YouTube was founded in February 2005–that makes it 6 years old this month. (I can’t even remember what the world was like before YouTube.)
YouTube is the world’s most popular online video community, where people watch 2 billion videos a day and upload hundreds of thousands of videos daily. In fact, every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. But did you know that YouTube is also the 2nd largest search engine? Yup, it has more searches than Yahoo! or Bing.
Yet, to me, the most amazing thing about YouTube is that it provides a platform where creative individuals can share what they do, just as easily as large organizations. It allows you to tell your story and share it with others. And it doesn’t take a lot of money to create an engaging video. Just set up a webcam or inexpensive digital camera and tell your honest story. Then upload it to YouTube and people around the world can watch it online and on mobile devices. They can embed your video in their blogs, websites, or on their Facebook wall. They can send links to the video by e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter.
You can be a missionary to the world. Maybe someone living in a gated apartment building in another country will watch your video and be touched by your testimony and experiences. To see how easy it is, check out Reo Garn’s Discussion on Mormon Theology. He just set up a camera and explained his beliefs in his own words. If you’re a little more creative, you could create videos like Seth Adam Smith has done on various topics. Read other ideas about sharing the gospel online.
We can all participate in the YouTube community by watching, sharing, rating, and commenting on videos. Then share good videos with others. The more popular the video, the better the chance that it will be seen by more people. There are many great YouTube channels with uplifting LDS videos, such as the More Good Foundation and Mormon Information. If you find a great channel on YouTube, you can subscribe to it to be notified when they create a new video.
Also be sure to see the LDS Church channels on YouTube.
YouTube was indeed founded in February 2005… which would make it 6 years old… 6… Just sayin’..
I just wish YouTube had better content controls or filtering. As it is, there’s an incredible amount of filth on there, from profanity to sexuality to borderline pornography.
As it is, I have to block YouTube at my house to keep my three kids (14, 11, 7) from being exposed to its big dark site. Sad, because it’s so incredibly useful.
Kenn, I was a bit off on my math, wasn’t I. I’ve corrected the text above to correctly say “6 years.”
Mike, you’re right that YouTube also has lots of bad stuff. Many of the videos from the Mormon Messages channel on YouTube are also available on the Church site at MormonMessages.org.