad in the coming months, and stay tuned for more details.

You’ve already shown us you love YouTube on mobile—to the tune of 1 billion mobile views a day—so we can’t wait to see what you think about this new experience. 

Meet our September “On The Rise” nominees! on youtube

Meet our September “On The Rise” nominees!

Reaching 100,000 subscribers is a big milestone for our dedicated YouTube partners. In our monthly On The Riseprogram, we identify four partners whose channels are seeing significant growth but haven’t yet reached the 100,000 subscriber mark, and we give them a chance to jumpstart their audience development and channel growth. This September, our candidates for the On The Rise feature are still in the early stages relative to that milestone, but their content is engaging and they’re passionate about building their YouTube presence.

We’re sharing their channels with you so you can help them grow their presence on YouTube: one of these candidates will have the opportunity to be featured on the YouTube homepage later this month. Check out their videos below and vote for your favorite here. In addition to your votes, each channel will be evaluated on criteria such as viewer engagement and channel optimization techniques to decide which partner will be featured on thehomepage, Google+, Facebook and Twitter at the end of the month.

In past months, featured On The Rise partners like thevfxbro and mikeyssmail have gained many subscribers and seen their careers take off, in large part due to your support. This month’s poll will be open until September 19, 5pm PT, so don’t forget to vote for your favorite channel. Check back to see who secured the homepage feature onSeptember 27.

stampwithtami

Tami White loves to stamp! She’s created hundreds of cards for all occasions using stamps, sponges, ink pads, and cardstock. Her channel hosts tutorials on how to make different themed cards and crafts using different stamping techniques and tools.

wcfoodies

Rebecca Lando of Working Class Foodies focuses on making inexpensive dishes using local and seasonal foods. Not a great cook? Not to worry, her channel has instructional recipe videos for all experience levels.

  

photoshopCAFE

Designers, photographers, and videographers - if you’re looking for editing assistance, look no further than photoshopCAFE! Colin Smith showcases some of his best tutorials on Adobe editing solutions, backed up by his website forums where you’re guaranteed to find advice and tips from like-minded artists.

GoneToTheSnowDogs

Your dog may be able to sit and stay, but has she been featured on a lottery ticket, vacuum ad, or Animal Planet show? Even if your answer is yes, we’re pretty sure you’ll admire these fun and often educational videos featuring huskies Shiloh, Shelby, and Oakley.

If you’re interested in checking out more rising YouTube Partners, visit our On The Rise channel, which features nominees, trending partners and monthly blog winners.

Live from the Runway brings New York Fashion Week to you

Live from the Runway brings New York Fashion Week to you

Today marks the kick-off of Fashion Week in New York - and once again we’re giving you a front row seat. For the fourth season, YouTube and Maybelline New York are bringing Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week right to your screen with Live from the Runway. Get insider access to 30 live streaming fashion shows and on-demand videos all in one place with show schedules, backstage beauty looks, interviews, trends and how-to videos.

Tune in each day through September 13 to see live runway shows from your favorite designers streamed right to your computer, mobile phone or tablet. To make sure you catch your favorites, add the show to your calendar right from the channel. Then join in on the scene online and dish on the latest collections with #LiveRunway. Let the catwalks begin!

David Victori is the winner of Your Film Festival with “The Guilt”

David Victori is the winner of Your Film Festival with “The Guilt”

Following a red carpet screening of the ten finalist films at the world’s oldest film festival in Venice, juror and award winning actor, Michael Fassbender took to the stage to announce that “The Guilt” by David Victori has been selected as the first grand prize winner of Your Film Festival on YouTube.

David Victori is the winner of Your Film Festival with “The Guilt”

Following a red carpet screening of the ten finalist films at the world’s oldest film festival in Venice, juror and award winning actor, Michael Fassbender took to the stage to announce that “The Guilt” by David Victori 

has been selected as the first grand prize winner of Your Film Festival on YouTube

.

David Victori is the winner of Your Film Festival with “The Guilt”

Following a red carpet screening of the ten finalist films at the world’s oldest film festival in Venice, juror and award winning actor, Michael Fassbender took to the stage to announce that “The Guilt” by David Victori has been selected as the first grand prize winner of Your Film Festival on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLBwDStJBkU&feature=player_embedded#t=0s

From over 15,000 entries, the YouTube community voted to choose 10 finalists who flew to Venice Film Festival. The Your Film Festival jury of luminaries, which included Sir Ridley Scott as well as Michael, chose the winning film. David has won $500,000 to create a new project on YouTube with the support of the jurors and Scott Free Productions. Subscribe to David’s channel and watch as he begins his new project with Ridley and Michael.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiikS2xRSdE&feature=player_embedded#t=0s

The 2012 London Summer Paralympics Live on YouTube

Missing the thrill of fierce global competitions and awesome displays of athletic prowess? Well, lucky for you, these things live on through the 2012 Summer Paralympics Games in London. The Paralympics just kicked off this Wednesday (check out the Opening Ceremony!) and will run through September 9th. This year, the Paralympics are more accessible and global than ever through YouTube.

Whether your favorite sport is powerlifting, sitting volleyball or wheelchair basketball, you can catch all the action on the International Paralympic Committee’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/paralympicsporttv. The channel will feature 500 hours of live competitions accompanied by a real-time commenting feature for viewers in the United States and Canada.  Additionally, others around the world have access to over 1000 hours of on-demand catch-up footage of current and previous games, interviews with Paralympic athletes and other behind-the-scenes footage.

Team USA fans can be sure to stay on top of their favorite athletes throughout the games and access original content made available by the United States Olympic Committee at youtube.com/teamusa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL0536DFD7CE45D1EE&v=ykE0dW_2fD0&feature=player_embedded#t=0s

One of the most anticipated competitions will no doubt be the T44 100m pitting South African superstar “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius against British sprinter John Peacock and American runner Jerome Singleton on September 6th. After making history when he competed in the Olympics several weeks ago, Pistorius will return to the Paralympics to see if he can defend his title. This is a race you certainly won’t want to miss!

Nor would you want to miss any of the action at this year’s Paralympics. If you’re like us, you’ll be tuning in morning, noon, and nights, over the coming weeks to catch the acts of sheer athleticism and stunning heroism that we’re sure will no doubt come out of the 2012 London Paralympics.

Happy Viewing!

YouTube Space Lab, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and the International Space Station—live!

Hot off the heels of their stunning Curiosity rover landing on Mars, NASA will soon be live streaming on YouTube from another space outpost...this time a little closer to home. 

On Thursday, September 13, Bill Nye the Science Guy will host a special live stream between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS). You’ll see the bright, young scientists of YouTube Space Lab and the NASA astronaut 250 miles above Earth performing the winning experiments of the competition launched by YouTube and Lenovo last year. Depending on the space station’s exact schedule, the stream will take place soon after 5:30am PT on Thursday, September 13. On the day, tune in to the channel to take part in this special event.

Amr, Dorothy and Sara, who were voted in March as the global winners of YouTube Space Lab, will join Bill and special guests to discuss their winning experiments and explore why science in space is so important for our future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzfACbPA3Wk&feature=player_embedded#t=0s

After NASA Mission Control gives the go ahead, those on Earth will be joined by NASA astronaut, Sunita Williams, live aboard the ISS, for an interview like no other. You will also have your chance to pose questions to Sunita, by publicly posting to Google+, Twitter or Facebook using the tag #SpaceLab.

Our August featured “On The Rise” partner is thevfxbro!

Congratulations to Aaron of thevfxbro! As a result of strong fan support and recognizable efforts to optimize his channel and videos according to our best practices, Aaron is our featured “On The Rise” YouTube partner for August. His channel and four engaging videos are featured on the YouTube homepage today.

As a film student at Biola University, Aaron perfected his video editing skills and special effects knowledge while mastering programs like Final Cut and Adobe AfterEffects. This work was a natural fit for YouTube, and he’s found success by sharing his expertise with the YouTube world. The thevfxbro channel hosts such videos as the walkthrough of the video effects Aaron used in his “I Am Legend” spoof, his adorable “copy cat,” and how the “Hunt for Pikachu” video was created. Check out his library of video editing tutorials as well as behind-the-scenes footage explaining how Aaron - and his friend Zach from FinalCutKing - use special effects to create their videos.

Here are a few words from Aaron:

Wow! Having started film school 4 years ago I never thought that it would have ended with me running a YouTube channel with an audience that I not only get to share my videos with, but help along the way. The crazy thing about YouTube is that it’s so new and we have no idea where it’s going to take us. I am so excited to see where this platform takes us filmmakers. Feel free to check out my channel that has awesome videos with visual effects as well as training and tutorials to help you take your own videos to the next level! 

If you’ve enjoyed this monthly On The Rise blog series and want to see more rising YouTube partners, check out ourOn The Rise channel. Keep an eye out for next month’s blog post, as your channel may be the next one On The Rise!

Your Film Festival finalist filmmakers head to Venice

This weekend, the filmmakers behind the ten films you selected as the Your Film Festival finalists, will travel to another film festival – the world’s oldest, in Venice. There, they’ll pitch their idea for a new YouTube project to the Your Film Festival jury and have the chance to win $500,000 to make their idea a reality with the support of Sir Ridley Scott, Michael Fassbender, and Scott Free Productions.

Subscribe to the channel to catch the latest news and return on Monday 3rd after the finalist film screening has taken place in Venice, when we’ll announce the Grand Prize Winner. In the meantime, meet the ten finalists in the video below and watch their short films on the channel.

Watch the Republican and Democratic National Conventions live on YouTube

Last week, we announced the YouTube Election Hub, a channel where you can find the latest live and on-demand coverage from the 2012 campaign trail.

Tonight, as part of YouTube’s role as Official Live-Streaming Provider for both political conventions, the trail leads to Tampa, Florida, for the Republican National Convention. You can watch all of the podium speeches and backstage action live on the site, including Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech on Thursday night.

Next week, starting September 4, we’ll give you an all-access pass to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Once again, every night during prime-time, you’ll be able to turn to YouTube to see all of the speeches like President Obama’s live address from Bank of America Stadium on September 6.

Accompanying the official proceedings, the YouTube Election Hub will feature live partner convention coverage so you can get the latest analysis from a variety of sources and form your own opinion about the election. If you’d like to stay updated on the latest coverage, you can follow the action here.

The conventions have delivered some of the most memorable political speeches of the past few decades, like Sarah Palin’s notable hockey mom riff and Ann Richards’ 1988 straight talk. Relive them here now:



The live primetime Republican Convention speeches begin tonight at 8 p.m. ET. Tune into

www.youtube.com/politicsto watch and comment in real-time.

Life @ YouTube: Interns Go Behind the Screen

What do you think when you hear “YouTube”? I used to think of videos of panda bears sneezing, British toddlers biting each other’s fingers, and the instant stardom of seemingly everyday people. But over the past 11 weeks, I’ve had a true insider’s perspective on the company. I’ve worked with hundreds of YouTube employees who are redefining how we create, share and consume video. 

As a BOLD intern, I’ve been able to go behind the screen and leave my mark at YouTube. Google’s BOLD program began placing undergraduate interns at YouTube in 2010, beginning with a class size of just two and it continues to grow each year. This year we had nine undergraduate YouTube interns bringing fresh ideas and making a huge impact along the way. I, along with other interns, have had the opportunity to work on meaningful projects that have directly benefited YouTube users. My fellow interns and I worked on “Your Film Festival,” an independent film contest, the channel design for the 2012 Olympics page, and support of the live streaming at Lollapalooza music festival - just to name a few projects. 

As an intern in People Operations, I’ve worked with many different teams across the company, from content partners to product managers and designers, while developing leadership training programs, producing and editing videos, and interviewing Directors and VPs. And I’m only one intern! Total, there are 30 other undergraduate and graduate school interns that make up the YouTube family, all of whom are working on phenomenal projects involving software engineering, web developing and user experience design. 

The professional development opportunities afforded to interns at YouTube are unmatched. Still, it’s not all work and no play. While at YouTube I’ve been able to chat it up with Rick Ross, meet Congresswoman Jackie Speier and host over 100 Bay Area engineering interns for a night of BBQ, beer, Bluegrass music and cool product demos. YouTube is a magical place and this summer gave me a taste of the magic. If you’d like to find out more, visit our site for information about internships and jobs. 

5 Questions with Scott Harrison, Founder of charity:water

charity:water is an organization dedicated to providing clean, safe drinking water to people around the globe and since exploding onto YouTube in 2008, they’ve made a name for themselves with consistent catchy, aesthetically awesome videos. charity:water is a nonprofit who isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of what’s possible with video so we weren’t surprised to hear that they have big YouTube plans for their upcoming September Campaign. We sat down with charity:water founder Scott Harrison to learn more about the campaign and their approach to making videos that are both inspiring and compulsively watchable.

Q: You're launching your 6th annual September Campaign next week. Can you tell us about the campaign and how video will play a role? 

A: charity: water was born in September, and each year we take that month to focus in on a particular country, tell an amazing story and challenge our community to make a big impact there. This year, we’re telling a powerful story of redemption in Rwanda.

It’s been 18 years since the genocide, and the country has been rebuilding faster than most people ever thought possible. Rwanda is now attempting to achieve 100% clean water coverage by 2020 -- something no country in Africa has ever done before -- and we want to help them. By partnering with the local government, through the September Campaign, we’re going to bring clean water to 26,000 people in the Rulindo District.

At the core of this campaign are stories, stories of families who have to haul water up and down a mountain every day--water from a swamp or river that can make them sick; stories of people making a living by managing and maintaining the kind of water points we’ll fund; and stories of our fundraisers doing amazing things to help people on the other side of the world.

In addition to the trailer which launched on August 21, we’ll release four short films during the campaign, and then on September 7, we’ll film and upload a video -- live from Rwanda -- as the work begins in the field. It’s important to us to inspire our fundraisers by bringing the story to life and also to use video to help them see their impact.

Q. Your "Thank You" campaign fascinated us at YouTube because it did a few things differently. For example, it featured your whole staff and each video was targeted towards a particular donor. Was the campaign successful? Can you share any learnings? 

Yes. Last year, to mark our fifth birthday, we decided to celebrate the thousands of fundraisers who gave up their birthdays, biked, swam, and built lemonade stands to raise money for clean water.

There was no fundraising goal for these videos, and we intentionally didn’t make them only for our top donors and fundraisers. Instead our goal was to just make 250 different supporters feel special and let them know how much we value them.

Our metrics for the campaign were soft, but dozens of people who received the videos, sent us emails to express the depth of their feelings and ‘love’ for our brand.

And our staff (everyone from our receptionist to our CTO made videos!) reported back that this ‘thank you experience’ was among their favorite moments working here.

Most importantly, we think that anyone who sees the thank you videos will understand just how much we care about our relationship with our supporters. 




Q: Besides view count, how do you measure the success of a charity:water video?

A: The first goal of our video strategy is to inspire people. Inspire them to become aware of this important issue, to donate, to fundraise, and hopefully to become lifelong fans. Inspiration is difficult to measure, but the results driven by that inspiration are powerful.

For this year’s September Campaign, we’ll release five videos throughout the campaign as key content to drive our $1.7 million fundraising target. Without the video inspiration, we wouldn’t be able to create the movement of thousands of fundraisers needed to bring clean water to 26,000 people in Rwanda.

And despite the fact that we don’t make videos to drive immediate donations, we frequently see a fundraising spike alongside our best video content. For example, last year when we launched our animated Water Changes Everything on YouTube (now viewed over 800,000 times), we saw our online donations spike for weeks.



Q: One thing that comes across in your videos is your sense of aesthetics. How does design play a role in video production and does it take a large budget to make videos that are aesthetically appealing? 

A: Time, energy, and talent can be more important than budget when it comes to making great videos. Our video team is only made up of a couple people, but we invest significant time and energy in bringing excellence to everything we produce.

It’s important to us that charity: water videos always look beautiful. It shows respect for our supporters that we invest as much time as possible in the highest aesthetic appeal.




Q: What's one mistake you see nonprofits making with video? What advice do you have for organizations making this mistake? 

A: The biggest mistake we see are non-profits using the power of the medium to drive feelings of guilt or sadness, instead of hope and positivity.

You can evoke strong emotions with a video, and a sad tale or a shocking image can indeed induce someone to pull out their wallet and donate. However, we believe in respecting both the subjects of our videos and the audience, and you’ll see us continue to focus on positivity, possibility and inspiration over guilt and sadness.

The U.S. election, live on YouTube

Today we’re introducing the YouTube Elections Hub, a one-stop channel for key political moments from now through the upcoming U.S. election day on November 6. You can watch all of the live speeches from the floor of the upcoming Republican and Democratic National Conventions, see Google+ Hangouts with power brokers behind the scenes, and watch a live stream of the official Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. You won’t need to go anywhere else for the must-watch moments of this election cycle...they’re all happening here live.

In addition to videos from politicians and parties, a diverse range of news organizations—both established names in media and sought-after new voices—are sharing their coverage of the political process on the new hub. You’ll find live and on-demand reporting and analysis from ABC News, Al Jazeera English, BuzzFeed, Larry King, The New York Times, Phil DeFranco, Univision and the Wall Street Journal. Each will put their own stamp on the Presidential race—from the conventions to the debates to election night.

  

Of course, we’ll have special live coverage around the Republican National Convention from August 27 to 30, the Democratic National Convention from September 4-6, the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates in October, and election night. Bookmark the Elections Hub now for a front row seat along the road to the White House.

Attention, cricket fans: Sri Lanka Premier League T20 comes to YouTube

The world’s attention may currently be concentrated on a certain international sporting event in London, but cricket fanatics’ minds are much closer to the equator as they mentally prepare for the first ever Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL). This Twenty20 tournament goes from August 10 to August 31, featuring Sri Lankan cricketing icons Mahela Jayawardene, Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan, as well as 42 international players like Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi, Nathan Mccullum and Saeed Ajmal.

And just as we did with the India Premier League, YouTube will be streaming straight from the pitch (with slight delay) on the SLPL’s YouTube Channel. For those far from Sri Lanka in an un-friendly time zone, no worries—just catch up on the highlight videos uploaded after the match conclusion. 



We’re always excited to see a new T20 tournament popping up, and we’re even more excited to help bring the action from Colombo and Kandy straight to you, wherever you a

How the Olympics played out on YouTube

How the Olympics played out on YouTube

When we started preparing for the Olympics last year, we prioritized two things: giving you a front-row experience, and serving you video at the best quality possible. You responded in a huge way:

Around the world

• Giving more people access to watch live and recorded events was key. Across the US and 64 countries in Africa and Asia you watched 231 million total streams. Of those, 72 million total streams came fromIOC YouTube Channel.
• At peak, YouTube delivered video for more than half a million livestreams at the same time. That’s 5X the capacity of Wembley Stadium.
• Live video looked better than ever before, with a 7X improvement in quality based on low buffering and high frame rates.

In the U.S.

• We powered online coverage for NBCOlympics.com, delivering more than 159 million total streams.
• Through NBC’s native apps, 37 percent of views came from mobile devices, and more than half were in HD.
• The U.S. Olympic Committee YouTube Channel shared behind the scenes video with more than 6.75 million views, and 50 YouTube Creators “Invaded” London to show the full experience through their eyes.

Game on: Get the new YouTube app for PlayStation 3

Playing hours of Journey giving you cravings to watch Journey on YouTube? Or maybe DiRT Showdown put you in the mood to watch real-life action sports from the Red Bull YouTube Channel?

Give button mashing a whole new meaning with the new YouTube app for PlayStation 3—rolling out today in North America for free download from the PlayStation Store.

You might have watched YouTube on PS3 before, but get ready for a whole new world of video and features. We have a completely new experience, designed for the big screen and PS3 controls. Here’s what you’ll find:

• Search: Finding the videos you want is easier than ever, with search suggestions and instant video results while you type.
• Your subscribed channels: Sign in to find the latest videos from your YouTube subscriptions, which now also includes HD and official music videos.
• Your phone as a remote: With a quick pairing process, you can control YouTube on PS3 with a smartphone. Find a video on your phone and with a button it’ll play on the big screen. While the video is playing you can control it from the phone, or keep browsing YouTube for the next one.

You’ll find the new app in the PlayStation Store under My Channels. We’ll keep improving the PS3 experience and plan to bring the app to more countries in coming month