It's been a week since we announced that a new version of channels is coming, and we wanted to give you an update on our progress. Well over a million of you have now opted in to the beta, and many of your channels are looking really good -- we were just admiring shotscience's and muzik4machines's designs.

Your feedback over the past two months has shaped -- and will continue to shape -- the evolution of this whole site and particularly your channels. We've been hard at work fixing some of the bugs you've pointed out, as well as taking care of some of your top requests. For instance, we're happy to announce that we'll be supporting transparency so that your backgrounds can indeed shine through -- this will be done prior to switching over to the new channel design. And some of the bugs we've taken care of now include reducing the occasional sluggishness that some users have reported, as well as fixing the scrollbar that broke for some when ads appear. (For a longer list of fixes and additions, go to our beta blog.) We'll share more of our progress later, too.

As always, you can learn more about how to switch to the new version of channels by visiting our Help Center, where we also have some tips on setting things up. We also encourage you to continue pointing out bugs in the beta and letting us know how we can improve. Best places to comment are below in this blog, in our beta blog or in the comment portion of our announcement video.

Best,
Brian Glick
Product Manager
The YouTube Team

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Many of you have been asking for an increase in the size limit of your uploads. We're happy to announce that the size of standard uploads has doubled from 1GB to 2GB. The increase means you can upload longer videos at a higher resolution as well as large HD files directly from your camera.

In addition, the team's implemented some new features to make it easier for you to show these videos off to the world. The changes allow you to share links directly to the HD version of your video, as well as embed the HD version on your blog or website. Here's how:

* To share a link to the HD version of your video, simply append &hd=1 to the end of the URL. This means the video will start playing in HD as soon as someone follows the link. Cool, huh?

* To embed the HD version of a video on a website or blog, click the 'customize' button to the right of the embed box on the video page. Some options will appear; simply check 'play in HD'. The embed code that's generated will cause the video to start playing in HD as soon as a viewer clicks play. We recommend embedding HD videos at the largest size (853x505) for maximum enjoyment.

If you haven't yet started uploading your content in HD, see our Help Center article for more information on how to do so. You can also browse some popular HD videos here.

Enjoy!
Ryan Junee
Product Manager
The YouTube Team

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You may remember the inaugural edition of Adopt a Feature, for which you made videos about AudioSwap, Country Pulldown, Insight, Playlists, Quick Capture, and Subscriptions. These videos generated 818,698 views (they're all collected here) and a bunch of them even got featured on our homepage. At the end of the two month run, thecomputernerd01 was crowned the Adopt a Feature king, thanks to his zany explanation of how the country/language pulldown menus work -- a video that accounted for a third of all of the program's views. He also got this awesome T-shirt.

Josh took a break from ribbing his grandpa to tell you why you should get involved with Adopt a Feature v2.



In case you're still buzzing from Josh's high-energy onslaught, here's what you need to know: Make a video about any or all of the features on the list below (click on the name of the feature to get more information about it). Include the name of the feature and "adoptafeature" in the tags -- this is important; it's how we'll locate your video for inclusion on our channel and possibly on the YouTube homepage.

* Annotations
* Customize Your Homepage
* Tags
* Quicklist
* Mobile Upload

(By the way, for folks waiting to hear more about the roll-out of new channels, we should have an update in a few days.)

Best,
Hunter Walk
Director, Product Management
The YouTube Team

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For a few months, we've been testing a feature for partners that lets them add "Call-to-Action" overlays to their YouTube videos to help them drive traffic to other websites. Many have used the feature in creative ways, such as collecting signatures or driving song downloads.

Today we are making Call-to-Action overlays more broadly available by launching the feature as an option for anyone who uses Promoted Videos. Just go to ads.youtube.com and you'll quickly and easily be able to both increase views of your content and drive traffic to an off-YouTube website at the same time.

For more information, check out our recently launched YouTube Biz Blog.

Thanks,
Thai Tran
Product Manager
The YouTube Team

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Ever captured a natural disaster or a crime on your cell-phone camera? Filmed a political rally or protest, and then interviewed the participants afterward? Produced a story about a local issue in your community? If you've done any of these things or aspire to, then you're part of the enormous community of citizen reporters on YouTube -- and today, we're launching a new resource to help you learn more about how to report the news.

It's called The YouTube Reporters' Center, and it features some of the nation's top journalists sharing instructional videos with tips and advice for better reporting. Learn how to prepare for an interview from CBS News' Katie Couric; how to be an investigative reporter from the legendary Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, or why it's important for citizens to participate in the news-gathering process from Arianna Huffington. And definitely don't miss out on New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's video on how to report from a crisis area without getting shot.



In addition, you can also learn practical and ethical tips, like how to fact check your stories, avoid breaking the law while reporting, and adhere to journalistic principles. Check out the Reporters' Center to see all the videos or sample a few in this playlist:



This isn't meant to be a one-way conversation. For the first time on YouTube, these reporters are making themselves available to engage with you directly. If you have experiences on reporting the news yourself and would like to share your tips, you can submit them for inclusion in the center. Upload your "how-to" videos to youtube.com/reporterscenter and share your knowledge with citizen journalists around the world.

If you're a news organization that would to become a YouTube news partner, please read more information on how to apply here.

Yours,
Olivia Ma
YouTube News & Politics

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President Obama is taking your questions this Wednesday in a special online health care town hall event. With health care at the top of the President's agenda, he is opening up the White House to questions via YouTube. Create a 20- or 30-second video question and submit it as a reply video to the video below (go here to get started). He'll answer some of the most popular questions during the event, which we'll stream live from the White House YouTube channel.



This is your chance to speak directly to the President, so don't miss this opportunity to upload your video now. Make sure the sound and video quality are as clear as they can be, and if you'd like, leave your name and your hometown in the video description.

Yours,
Steve Grove
YouTube News & Politics

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In the last six months, we've seen uploads from mobile phones to YouTube jump 1700%; just since last Friday, when the iPhone 3GS came out, uploads increased by 400% a day.

This growth represents three things coming together: new video-enabled phones on the market, improvements to the upload flow when you post a video to YouTube from your phone, and a new feature on YouTube that allows your videos to be quickly and effortlessly shared through your social networks. It takes just a minute to connect your YouTube account to your Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader accounts. Complete a simple, one-time connection on our upload page to allow all your friends and followers to get a real-time stream of your uploads to YouTube, which can be essential in this age of citizen reporting and ubiquitous sharing.

Already, you're teaching each other how to use this technology, you're doing product reviews and comparisons, and you're making test videos -- lots and lots of them. In fact, look at them closely -- where they're shot, who's in them -- and they stitch together a great patchwork of, well, life, from the little moments to the big ones:

* At grandpa's house
* In a Cambodian liquor store
* Observing carnivorous plants
* Drumming
* Swinging kids
* On a roadtrip
* At a wedding
* Capturing a wistful, rainy day
* "Live" from the Apple Store
* Squashing a can
* Pulling a giant stump out of the backyard
* Poolside, complete with a drop in the water (it keeps working)

Can you make your test video go viral through your social networks? If you can, we're willing to feature that video on our homepage. Upload a video from your phone, tag it with "mobiletest," share it with your social network, and Tweet us the link (so be sure to put "@youtube" and "mobiletest" in your message). We'll give you one week to spread your test video far and wide, after which we'll take a look at the most popular clips and feature a few on our homepage in a special "mobile upload" edition of our Spotlight Video.

So get goin', and if you want more info about playing and creating YouTube videos on your phone, go to http://www.youtube.com/mobile. There's a video on that page (or click here) that offers a step-by-step guide to uploading videos from your phone.

Best,
Dwipal Desai, Product Manager, and Mia Quagliarello, Community Manager
The YouTube Team

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Summer is in full swing and that means summer movie season is right around the corner. Get a sneak peek at upcoming blockbusters by checking out our new Trailers page in the Movies section of our site. We have previews for some of the season's most anticipated films, like "Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince" and the new Twilight movie, "New Moon." We're adding new trailers frequently, so check back often.

Cheers,
Curtis Lee
Product Marketing Manager
The YouTube Team

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UPDATE (6/27): We've heard all your comments about the channel re-design these last few days. One reminder we'd like to throw out there is that we're still in development, and now is your chance to give feedback on things you'd like to see in the new version of channels. We're listening. You've already helped -- and will continue to help -- us shape and grow this product by commenting in this blog, in our beta blog and on our announcement video.

+++

A few months ago, we launched our YouTube channels redesign in beta (first via a secret opt-in URL that many of you discovered, then as a visible opt-in link). Hundreds of thousands of you are now using the new version, have contributed a lot of useful feedback, and have helped make the new channels beta stronger and faster. Here are a few cool examples of great new channel designs: IceflowStudios, Vlogbrothers, nalts, LisaNova, ThadewGrum, The White House, and University of Phoenix.

We're now ready to start rolling out the new channels design to more users. Starting today, all new accounts will automatically have the new version of channels. Here's a video introducing the new channels, the benefits, and how you can get started:



Finally, we'd like to give you advance warning that all existing channels will change over to the new design on July 15. (Partners, watch for separate communications about your changeover date.)

Want to try it out or start getting ready before July 15? Just click on the "Upgrade my channel!" link on your Channel Design page (and note that you can switch back anytime until July 15). Keep in mind that new channels are still in beta for now, so there may be a few elements missing here and there. If you have questions, please visit our Help Center. Also, we've been sharing our progress and gathering feedback from users on a dedicated channels beta blog. Join in if you're interested in learning more and want more frequent updates on our beta progress -- and let us know if there's anything that you'd like to see added to the new version of channels, too.

Thanks!
Brian Glick
Product Manager
The YouTube Team

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Last week, we highlighted several videos uploaded straight off the streets of Iran, as protests raged and the Iranian police force, the Basij, cracked down. And if the graphic footage that was uploaded to YouTube by Iranian citizens over the weekend is any indication, it appears the tension between the protesters and the government is not abating.

On Saturday, mass fighting broke out in Tehran -- hundreds were reported injured, and at least several dozen were killed. This video depicts the atmosphere in the nation's capital as similar to that of a war zone. One of the victims of the violence was a young woman named Neda, who was shot and died moments later on camera despite the efforts of protesters at the scene (viewer discretion is advised as this video contains extremely graphic and disturbing images):



Neda's story caught the attention of the international community, and she has quickly become recognized in the media as the "face of the movement," with numerous tribute videos springing up on YouTube.

We're seeing more eyewitness accounts of violence in Tehran uploaded today, including this footage of a police car engulfed in flames and this video, which shows an Iranian student who has been shot during a protest (allegedly by members of the Basij). In light of the particularly graphic nature of the content that is being uploaded, it's important to note that although these pieces won't be taken down, they may be age-restricted to users who are over 18.

We'll be standing by, as Iranian citizens continue to post videos to YouTube in an effort to share their stories with the world. You can stay on top of the latest news videos from Iran on youtube.com/citizentube.

Yours,
Ramya Raghavan
YouTube News & Politics

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