YouTube is a video sharing service where users can watch, like, share, comment and upload their own videos. The video service can be accessed on PCs, laptops, tablets and via mobile phones.
YouTube is a free to use service and a can be a great space for teens to discover things they like. For many young people, YouTube is used to watch music videos, comedy shows, how to guides, recipes, hacks and more. Teens also use the video-sharing service to follow their favourite vloggers (video blogger), subscribe to other YouTubers and celebrities they are interested in.
To set up a YouTube account users must be 18 years of age or 13+ with parental consent. Update: Under the new E.U General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Ireland has now set the Digital Age of Consent to 16 years old. This means young people under the age of 16 in Ireland are not allowed to access this platform.
However, users do not need to sign-in to access the website or to view videos. There is, however, a YouTube kids version now available to download for free. YouTube kids is designed for children aged 3-8 years old and make it easier for children and parents to find content they are interested in www.webwise.ie/parents/youtube-kids/ for more info the YouTube Kids app.
YouTube is a great place to discover new things, learn and get entertainment, however, there are some things parents and teens should be aware of when using the service.
YouTube has over a billion users and with an estimated 300 hours of footage uploaded per minute, not all of it is appropriate for children.
But you can help minimise the risk of your child encountering content that may not be appropriate for them. If you or your child sees something inappropriate, users can flag the video with YouTube. For more info on flagging inappropriate content go to: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2802027
Unfortunately, people can experience negative comments and bullying on the service particularly through the comments function (YouTube users can comment on other users videos). If your child has a YouTube channel/profile it might be a good idea to recommend they "https://ccm.net/sound-image/streaming/291-how-to-disable-comments-on-youtube/". This can be done very easily via settings and helps minimise risk of experiencing negative comments. If your child is experiencing harassment on YouTube, you can block and report users.
See below for more info on reporting and blocking users
Block Users: "support.google.com/youtube/answer/56113"
Report Abuse: "www.youtube.com/reportabuse"
When a user uploads a video to YouTube, by default the video is set to public, which means anyone can see the video. Depending on the age of your child, you should discuss what settings are best to use if your child is uploading footage to YouTube. You can easily switch videos to private or unlisted (published on YouTube but cannot be found without a direct link to the video).
You can also invite people to view your videos using www.google.com/+/learnmore/circles/. Please note, you need to link your channel with Google+ in order to share a private video with other users. "support.google.com/youtube/answer/2897336?hl=en" for info on how to connect a YouTube channel to a Google+ profile.
Parents should set up age restrictions and parental controls on YouTube. See support.google.com/youtubekids/answer/6172308?hl=en
YouTube allows you to disable comments entirely on videos or users have the options to approve each comment before they are published, this can help avoid risks of experiencing cyberbullying. See how to support.google.com/youtube/answer/7072797?hl=en&authuser=1.
YouTube has a www.webwise.ie/parents/explained-youtube-safety-mode/, a setting which gives users the opportunity to bar mature content. It is an “opt-in” setting, which means that it won’t take effect until you switch it on. The setting filters search results to remove videos with mature content or videos that have been age-restricted, meaning that such content will not show up in video searches, related videos, playlists, shows or movie sections. While no filtering system is 100 percent accurate, we recommend that parents of young children enable this feature.
YouTube Family Link allows you to control settings on YouTube Kids including the content level setting you want for your child, and if you want your child to use the search function. Find out more "https://families.google/familylink/":
In 2021 YouTube introduced Supervised Experiences on YouTube. This feature is for parents who want to allow their child to transition from YouTube Kids to supervised access to the main YouTube platform. Via a Supervised Google Account the feature will offer parents the ability to choose from 3 different content settings on YouTube.
Explore: For children ready to move on from YouTube Kids and explore content on YouTube, this setting will feature a broad range of videos generally suitable for viewers ages 9+, including vlogs, tutorials, gaming videos, music clips, news, educational content and more.
Explore More: With content generally suitable for viewers ages 13+, this setting will include an even larger set of videos, and also live streams in the same categories as “Explore.”
Most of YouTube: This setting will contain almost all videos on YouTube, except for age-restricted content, and it includes sensitive topics that may only be appropriate for older teens.
Annotations: Annotations are clickable, customizable text or images that only appear on desktop. You can use them to send viewers to more of your videos or playlists, your website, to cross-promote, or take viewers back to your channel page.
Avatar: The square image on your channel page that represents your channel across the site.
Branding Watermark: The watermark on all videos of your channel that can act as your logo.
Bulletin: Channel owners can send a message to all their subscribers using this feature. The message will appear in the Subscribers' feeds.
Calls to Action (CTAs): It’s the action taken by the viewer on any clickable button in your Video.
Closed Caption (CC) and Subtitles: Add subtitles and closed captions to your video.
Community Guidelines: There is a list of Do’s and Don’ts to know before you upload your video. IT includes Violent or graphic content, hateful content, harmful or dangerous content, copyright, threats and nudity or sexual content. Check out the official page to check the community guidelines.
Community settings: You can review, report, hide or check comments filtered as spam.
Content ID appeals: If your video contains copy protected material, then you could get a content ID claim, to which you can appeal back if you think your content differs and follows the copyright guidelines.
Copyright: When a person creates an original work that is fixed in a physical medium, he or she automatically owns copyright to the work. The owner has the exclusive right to use the work in certain, specific ways. Here is the detailed explanation of copyright laws by YouTube.
Credits: Collaborated with an artist? You can credit that artist here. Though, this feature is only available for channels with more than 5000 subscribers.
End-slate: Showcasing your logo, graphics or any cards like subscribe button at the end of your video is known as end slate.
Events: You can stream an ongoing event with an option to change privacy settings and redundancy. Featured content: Arrange your videos in playlist, manage your ad distribution.
Feed: A stream of activity either for one channel (via the channel page feed) or for multiple channels (the homepage feed). Feed activities include uploads, updated playlists, video comments, channel comments, new subscriptions, bulletins, likes, favorites and sharing. Users control what feed activities they broadcast and, by subscribing to channels, what feed activities are broadcasted to them in their homepage feed.
Hangouts on Air: Google+ Hangouts are a live video chatting feature, and they can be broadcast on your YouTube channel.
Hook: Content that is meant to keep viewers interested in what happens next. Ideally, a video’s hook happens within the first 15 seconds.
Hosted Playlist: A collection of videos linked by additional hosted videos. Hosted videos can act as intros, outros and/or interstitials. Hosted videos can contain an actual host (person) or creative branding that acts as a host.
Like(s): A user action that shows appreciation for a video. This action can be broadcast to subscribers in the feed.
Longer videos: After, You can upload your video up to 15 min long. You upload longer videos by verifying your YouTube account.
Metadata: It is essentially what will get a YouTube user to click and view your video. It is a cumulative of: title, descriptions, thumbnails and tags used for the video.
Monetization: This is the place where you can authorize the presence of ads on your videos.
Optimization: It’s to improvise and improve the best elements useful for your YouTube channel.
Paid content: Some parts of YouTube are actually not free. It will make your content visible to only ones who are paying your for your videos.
Stream now: It’s a live stream option through which you can publicly host on YouTube.
Tags: Choose right tags and relevant keywords to make your video search engine friendly. Some suggested tags will include brand name, product offering or be a compilation.
Teaser/ trailer: You really need to have a channel trailer if you want your unsubscribed audience to follow you back. The trailers must showcase what your channel is all about.
Thumbnails: These are one of the most vital factors for your video being picked from a pool of other various thumbnails. Provide a simple text on your thumbnail describing the title of your video.
Video Editor: It’s an inbuilt feature by YouTube, available in the CREATE section of creator studio. Here you can edit, drag videos, access the creative commons licensed videos, add transitions etc.
Vlog: A video-blog. A casual, conversational video format or genre featuring a person talking directly to camera.
Lifetime gains of the Channel: Here, it shows you the statistical gains for your channel where you can choose your customized timeframe to overview your growth.
Demographic: Demographics are the statistical study of subscriber, nonsubscriber, mobile and desktop views.
Top Countries: If you can understand from where your audience is coming from, then you can create content for that particular location so that you can accelerate the viewership.
Top YT Keyword Searches: Video is very important when building your SEO. Online videos are ranked on top when searching for a related keyword.
Embedded Videos Sources: Embedding is a code for your video. This process means that you are merging a video on a particular website, and when clicked, the video be watched in your page instead of YouTube.
Channel Social Media Stats: You can have the social media stats check the social media analytics for your YouTube channel engagement.
Channel Audience: You can check the number of subscribers gained and lost with the access to the profiles of the users who have subscribed and on what year.
Top Performing Videos: You can check and compare the top performing videos of your channel and your competitors.
Traffic Source: The referral source of a video view. The page, module or site that drove a viewer to a video.
Watch Page: The page where the majority of video viewing happens. URLs with the format youtube.com/watch?v= are watch pages.
Watch-time: The amount of time in aggregate that your viewers are watching your videos. Watch-time is estimated in Analytics.
YouTube Analytics: A tool that provides information across various metrics for videos, channels and audience. Available in your user account.
Essential YouTube terms for creators include Analytics (YTA) for data tracking, AdSense for revenue, and Algorithm for video recommendations. Key metrics are Audience Retention (view duration), CTR (Click-Through Rate), and CPM/RPM (earnings). Critical content terms include SEO, Thumbnails, and Shorts.
Here is a breakdown of key YouTube Terminology
Content & Channel Basics
- Avatar/Profile Picture: The icon representing a user/channel.
- Banner/Channel Art: The top header image on a channel page.
- Community Tab: A feed for posting photos, polls, and updates.
- Playlist: A curated collection of videos.
- Shorts: Vertical, short-form videos up to 3 minutes.
- Subtitle/CC: Text overlay for accessibility, often used for SEO.
Metrics & Analytics (YouTube Studio)
- Audience Retention: Percentage of a video viewers watch before leaving.
- AVD (Average View Duration): Average length of play in minutes/seconds.
- APV (Average Percentage Viewed): The average percentage of a video watched.
- Click Through Rate (CTR): Percentage of people who click a video after seeing the thumbnail.
- Engagement Rate: Total likes, comments, and shares relative to subscribers.
- Metadata: Titles, descriptions, tags, and thumbnails that help the algorithm understand content.
Monetization & Technical Terms
- AdSense: Google's program for earning money via ad displays.
- Algorithm: The system determining which videos are recommended to users.
- Call To Action (CTA): A prompt for viewers to subscribe, like, or click a link.
- CPM (Cost Per Mille): Advertiser cost per 1,000 ad impressions.
- RPM (Revenue Per Mille): Creator earnings per 1,000 views.
- Super-Chat: A feature where viewers pay to highlight messages in live streams.
- YPP (YouTube Partner Program): Eligibility for monetization, requiring 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public watch hours.