YouTube Stars!

One of the best things about YouTube is that people who watch a video can respond to it in the comments and by a video response. This creates a conversation about the subject matter of the video. Often, the comment section adds so much to the understanding of an issue because a YouTuber can see different sides of the issue - different points of view. As long as people express their thoughts in a respectful way, this is a good thing! When commenters just spew hate in order to get a rise out of the video poster and the comment readers, it is best to ignore the commenter since they often leave these kinds of comments just to get attention - be it positive or negative. The human drive for social interaction is very strong, and YouTube can fulfill that need to some degree. Let's continue to do what we can to make YouTube a constructive community where it is possible to have an overall positive experience.

Here are four videos about interaction on YouTube. The first is a short bio from one of our favorite singers, in which she also discusses commenters. Next, we'll hear from one of the "wise men" of YouTube on the topic of what to do when certain people threaten others online. Then, we'll see a response video on the same topic, from a member of the former eNation. Finally, we'll have a look at a controversial video and the lively and heartfelt discussion that ensued in it's comments.

First, some news! I recently heard from Marina of the HotForWords channel about the importance of the "Total Video Views" stat. Apparently, people who want to get an idea of how well you're doing on YouTube are interested in knowing how many views all of your videos together have received. It seems that YouTube does not publish this piece of information anywhere. Marina asked if I could find that number for her. I created a widget that anyone can put on any of their websites (MySpace, Facebook, their own personal sites) which simply provides a YouTuber's Total Video Views number in text form. HotForWords is already using the widget on her website. The widget can be styled just like any other text - change the font, font size, colors - to whatever suits you. We created a website to support this new widget enterprise: www.MyYTStats.com. Please go there and see what we have so far. We have several versions of this Total Video Views text widget - one scrolls and one fades in and out. They are all available for YOUR use on YOUR websites, for FREE!



Our good friend Jennifer Newberry just launched a new channel dedicated to vlogs only. Jennifer is a 26 year old blond Swedish-American singer who we have posted about in the past. We even interviewed Jennifer back in December! This is the first video on Jennifer's new channel. Listen to her thoughts on "mean comments" and learn a little about who Jennifer really is. Then read the interview!



Tom, tlg847, pulls no punches as he discusses how threats to people and their families are handled in "life" and on YouTube and the Internet. He uses "bad language" to make his point. Is "it's only the Internet" a valid excuse for threatening and/or nasty behavior? Join in on the discussion by commenting or making a video response! Several interesting websites were mentioned in the comments. One is an ACLU page that talks about Civil Liberties in the "Summary of Argument" section. Another briefly describes the Avogato Trust Metric. Tom has been working with Renetto, PeriUrban and KenRG on a new website which Tom mentioned in this video and in the last video here. The final frames in that video tell us what the new website's name might be. This picture is from that video.



VitalFinds, an intelligent and prolific videoblogger who contributed to the eNation discussions and helped test the 2BuxMall, made a video response to Tom's video. She adds her ideas about what should and should not be acceptable in a well run video community website.



Last week, popular vlogger and artist Paperlilies made this video to announce her latest art competition. Bryony has done quite a lot to foster the art community on YouTube. She has painted several pictures on camera and auctioned them off on eBay. Tom, tlg847, bought one of the first ones. Bryony has sponsored other art competitions which gathered a good amount of participation and interest from the YouTube community. This time, her well known wit, sometimes veering into snarky territory, was deemed to be offensive to several members of the YouTube community. There have been almost 800 comments on the video so far, many on the topic of religion. Have a look and if you have an opinion, leave your comment!

Labels: Jennifer, JenniferNew21, kenrg, MyYTStats, Newberry, Paperlilies, PeriUrban, religion, renetto, statistics, tlg847, vitalfinds

posted by KennyCrane at 3/23/2008 10:46:00 PM 2 Comments

It's been a while since we've interviewed a YouTube member. But we're going to do interviews regularly now, starting with this discussion with the beautiful and talented singer - Jennifer Newberry. Jennifer's YouTube channel is jennifernew21. She is a young woman with blond hair and stunning blue eyes who was born in Alabama, grew up in her mother's home country of Sweden, spent some time in New York City, and now lives in Seattle Washington. Jennfer currently has 64 videos on her channel, most are music videos of R&B cover songs. There are also videos of Jen's original songs. She has written, co-written and produced over 35 songs so far.

Now, here is our interview with Jennifer Newberry.

Hi, Jennifer! Thanks for agreeing to this interview. You have a great voice! How long have you been singing?
As long as I can remember, my mother was a singer so I was always around music. I performed the first time when I was 5 years old, it was at one of my mother's performances.

Who is your favorite singer?
My favorite singer is the female Swedish singer "Robyn" she has a deep meaning to her music and I love the way she sings. Christina Aguilera is also one of my favorite artists.

How did you first hear about YouTube?
Through a friend of a friend. He thought that it could help my career to become a successful singer/performer.

What made you decide to put videos up on YouTube?
When I knew that it was a way to be creative and to show people and let them know who I am. I'm not banking on YT to make my career but I am at least trying to channel my music.

What's the best thing you've put up, do you think?
hmm, I'm not sure. I'm very critical of my own stuff but if I have to choose I really love the video "New York New York I'm gonna have To Say Goodbye" because there are some fun footage of my last week living in NY and it's special to have as a visual memory.

You have become a very popular singer on YouTube. Could you please comment on why you think you are so popular and how you feel about it?
I'm not sure to be honest, I think that the songs have a lot to do with it. If it's a song that a lot of people like, it gets more hits and if they happened to like what they hear, they subscribe. :)

How have your friends and family reacted to your videos?
My family and friends are really supportive of my videos. In the beginning, I had a few videos where I used some bad language but I cleaned up and try to set a good example now.

How do you like working with other videomakers, like Wouter Hamel and Jeff Williams, and do you plan to do more collaborations in the future?
The Wounter Hamel was really exciting. I have gotten messages from people that have seen the video on MTV all the way over in the Netherlands. How cool is that! It's allot of fun to collaborate with people and I will diffidently do it in the future I have some projects going on right now actually so we'll see how that turns out.

Are you on any other websites besides YouTube?
Yes I am. First of all, I have my own official website jennifernewberry.com then of course myspace.com/jennifernewberry. I also have a page where I sell my music on cdbaby.com/jenmusic/cd and a page where I promote my music sellaband.com/jennifernewberry

What else do you like to do in your free time, besides making videos?
Like to be lazy and watch TV, listen to music, walk my dog.. you know normal stuff *smile*

If you could do it all over again, is there anything about your experiences with YouTube that you would change?
Not really, everything has a learning process and it's necessary to go through them to be able to better your self.

What are your plans for the future?
I would like to record another album so I'm working on some new music. :)

Labels: blonde, blue, eyes, Jennifer, JenniferNew21, Newberry, singer

posted by KennyCrane at 12/05/2007 03:32:00 PM 1 Comments