YouTube's Blog


New Features For Search, Messaging and Contacts
Hey 'Tubers, it's time for another round of site updates. We added some new features to improve searching for videos, messaging and managing your contacts on YouTube. Check it...

QUERY SUGGESTIONS FOR SEARCH

A query suggestions option is now available for search. To opt in, click the "advanced" link next to the search button, then choose "Display query suggestions as I type" from the search settings. As you type in your search terms a menu will appear with suggested results to choose from to help you more quickly find the videos you're looking for. On the search results page you'll also get an additional list of recommended searches by clicking on any of the terms listed next to the new "Also try" menu.

GOOGLE CONTACT IMPORTER

To import your Google contacts into YouTube, click "Import" on the "My Contacts" page, then log in to your Google account. Once we've finished importing, click "Share" to easily send a video you're watching to any of your contacts. You can even "friend" your YouTube contacts and we'll help you stay up to date on the videos they're favoriting, rating, and uploading.

INBOX IMPROVEMENTS FOR COMMENTS

Based on your feedback, we've made some improvements to the notifications for video comments in your YouTube Inbox. Comments made to your videos are separated from comments left in response to your comment on someone else's video. The actual text of the comment is also now displayed and you can approve or reject a comment in-line.

Don't forget to share your feedback with us via video, email or throw some comments on this here blog.

Best,
The YouTube Team

YouTube's Living Legends: The Rolling Stones Respond
The Rolling Stones were the first official Living Legends to join the program that connects luminaries with the YouTube community – they asked for questions, you heeded their call, and now they've responded with gusto. Here's a sneak peek:



The questions submitted to the band came from old fans as well as new recruits, and ranged from Zapterazor's query about internet piracy (which he asked dressed as a pirate) to Banteron's probe into Mick Jagger's voodoo past. TheBladeRunnerShow wondered how they thought they would be judged by the American Idol gang at the start of their career, but our nod for cheekiest question goes to Jamieroko, who offered her opinions on the band's "hotness" throughout the years, ultimately asking if they still feel "exhilarated":



Intrigued? You can find all of Mick and Keith's answers and plenty of off-the-cuff rock star remarks on our Living Legends channel. You also have the opportunity to answer a question that Keith pitches back to the community:



With sticky fingers,
The YouTube Team

Demographics now available in YouTube Insight
When we first announced YouTube Insight, our free video analytics tool for YouTube, we were excited to see just how users, partners, and advertisers might creatively use information about the viewing trends of their videos. We've since learned that some users and partners are modifying their upload schedules based on when they know their audience is tuning in, and advertisers are studying geographic traffic patterns to assess the effectiveness of regional ad campaigns.

Today we've added some new features to Insight. One is a new demographics tab that displays view count information broken down by age group (such as ages 18-24), gender, or a combination of the two, to help you get a better understanding of the makeup of your YouTube audience. We show you general information about your viewers in anonymous and aggregate form, based on the birth date and gender information that users share with us when they create YouTube accounts. This means that individual users can't be personally identified.

Insight now also displays statistics based on the combined total views of all the videos you've uploaded. Just as you can explore the view counts and popularity of individual videos, with this feature you can see your account's total number of views, and your relative popularity on YouTube compared to other users, based on geographic location.

As with Insight's other features, we hope this new information helps you learn how to create more compelling content that best engages the audiences you want to reach. You can find these new metrics under the "Demographics" tab within the Insight dashboard. Click on the "Insight" button under Account > My Videos.

Enjoy,
The YouTube Team

Cannes 360
Generally speaking, Cannes is considered the grand-mère of all film festivals. For 11 days every spring, the cinematic world descends on this beach town in the south of France to celebrate everything film, from the lowest-budget student shorts to the summer's biggest blockbusters.

Starting today and for the next 11 days, we'll be featuring a diverse selection of content from the French Riviera in our Film & Animation section, including industry panels from the Short Film Corner and the 2008 Real Ideas Studio Community Documentary Challenge, which consists of short works from the best student documentarians.

Finally, what would the world's most glamorous festival be without coverage from the red carpet, courtesy of IFC? With Clint Eastwood, Charlie Kaufman and Steven Soderbergh in the running for the prestigious Palme d'Or prize, and world premieres from Stephen Spielberg and Woody Allen, there should be plenty to talk about.

So tune in to YouTube throughout the festival and get those cameras rolling. Whether you were there or not, we want to hear your perspectives on Cannes -- the films, the fashions, the French fabulousness!

Happy Festival-going,
Sara P.
YouTube Film

Trendspotting Tuesday: Helmet Cam POV

Over the past couple years, more internally-powered, easily-mounted micro video cameras have come on the market for consumers, and the result has been a ton more first-person point-of-view sports footage available on the net. Sports enthusiasts now use these lipstick-sized helmet-, wrist- or foot- mounted cameras to capture the essence of the sports they love. Besides being fun to watch and re-live, these videos can also be extremely useful to athletes, riders and drivers for improving technique, selecting a better line on a track or off-road course, or adjusting speed for the sake of maximum efficiency or safety.

From a viewer's perspective, these videos put you right in the action. You can get a sense of the speed at which the athlete is moving, the angle of the slope, the sheer force of wind, and the total concentration required to pull off a tricky maneuver:



We hope these inspire you to get out on the course, run, slope or track, shoot some videos and share 'em with everyone you know. (And, of course, please be safe while you're at it…)

In the meantime, let us know if there's a trend we should be covering. (You already told us about a few, which we're currently exploring.) Leave a comment below or leave a note on the Trendspotting Tuesday channel, where you can also find previous trendspotting playlists.

Cheers,
The YouTube Team