YouTube is becoming my Family Photo Album

[OldManMirage]

This was being discussed on another Sailing forum, and I thought I'd throw it out here.

So yeah, I have a YouTube channel. It's nothing much, I don't expect to be the next YouTube star or anything remotely like that. I seriously doubt it will EVER make money. Again, not why I started it. It has morphed a bit from where it began because of changes in my own life. But I think the most interesting thing is what it is becoming.

And that is a way to preserve memories. Partly because of my own fault I really have no old movies of my parents that have sound. And that is rather sad to me. So when I started doing my channel I had in mind that my kids would have more and better ways to remember me/us when we are gone. It started a bit solo, but fortunately has become more of a family thing. And I expect that to get even better as time goes by. And the videos will be there for the future, without any effort on my part to try and preserve them. That is rather nice too.

Just like here in the forum, some of my stuff is meant to be helpful, and it is quite gratifying when it does so. My most popular video is about why I like my Andersen hitch for my camper. And apparently it has helped a few make a decision about their own rig. That is cool ! And if someone gets inspired by what I'm doing, that is a nice feeling too.

I know some people don't like YouTube - for whatever reason - but I have also found it to be an immense resource for learning to do things. I'm sure I have saved 1000's of dollars over the years by fixing things myself that I would not have tried if I hadn't been able to watch someone explain it to me.

So, I hope this discussion might bring out ideas of ways to use YouTube. What have you found ?

[Mike OReilly]

I like youtube. I use it, as an unregistered, untraceable user. My major issue, as a content creator, is that youtube (and all similar commercial services) demand that I hand over a huge swath of rights to my work.

The Terms of Service basically gives Google (who owns youtube) unfettered rights to do pretty much whatever they want to do with YOUR work. This is why I prefer to host my own content on a blog that I fully own.

Not saying don't go with youtube. There's no better way of reaching an audience, and perhaps making some beer money. But do it with eyes wide open. You are paying for the service by becoming a free content provide. ... not unlike what we do here on CF .

[OldManMirage]

Lol, after all the various strong opinions over YouTube and sailing channels I really expected some discussion.

Mike, I hear what you're saying, but I guess my feeling is that what I'm doing is not a "big enough deal" that someone would ever want to do anything with it.

And I think the traffic on my channel bears that out ! LOL

[Chotu]

Back it up. It’s all fun and games using these cloud services until you lose your account and they can’t be bothered to restore it or send it to me.

I lost a good decade of sentimental content on Instagram and they won’t give it back without me taking a picture with my ID in it for the Facebook database.

[Mike OReilly]

As long as you understand what you're selling (i.e. functionally, all rights), then all good . Just know, there are alternatives that can net you equally few views , yet you don't have to give all your content away.

[fred4936]

I confess I watch YouTube a lot. It has been a great resource to learn about many things, not just sailing. I fixed a few things around the house using it. During the winter it is a source for many ideas. I often look at the background of the video to see things that the presenter did not intend to share, but did. I have learned quite a lot, and am glad it is there. Thank you for sharing your ideas.

[OldManMirage]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Back it up. It’s all fun and games using these cloud services until you lose your account and they can’t be bothered to restore it or send it to me.

I lost a good decade of sentimental content on Instagram and they won’t give it back without me taking a picture with my ID in it for the Facebook database.

That does seem prudent. It's on my computer but of course those are also quite tempermental. I suppose I should burn them onto a CD. And I probably will now that I'm thinking along those lines.

[BruceS]

CD's are just about a thing of the past & USB memory sticks do have a record of failing in my experience. I bought a device to put an identical hard drive i n and clone my computer every fortnight to. It only updates any changes each time rather than complete each time.

[leboyd]

Why have you monitized your channel if you’re not planning to make any money from it and are doing it more for you and your family (and helping others out a little)? If I watch a YT video and it looks and feels really homemade, if they monitized their account I don’t go back. If it’s not monitized (like mine), then I’ll watch more.

There’s nothing wrong with monitizing your account just be a little more honest that you do want to make some money off it.

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Back it up. It’s all fun and games using these cloud services until you lose your account and they can’t be bothered to restore it or send it to me.

I lost a good decade of sentimental content on Instagram and they won’t give it back without me taking a picture with my ID in it for the Facebook database.

If you have a blog or something you can find a way (I use plugins) to copy the social media content. Once a week all my tweets (all 3 or 4 of them ) get made into a digest on my site and every time I post to instagram it goes and downloads the image and caption to my site as well. I also download my Facebook stuff semi-regularily not that I do much over there any more.

They are free to use whatever I post any way they like but they sure as h_ll aren't going to control my access to it

[OldManMirage]

Originally Posted by leboyd

Why have you monitized your channel if you’re not planning to make any money from it and are doing it more for you and your family (and helping others out a little)? If I watch a YT video and it looks and feels really homemade, if they monitized their account I don’t go back. If it’s not monitized (like mine), then I’ll watch more.

There’s nothing wrong with monitizing your account just be a little more honest that you do want to make some money off it.

Maybe I wasn't clear, but I have not "monitized" my channel, and truthfully at this point I'm not sure how to do so. I have looked at YouTube requirements and I'm no where near the amount of traffic they require. I haven't even figured out how to put a link in my videos yet. Maybe I can't with the Editing program I use. It's Filmora by the way. I think it cost me about $50 bucks ? Something like that.

Now, sure I would love to have a popular channel and make some money off it. Who wouldn't like to have another source of income ? But like I said, I seriously doubt it will get popular enough for that to happen. I know a lot of the channels use Patreon too, but at the moment I can't see just asking for donations, seems a little...something, I don't know what word I want to use. I'm employed, I have a home, asking for money feels...underhanded ? I don't know. I'm not planning on doing that. I'm not saying its wrong for OTHER people to do so, but I have no plans to do so.

Hope that is "honest" enough and clears things up for you ?

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by BruceS

CD's are just about a thing of the past & USB memory sticks do have a record of failing in my experience. I bought a device to put an identical hard drive i n and clone my computer every fortnight to. It only updates any changes each time rather than complete each time.

Plus CD's only hold about 700 megabytes whereas a DVD's storage capacity is 4.7 GB.

Thumb drives are cheap and can hold 256 GB and more.....

[hlprmnky]

leboyd,

I don’t have much experience putting content on YouTube but my understanding from some of the creators I talk to is that somewhat recently, YouTube changed their policies and started putting pre-roll ads on any video at their whim, not just folks who chose to hang out their shingle and monetize their channel.
So, it’s possible that OldManMirage and other “amateur creators” you see aren’t choosing to monetize their work; YouTube is making that choice for them (and keeping any proceeds themselves).

[leboyd]

Yes, yes. Thanks. One can hardly tell anymore if it monetized or not (since YT adds commercials to all channels now). I thought you were saying it was monetized.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by hlprmnky

leboyd,

I don’t have much experience putting content on YouTube but my understanding from some of the creators I talk to is that somewhat recently, YouTube changed their policies and started putting pre-roll ads on any video at their whim, not just folks who chose to hang out their shingle and monetize their channel.
So, it’s possible that OldManMirage and other “amateur creators” you see aren’t choosing to monetize their work; YouTube is making that choice for them (and keeping any proceeds themselves).

Yes indeed, they can certainly do this. That's part of my point about using these "free" tools. Youtube (Google) gains the right to do pretty much whatever they want with contributor's content. So they generate revenue for their coffers from your work -- much like CF does .

Again, eyes wide open.