I’m a star on YouTube! At least that what our children think. The site originally was developed as  a way for friends to share videos they had taken and that, at the time, couldn’t easily be shared any other way. YouTube literally receives billions of “hits” every day. As of May 2011, the site was being viewed more than three billion times each day, according to YouTube’s company blog. This leads many people, including possibly our own children, to upload videos in an effort to have them go “viral” and be seen by millions.

This desire to be a “viral” star causes many people, particularly teenagers, to take risks they would not normally take, just for the chance to upload a video that may be seen by millions of strangers. Teenagers and young adults have taken to doing dangerous stunts, many times resulting in injury, as well as to committing crimes on-camera in that effort to become famous.  Some have even gone so far as to “call out” those who they think have wronged them and used videos to post threats to others.

While YouTube does allow videos that contain content not acceptable for those of younger ages, the site has also taken steps to try to provide security for parents. These videos are “flagged” as adult-appropriate and made available only to those who register as being aged 18 years or older. The ability to report inappropriate content is also available, with each video having a button to “Flag as Inappropriate” so that the site can review the video and determine its suitability.

As with most Social Networking sites – and YouTube truly is a way for people to Social Network, albeit in a different format – YouTube makes much of its content available to site visitors without the need to log in. They also have changed the format of their website to appear more as a Social Networking site, with the latest videos loaded in the middle of the page similar to the “news feed” of other sites. The new look is an effort to have visitors remain on the site longer, trying to increase the current fifteen minutes that visitors linger to be closer to the four to five hours that a typical American spends watching TV.

To make it increasingly attractive to more people, registered users can set up their own “channel,” complete with a profile. Like other Social Networking sites, this allows our children to post their videos and have an easy way for friends to find them. It also provides a way for others to view what our children upload … and, unfortunately, YouTube allows videos to be viewed anonymously. That means anybody can view our child’s video without us knowing who they are.

During the time that YouTube has grown in popularity – it is currently the third-ranked site on the Internet, behind only Google and Facebook – submissions have grown to more than two billion new videos daily. Even though some of the uploaded videos may be risqué, provide examples of idiocy that our children may want to emulate, or just be the type we don’t want our children viewing, most of the content is family-friendly and appropriate for our children.

This follows the pattern of all Social Media. Most of the content doesn’t need us to preview it before our children see it. We, as parents, still need to be wary, though, and make sure that what our children are viewing on the Internet is suitable for them. Additionally, we need to know what they post and view before they do so.

In 2006, Time Magazine compared YouTube to a discount retailer when they wrote, “YouTube is to video browsing what a Wal-Mart Supercenter is to shopping: everything is there, and all you have to do is walk in the door.” Just as we wouldn’t allow our children to shop in a Wal-Mart without at least having an idea of what they might be shopping for, we should not allow them to browse YouTube without knowing what they might view there.

YouTube is a Social Networking site, even though a different type than we’re used to and different from Facebook, MySpace and the others. As such, we need to make sure we are being as diligent with what our children post and view on YouTube as we are with the other sites.

AUTHOR OVERVIEW

Lisa Shaw Senior Director, Child Online Safety and Protection at SpectorSoft

What do five kids ranging in age from kindergarten to high school, a Harvard MBA and years of protecting kids online get you? It gets you Lisa Shaw, COO of her very busy household, and a Senior Director at SpectorSoft, the number one leader in monitoring and protecting your kids online. She's an expert on the technology and trends that you need to arm yourself with to be the best parent you can be in today’s digital world.

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