In a previous post, I told you why you should watch YouTube closely:
“Basically, anybody who registers can upload a video and share it with friends (or strangers) without worrying about bandwidth issues and any other streaming-related technicalities.
What this also means is that anybody (read student, alum, parent, faculty or staff member) can shoot a video with a web cam, digital camera or even a cell phone camera before uploading it to YouTube and share it with the world (read prospective students, parents, alums and… journalists)
The end of the controlled institutional message…. with the power of streaming video.”
While you should monitor what’s up there, you might want to think about using YouTube to spread your institutional messages as well.
Some institutions – like Allegheny College – are already doing it. So, should you?
That’s a question more and more have been asking (it actually got asked this morning on the uwebd listserv – which prompted me to do a bit of research).
With more than 100 million videos viewed monthly per day, YouTube can get you some eye balls. If NBC has noticed the power of the video sharing website, it probably means it is a distribution channel you shouldn’t ignore.
I don’t mean that you should just make your online videos available on YouTube (anyway, Google Video is also a player in the online video sharing world).
You should definitely host your online videos elsewhere as they can be removed from YouTube without prior notice (oh, so you want to see our latest online video… oops, it’s not there anymore ;-)
You also need to make sure you get proper (written) releases from the people on the video and the people who shot them to comply with YouTube’s Terms of Use (and avoid lawsuits, which is always a good idea)
You need to be ready (read: have your VP, President, trustees as well as faculty, parents, etc. ready) to see some creative (and not always positive) remakes — mashup — of your videos.
You should also be ok with the fact that YouTube might sell advertising before or after your online videos without compensating you.
I’ve heard and read recently that it isn’t a good idea to use YouTube because they own whatever you upload. Well, that’s not exactly true. You keep the copyright of your videos, but you grant them “a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform” your videos.
How do I know? Well, I took the time to read their boring legalese Terms of Use, and here is the part about rights:
“For clarity, you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions. However, by submitting the User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube’s (and its successor’s) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the YouTube Website (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels. You also hereby grant each user of the YouTube Website a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Website, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such User Submissions as permitted through the functionality of the Website and under these Terms of Service. The foregoing license granted by you terminates once you remove or delete a User Submission from the YouTube Website.”
As you know, I’m neither a lawyer nor a legal expert (so you should talk to one), but here is the way I understand this:
You can still use your videos the way you want, but YouTube get a license to do almost anything with them.
Any lawyers or law professors in the room?
Please correct me if I’m wrong.