I guess as you are reading this article you use and upload videos to an online video provider such as YouTube, or are serious thinking about doing so. If that is the case, then you will love YouTube. YouTube is easy to use, has a very useful Help area in case you do have problems, and is used by millions of people a month.
As you will find once you have uploaded your first video you will become hooked on it, and as well as being fun, there are as in all things some points that need to be highlighted to the young and old a like to keep them safe and sound. Safe and sound not just from the bad people of this world (of which there are only a few) but also safe and sound from companies who might like to file a copyright court order on you for using some film clip.
So please keep safety at all times in your mind when you produce an YouTube or any other online video.
One of the top things you do need to remember is try and keep your address safe and away from YouTube. Of course there are exceptions and one of these is if you are a Church or a business who wants people to find them then by all means tell them all your details. But in the normal realm of online video and YouTube try and keep your street, town name etc out of the video, and that means also try and not film in front of a local famous land mark.
YouTube shot to the top of the charts for many reasons but one of the main reasons was because it was free to join, free to use, and free to watch the many thousands of online content. Now with all this free you do then get the dark side of the internet come to play, but please do not let the few spoil the fun for you. Follow a few simple rules and you will be kept away from harm (sadly this cannot be 100% as in anything in life).
One of the famous bits of YouTube is you can leave comments for the people of who's videos you have watched, you can rate them and talk with other online users about them. Now with all this talking you do get to know some of the users and at times you might let your guard down and let slip some personal information, please just be careful. And for what ever reason do not give out home address or other personal information.
Today it is very easy for example for a teenager to think she is chatting to another teenager across the world when in fact she could be chatting to a small child or a much older person. Remember you cannot see the person who you are really talking to.
Also remember if you are doing personal video blogs or stand up comedy videos people are seeing the real you, just stop for a moment and thing how do I look. Yes you are appearing on a world wide basis, yes you have the ability of being seen by millions of people a day. And yes you should look good, for if you look good, your self confidence goes up. Please wear nice clothes. You want people to come to your video for the content not to just watch you. For by providing good content people will keep coming back to your site. Well unless you want them to,come to just watch you but that is another story and another article.
As I have said before you want people to laugh at your jokes and listen to your life story from the content point of view. If you take video that includes other family members, friends co-workers, please get their permission before you start to shoot the the video, and if needed get them to sign a model release form - you can get these off the internet quiet easy, just go to Google and do a search.
Another to think of in this area is if you are doing a holiday video and doing some scene shots and by mistake when you are editing the video you have a clip of a couple having a kiss, think twice before putting it online, be safe and edit it out. They might not like to see themselves being seen all over the world. And it might not be their other half they are kissing!!!!!!
Only put up online what you feel at home doing and what you would show your young children or grand parents.
Lastly in this article I just to say please do not put clips from films, tv programs up on YouTube or any online video content provider. Yes I know people do it. But you could be the one the TV company goes for and you might just end up paying a big fine or worst still doing time.
Just stick to your own produced content and you should be fine.
Andrew Milburn, has been self employed for nearly 25 years. He offers consultancy work to small businesses and loves helping those who need that "little Push" to get started. To learn more on using online video in your business please go along to http://www.andrewmilburn.com
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