YouTube just flexed its social networking muscles by adding restricted college-specific video-sharing areas. The site has long had many of the features of a social network (personal profiles, friending, et cetera), but so much of its utility is in showing videos to everybody and anybody. Now, with the release of YouTube Colleges, the company has introduced what seem to be its first exclusive areas (correct us if we’re wrong), requiring a .edu address from a particular college to access a pool of that school’s videos.
This is definitely infringing on Facebook’s turf, but Facebook has yet to add video-sharing to its college-centered social network. Colleges, with their ample supplies of bandwidth and procrastinators, are the best source of early adopters you can get, and college student presence on YouTube is certainly huge. Though the company is shy about giving out demographic information, Lee Gomes reported yesterday 70 percent of YouTube’s registered users are American, with roughly half of them under 20 years old. Via Download Squad.
8 comments so far
10:14 AM PT
You are right! An .edu address of a college is required to join the corresponding group.
So, this step does seem a replica of Facebook’s registration process and I guess that’s where the similarities end. YouTube is building “video” communities around specific domains (colleges, general public etc..) which to me is quite a natural progression for YT.
“To join your college, you need to confirm an email address with that college’s domain name, such as jdodson@sjsu.edu. If you are currently signed up with a different email account, enter your college email here and your YouTube account will be updated with that address. When you receive the confirmation email, click on the link provided to confirm your account. “
11:12 AM PT
I think it’s a good idea to have a channel for college videos.
But why everyone keep recycling this news? TechCrunch, Digg, Gigaom all just recycling news from one source from another. Do you think this model would survive?
11:50 AM PT
Ron - Where else are they going to get their news from? You think people who report on these Internet/tech sites are qualified reporters? Please. Why leave your desk when you can get your news from another content subscription source? Gigaom, just has a prettier UI.
12:32 PM PT
Slick - Yeah, really getting tired. Just like doing the channel surfing thing, the same old stuffs everywhere.
And when most Web 2.0 sites hit the can, probably so do these “qualified reporters” as you described.
1:16 PM PT
The “qualified reporters” can’t manufacture news so the best they can do is paraphrase it , but i forsee in the new future when they will soon start trading acucsatinos on who was the source of a particular news item.
1:20 PM PT
It baffles me why any company would want to limit their user base.
However, I think what baffles me the most is what’s the point? I don’t understand why a profitless company is trying to step on another profitless company?
2:37 PM PT
Kendall - you got a good point. There are only so many “sources” these “reporters” could tab into. Be interested to see how this evolves. Could be interesting.
6:15 PM PT
Colleges on YouTube…
I just added my college. Says Liz: This is definitely infringing on Facebook’s turf, but Facebook has yet to add video-sharing to its college-centered social network. Colleges, with their ample supplies of bandwidth and procrastinators, are the b…
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