(U-WIRE) LAWRENCE, Kan. – Move over Facebook, step aside MySpace: A new online community called YouTube is increasing in popularity. The Web site has joined the ranks of other online video-sharing sites such as Google video and Yahoo video.

The site’s slogan “Broadcast Yourself” beckons people to create and post homemade videos. Within seconds of signing on viewers can watch anything from music video to clips of a user’s cat to segments from their favorite television shows.

University of Kansas students are joining the millions worldwide who are visiting the site to see funny, embarrassing or interesting videos. In a forwarded press release, Christine Schirmer, YouTube senior public relations manager, said the site is changing the scope of the media by putting creative control of the content in the hands of the users, whether they are professionals or amateurs. This interactive video aspect has set YouTube apart from other social community sites like MySpace or Facebook and has enticed even the University to take advantage of site usage.

Daniel Toy, a 2004 graduate from Wichita Kan., said the varied and user-friendly site caught his attention after her learned about it from friends.

“The videos are so random,” Toy said. “You can find videos of just about anything you search for, and you actually get to see how odd some people can be and how far they will go for attention. If I need a good laugh I can usually find it on YouTube.”

The Web site, which began in December 2005 currently boasts six million visitors per day on a library of 100 million free videos. In May, Hitwise, an Internet monitoring company, declared YouTube the most trafficked video site on the Web, beating out competitors Yahoo video and Google video.

YouTube is similar to Yahoo video as both sites allow users to post their own videos and keep track of ratings and views for each video. Anyone who wants to post videos on the sites has to sign up for a page and then upload videos from their cameras or computers. Users can also create playlists from videos posted by others to feature on their pages. Users on both sites can create user names and custom pages to present their original videos and join groups centered on their favorite videos. But other video-sharing sites such as Google video are not as centered around a community environment. Google video users can also post free videos, but the featured videos found on Google video come from Web sites instead of user posts. Many videos on Google video are also only previews and require viewers to purchase or rent the content.

Videos posted on YouTube must be shorter than ten minutes unless they are verified as original content under a YouTube directors account. Users simply have to apply online to post their own original videos longer than 10 minutes. The free service identifies each registered user with a red director’s logo on their video pages and profiles.

KU students are among the visitors taking advantage of YouTube’s unique features. More than a dozen videos are currently posted on the site tagged with the University of Kansas. Almost 170 are linked under Lawrence, Kan., ranging from clips of the March 12 storm to concerts at the Bottleneck.

One of these hundreds of videos is Richmond, Va., sophomore Jessica King’s video montage tribute to the KU mens basketball team’s Big 12 championship run. King strung together images of the basketball team she found on various Web sites. After realizing the growing popularity of YouTube, she decided to post it for the public through the site.

“I was just making the video for myself and I noticed that other people were posting theirs so I posted mine,” King said.

One of the most popular KU related videos on the Web site is another video tribute to Kansas mens basketball. The three-and-a-half-minute video which showcases highlights from last year’s season synchronized to the Black Eyed Peas “Pump It” has been viewed over 7,000 times.

While many use the site for entertainment, others use it for more educational purposes, like Toy. In July Toy posted a 25-second video he made for a poetry class his senior year at KU featuring toy cars tooling around Wescoe beach. He posted his video to see if anyone would watch it.

“It’s really a social network that allows video sharing,” Toy said. “Any site that allows interaction between users across the nation or world is calling all students. Just about everyone I know has heard of it.”

Toy said the site is more appealing to him than other online social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook because of its multimedia video element. YouTube actually allows users to embed selected videos in MySpace or other online diary Web sites.

According to the site, YouTube began as a “personal video sharing service” to allow people to capture everything from special events to mundane daily activities. In a forwarded press release. YouTube maintains that it is a free stage for both entertainment and personal promotion.

The University of Kansas is also taking advantage of the free self-promotion. The Office of University Relations posted two promo videos for KU in July. Entitled “The University of Kansas: A Great Place To Be,” the videos show different elements of life at KU to the sound of the Rock Chalk chant.

Todd Cohen, interim director of the Office of University Relations, said the University decided to post the video to the Web to reach a greater audience with the promos than they would get if the spots ran strictly on television.

“You go where the people are,” Cohen said. “This is one of the most popular social Web sites and we keep our ear to the ground for popularity. If videos are already being viewed by so many on the site, why not let them view one about KU? This is kind of an experiment for us.”

Nearly 3,000 people have viewed the promo videos on the site. Cohen said he expects that number to go up once school starts again and is working to post another video in the fall.

Cohen said the biggest appeal to KU using the site to advertise was the fact that it is free. The site offers all of its services for free, relying on funding from Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm. Cohen said he wouldn’t be surprised if the popularity of the site would push it to change the way it provides its services.

“Who knows where YouTube will go,” Cohen said. “Because of its popularity they might start charging, but we’ll try it for as long as we can.”

Yet for as many promotional aspects exist for the site just as many exploitative ones exist. A video of President Bush giving a back rub to German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the G8 conference in July was posted on YouTube to document the embarrassing actions of political leaders. Another video on YouTube entitled “Bushisms” focuses in on Bush’s public speaking blunders. Yet another chronicles celebrities Brandon Davis and Paris Hilton after a night out as Davis spouted off insults towards actress Lindsay Lohan.

Political power players and celebrities aren’t the only ones subject to scrutiny. Since the site is open to anyone, it has also allowed users to post funny and potentially embarrassing videos of others. King said that the embarrassment factor for regular people like herself on YouTube is one reason why she visits it so much. Toy agreed that the sometimes shocking and embarrassing content that is posted on the site keeps him coming back to check it out.

The freedom to post on the Web site has caused other snags. In February, NBC asked YouTube to take down a video clip entitled “Lazy Sunday” from a “Saturday Night Live” episode. According to The Washington Post, the clip circulated around the Internet after five million users downloaded it from YouTube, until lawyers from NBC cited “copyright concerns” with the video.

Though short clips from shows like “The Office” and “Project Runway” can be viewed on YouTube, the site implemented the director’s program in March to regulate copyrighted content.

In spite of copyright concerns and embarrassment issues, the success of the site doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Both King and Toy said they noticed that more and more of their friends are catching on and signing into the Web site. King said she even envisions the site becoming more relevant to her life.

“I haven’t thought about incorporating it into anything related to my school work, but that’s a good idea,” King said. “Maybe in the future sometime.”

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