YouTube has more than 1 billion unique users and more than 6 billion hours of video watched each month on YouTube – that’s a lot of video.
1. Keep Videos Private
If you want to keep them private – SET it to private. Share your videos to only a select group of people (up to 50) can view them.
If you want to set your videos to private:
- Visit your Video Manager
- Select the video you’d like to set to private and click the Edit button
- In the “Privacy Settings” drop-down menu, select Private
- SAVE
2. Set Videos to “Unlisted”
Another option is to set your videos to unlisted. If you want to share your video to more than 50 people, but don’t want the video listed to everyone in public, then set your videos to “unlisted.” They don’t show up on your YouTube channel, in search results, or anywhere else on the site.
If you want to set your videos to unlisted:
- Visit your Video Manager
- Find the video you’d like to set to private and click the Edit button
- In the “Privacy Settings” drop-down menu, select Unlisted
- Save Changes
3. Adjust Account Privacy Settings
Remember, its not just your videos either that ends up public. It’s liking videos, subscribing to them, or your contacts sending you messages and sharing your videos. Keep track what you like and watch.
If you want to set your account privacy settings:
- Click on your avatar and select YouTube Settings
- On the next screen, click on Privacy at the top left
- Under “Likes and Subscriptions,” you can check the box to make sure any videos you like and any channels you subscribe to stay private and confidential
If you want to limit spam and your personal information being tossed around, leave email addresses and phone numbers out of these sections to avoid spam. Simply leave the fields blank (YouTube doesn’t make it mandatory to offer information on your public profile).
5. Check Your Account Now and Then
Google is notorious for making changes to policies and not telling everyone. Its good to log out of your account and check your page as a public user to see what’s being accessed and what’s not.
YouTube Facts – according to Google
Viewership
- More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
- Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that’s almost an hour for every person on Earth
- 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
- 80% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
- YouTube is localized in 61 countries and across 61 languages
- According to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults ages 18-34 than any cable network
- Millions of subscriptions happen each day. The number of people subscribing daily is up more than 3x since last year, and the number of daily subscriptions is up more than 4x since last year