Face it. There are some videos that you just don’t want to share with the world.
Fact: I once did a slightly embarrassing video for someone’s birthday that fit into that description. Unfortunately for me I set the video to unlisted. 237 views later, I’ll explain why that was a bad idea down below.
There are three visibility settings for a video you upload to YouTube.
Public is the simplest setting. Easy to understand. It’s Public. That means anyone can see it.
Your video shows up in a Google search, a YouTube search, even a Google Plus search. The video shows up in your YouTube Feed and can be shared by anyone as well.
Unlisted is just like Public except your video doesn’t show in a search or on your YouTube Feed.
Simply, to view an unlisted video all you need is the link. That link could be emailed, tweeted, or shared via Facebook. Anyone with the link can see the video. It can show up in a playlist if it’s been added, it can show up in shares, likes, retweets and plus ones. That means it’s not very private. Something to keep in mind.
Private is really just that.
Set your video to Private and ONLY those people that you’ve named can see the video.
You ‘name’ people by their email address, their circle, or the name they use when signed into YouTube. One of the drawbacks to this is that the viewer HAS to be logged in with that email, circle or name in order to view the video.
They won’t be able to share it with people that you haven’t named – even if they have the link.
Pretty simple right?
The good news is that you can change the video privacy settings any time you like. In the case of that embarrassing video I mentioned… at 237 views, I’m afraid the Genie was already out of the bottle.
BONUS: I built a website once with a membership only section. Inside the membership area they wanted to have a library of videos just for members. Easy Peasy. As you might guess, all of the “Members Only” videos were uploaded to the channel and marked as Unlisted. The only downside of course is that any of the “Members” could always share the link with their Non Member friends.
Photo Credit: by Predrag Stojadinovi?
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, sometimes rides a road bike, has a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one, bought a cool orange one, rode a really slow one, and now,a perfect "BDR Weapon"). If that isn't enough, he makes cheese and sourdough bread, loves strong beer and good red wine, and poorly plays the Mandolin.
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