5. Managing and Sharing Your Favorite Videos
Watching videos on YouTube is great. But with so many videos to watch, how do you keep track of your favorites? And how do you share your favorite videos with others?
Actually, there are several ways to save your favorite videos for easier rewatching. And YouTube also makes it easy to share those videos with friends and family, via email. Read on to learn more.
Rewatching Recent Videos
Want to rewatch a video you've recently watched—but don't want to go through the whole browsing/searching process again? Then click the History link at the top of any YouTube page. This displays your Viewing History page, shown in Figure 5.1. Your most recently watched videos are listed here; just click a video to watch it again!
Figure 5.1. Reviewing your YouTube viewing history.
To clear your viewing history (in case you don't want friends or family seeing what you've watched), simply click the Clear Viewing History link at the bottom of the Viewing History page.
Flagging Videos for Future Viewing
Here's a familiar situation. You're browsing the YouTube site and find a video that looks interesting, but you don't have the time or inclination to watch it right then. Fortunately, YouTube lets you save this video in a temporary QuickList, without having to open the video page and start playback. Then, when you're ready, you can go back to this video and watch it at your leisure.
To add a video to your QuickList, all you have to do is click the little "+" button at the lower-left corner of any video thumbnail, as shown in Figure 5.2. Videos stay in your QuickList as long as your web browser is open; as soon as you close your browser window, the QuickList is flushed.
Figure 5.2. Click the "+" button to add this video to your QuickList for future viewing.
To see all the videos stored in your QuickList, click the QuickList link at the top of any YouTube page. This displays the QuickList page, shown in Figure 5.3. Click any video to view it, or click the Remove button to remove it from your QuickList (in case you decide you don't really want to watch it). You can even play all the videos in your QuickList one after another, by clicking the Play All Videos link.
Figure 5.3. Viewing videos in your QuickList.
YouTube also places a QuickList panel on all the video pages you open. This panel, shown in Figure 5.4, appears under the video player and above the normal options box. You can play videos directly from this panel, or click the Manage link to go to the main QuickList page. (If you would rather not see the QuickList panel, click the Hide button at the top right.)
Figure 5.4. The QuickList panel on a YouTube video page.
By default, videos remain in your QuickList after you've watched them. To remove videos after you've watched them, check the Remove Videos from QuickList as I Watch Them option on the QuickList page.
Saving Your Favorite Videos
When you view a video you really like, you don't want to forget about it. That's why YouTube lets you save your favorite videos in a Favorites list.
A YouTube Favorites list is kind of like the Favorites or Bookmarks list you have in your web browser. All your favorite videos are saved in a list that you can easily access for future viewing.
To save a video to your Favorites list, click the Save to Favorites link in the box beneath the YouTube video player. This displays the Add Video to Your Favorites pane, shown in Figure 5.5. Make sure the Favorites box is checked; then click OK. (You don't have to bother with the Add Video to a Playlist list—which we'll discuss next.)
Figure 5.5. Adding a video to your Favorites list.
When you want to revisit your favorite videos, go to the YouTube home page and click the Favorites link in the My box. As you can see in Figure 5.6, this displays a list of all your favorite videos. Click any video to watch it again.
Figure 5.6. The videos in your Favorites list.
To delete a video from your Favorites list, simply check the box next to the video and then click the Remove Videos button.
Creating a Video Playlist
One of the challenges with YouTube is the sheer volume of videos available. Saving videos to your Favorites list is one way to manage this volume, but even your Favorites list can get too large to be easily manageable.
For that reason, you may want to create playlists separate from (or in addition to) your Favorites list. A YouTube playlist is simply a collection of videos, organized by whatever criteria you deem appropriate. You can play the videos in a playlist individually or as a group, just as you would the songs in a music playlist on your iPod. And, of course, YouTube lets you create multiple playlists, so you can have as many as you want.
Creating a Playlist from a Video Page
There are several ways to create a playlist and add a video to that playlist. The most common method is to open the page for that video and click the Save to Favorites link. When the Add Video to Your Favorites pane appears, pull down the Add Video to a Playlist list, select the playlist you want, and then click OK.
You don't have to add a video to your Favorites list to add it to a playlist; you can uncheck the Favorites option if you want.
If you haven't yet created a playlist, select [New Playlist] from the list and then click OK. This displays the Create/Edit Playlist page, shown in Figure 5.7. From here you have to enter some specific information about the new playlist:
Figure 5.7. Creating a new playlist.
- Playlist Name—The name you assign to the playlist
- Video Log—Check this option if you want this playlist used as the Video Log in your channel profile page
- Description—A short description of the contents of this playlist
- Tags—Optional keywords you can use to describe this playlist
- Privacy—Select whether this playlist should be public (for all YouTube users to view) or private (only you can view it)
Learn more about channels and Video Logs in Chapter 12, "Joining the YouTube Community—And Creating Your Own Channel."
After you've filled in all the blanks, click the Save Playlist Info button. Your playlist is now saved.
Creating a Playlist from Your Favorites List
Another way to add a video to a playlist is from your Favorites list. Go to your Favorites page, check the video(s) you want to add, and then pull down the Copy Videos To list and select a playlist.
To create a new playlist from the Favorites page, click the Create Playlist button on the left side of the page. This opens the Create/Edit Playlist page; proceed as normal from there.
Alternatively, you can select those videos you want in the new playlist, then pull down the Copy Videos To list and select New Playlist. Again, this opens the Create/Edit Playlist page, this time with the selected videos already added.
Viewing Your Playlists
To view the playlists you've created, go to the YouTube home page and click the Playlists link in the My box. This displays the Playlists page, shown in Figure 5.8. All your playlists are listed at the left of the page; click a playlist name to see the videos in that playlist.
Figure 5.8. Viewing your YouTube playlists.
To play an individual video in a playlist, click that video. To play all the videos in a playlist one after another, click the Play All Videos link—or the big Play button next to the playlist name.
Editing Your Playlists
You can also use the Playlists page to edit your playlists:
- To change the order of playback in a playlist, enter new numbers to the right of each video and then click the Rearrange button. The "1" video plays first, the "2" video plays second, and so on.
- To remove a video from a playlist, check the small box to the left of the video and then click the Remove Videos button.
- To set this playlist as the Video Log on your channel profile page, click the Set as VLog button.
- To edit the title or description of a playlist, click the Edit button. This displays the Create/Edit Playlist page; proceed as normal from there.
- To delete an entire playlist, click the Delete Playlist button.
Sharing Your Favorite Videos
If you like a video, chances are you have a friend or two who might like that video, too. That's why YouTube lets you share the videos you like—in fact, this type of video sharing is a defining feature of the whole YouTube experience.
You share YouTube videos via email. That is, YouTube lets you send an email that contains a link to the video you like to your friends. When a friend receives this email, he or she can click the link in the message to go to YouTube and play the video.
Sharing a Video via Email
When you want to share a video, go to that video's page and click the Share Video link in the box underneath the YouTube video player. This opens a new window, like the one shown in Figure 5.9. Enter the email addresses of the intended recipients (separate multiple addresses with commas), your name, and a personal message, if you want. Click the Send button, and in a few minutes your recipients will receive the message.
Figure 5.9. Sharing a video via email.
You can also share videos from your Favorites list. Just click the Share Video button beneath the video you want to share; then proceed as normal.
The message your friends receive looks like the one shown in Figure 5.10. To view the video, all they have to do is click the video thumbnail. This opens a web browser, accesses the YouTube site, and starts playing the video you shared.
Figure 5.10. An email invitation to view a YouTube video.
Sharing a Playlist via Email
YouTube also lets you share complete playlists with your friends. Just go to your Playlists page, select a playlist, and then click the Share This Playlist link. You now see the familiar email window; fill in the necessary information, click the Send button, and the playlist invitation email is sent.
You cannot share private playlists—only public ones.
Managing Your Friends and Contacts
Every time you share a video with a friend, that friend's email address gets added to your YouTube Friends & Contacts list. Then, the next time you send a sharing email, all the email addresses of your friends are displayed on the right side of the email window. Check those addresses to which you want to send the invitation; it's much easier than entering each address manually.
To manage the names in your YouTube Friends & Contacts list, click the My Account link at the top of any YouTube page. When the My Account page appears, scroll down to the Friends & Contacts section; then click the All Contacts link.
This displays the Friends & Contacts page, shown in Figure 5.11. All your contacts are displayed here. To remove a friend from this list, check the box next to that person's name and then click the Remove Contacts button. To add a person to a specific Friends or Family list, check that person's name and then select that list from the Copy Contacts To list. (You can create new lists by clicking the Create New List button.)
Figure 5.11. Managing your YouTube Friends & Contacts.
To see whether a friend is already a YouTube member, enter that person's name in the See If Your Friends Are Already on YouTube box; then click the Search button. You can also invite your friends to become YouTube members; just click the Invite Your Friends to Join YouTube! link and follow the onscreen instructions.