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When people talk about today's most popular social sharing sites, YouTube is often left out of the conversation in favor of sites like Facebook and Twitter.
But don't be fooled: YouTube has a lot of room to grow. While Facebook may be the largest social networking site, YouTube has the second -largest reach after Facebook in terms of versatility. It is also the second largest search engine behind parent company Google.
There are also a ton of great things you might not know you can do with YouTube that use YouTube to watch videos, post videos, or both. For example, did you know that YouTube has its own virtual reality (VR) setup where you can watch any video in 360 degrees? Or can you create a YouTube time link that takes the viewer to a specific moment in the video?
Uplifting stuff, people. To help you get the most out of the still very popular platform, we've put together a list of 20 lesser-known hacks, tricks, and features YouTube has to offer.
YouTube Tips, Tricks and Features
Convert any video to GIF.
Create YouTube Timelinks to start playing a video at a specific point in time.
Watch the transcript of the video.
Upload your own written transcript to find you in searches.
Use YouTube to make transcripts.
Create, share and collaborate on video playlists.
Save the video to watch it later.
Create your own custom YouTube URL.
Add final screens or cards to promote similar content.
Browse and download from YouTube's library of free sounds and music.
Add creative effects with YouTube Enhancements.
Play videos in the background on mobile devices.
Live stream video to YouTube.
Upload and watch videos in 360 and virtual reality.
Watch the new YouTube advertising algorithm.
Remove ads from YouTube videos for $10 a month.
Use Google Trends to browse popular YouTube search terms.
Turn on a "safer" YouTube for your child.
Clear your watch history.
Learn about YouTube's copyright in a new way.
20 YouTube Tips, Tricks, and Features You Want to Know
1. You can use URL to convert any YouTube video to GIF.
Everyone loves GIFs, but knowing how to make GIFs isn't common sense. Well, it should, since it just requires a little YouTube URL trickery.
To create a GIF from a YouTube video: Select the video you want to watch on YouTube and find the URL at the top of your browser. Add the word "gif" before the domain name so it reads "www.gifyoutube.com/[your-video-tag]".www.gifyoutube.com/[your-video-tag ] ” . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
This will take you to gifs.com where your video has been uploaded and is ready to be edited. Here, you'll find an options menu on the left with a timeline bar at the bottom of the video. You can set the GIF duration, crop its frames, add subtitles, and more.gifs.com , your video has been uploaded and is ready for editing . Here, you'll find an options menu on the left with a timeline bar at the bottom of the video. You can set the GIF duration, crop its frames, add subtitles, and more.
Click "Create GIF" in the top right corner and it will prompt you to enter a GIF title and tag set. Then click "Next" and you'll have a handy landing page from which to share your newly created GIF. Note that you can only download this GIF to an offline file by signing up at gifs.com.gifs.com Sign up to download this GIF to an offline file .
2. You can create a link that starts a YouTube video at a specific time.
Ever wanted to send someone a YouTube video, but point them to a specific moment? Let's say you're trying to recruit your friends to learn to dance with Justin Bieber's "Sorry" music video.
Instead of sending your friends a generic YouTube link and instructing them to fast-forward 0:50 minutes, you can actually send them a specific YouTube time link that starts the video at any time you choose. Click here to see what I mean .
Well, here's how to do it:
To create a link that starts playing a YouTube video at a specific time: Open the video, then click "Share" on the far right of the video title. Then, in the options window that appears, check the box next to "Start at:" and enter the desired time (in hours:minutes:seconds). Alternatively, you can pause the video when it starts playing and the field will automatically populate.
After a few moments, you'll see a tag added to the end of the generic YouTube link (in this case, t = 50 seconds ). Just copy that link and paste it anywhere you want.
It's worth noting that you can't embed a video, so it can only start playing at a specific time; you can't just link to it.
3. You can easily view written transcripts of people's videos.
Did you know that YouTube automatically generates written transcripts for every video uploaded to its website? That's right - anyone can access the transcript unless the user manually hides it from the viewer.
I can think of many different situations where video recording could have come in handy. For example, maybe you want to write down a quote from a video, but the tedious pause and typing will put you off. Or maybe you need to find a specific part of a video, but don't want to rewatch the entire video to find it. With transcripts, you can find similar information without manual effort.
To view a transcript of a video: Open the video in YouTube and press the "More" tab below the video title. Select "Subtitles" from the drop-down menu.
(If you don't see this option, it's because the user chose to hide transcripts.)
This transcript will appear as a new module in the same window. In many cases, the user who uploads the video doesn't go back and grind the transcript manually, so it's not ideal. But it will definitely save you some time and pain.
4. You can help your video be found in search by editing or uploading a transcript.
Both YouTube and its parent company Google consider many factors when searching for video rankings to determine what your video is about, and transcripts are one of them. (A bigger ranking factor is your video's description, which is why digital marketing consultant Ryan Stewart recommends that you actually paste your transcript into the description box as well.)
To add subtitles to a video: Open the video on YouTube and you'll see a row of icons below the play button. Click the Captions/Cc icon on the far right. (CC stands for "closed captioning.")
Set the language (if not already set). You will then be prompted to choose three different ways to add subtitles or closed captions to the video…
Upload a pre-written text transcript or timed subtitle file. (Learn more about the types of files you can upload, and more here .)
Paste the full recording of the video, where the subtitle time will be set automatically.
Enter them while watching the video.
The folks on YouTube do a lot of great things to make the third option (like typing while you watch) as painless as possible. For example, if you check the box next to "Pause video while typing," it will make the whole process faster. Here's a GIF showing it in action:
5. You can easily get free transcription of video and audio files using YouTube.
I promise, this is the last one about transcripts, but I bet you never thought about them that way. As you know, YouTube automatically adds a subtitle to every video. However, if you're looking for a one-off transcription of an audio or video file and don't want to pay for the service, YouTube's built-in subtitle system isn't a great place to start. You can always clean it later.
To get an automatic transcription of an audio file: you need to upload the recording to YouTube using the following service: TunesToTube . It takes about 2-30 minutes to upload videos to YouTube. Then, follow the instructions outlined above to obtain an automatic transcription of the video.
6. You can create, share and collaborate on video playlists.
Just like on other favorite media sharing sites like Spotify and iTunes, you can create a "playlist" on YouTube, which is really just a place to store and organize your videos (both yourself and others). You can make playlists private, make them public, and even share them directly with others.
Playlists are useful for many different types of users, from individuals collecting cooking videos for an upcoming dinner party to brands segmenting their YouTube video content by topic. For example, Delicious's YouTube playlist breaks down recipes by meal type, making it easier for people to browse and find what they're looking for:
To create a playlist on desktop: go to your playlists page click here or click your account icon in the upper right corner, select "Creator Studio", click "Video Manager" on the left, then "Playlists". Then, click "New Playlist" in the upper right corner and choose whether to make it private or public.
YouTube creates a new playlist page.
To create a playlist on a mobile device: Click here for instructions on how to create a new playlist using an iOS or Android mobile device.
To add a video to a playlist: If you're adding a video to a playlist while watching a video, click the "Add to" icon below the video title and check the box next to the playlist you want to add to.
Add to button to create YouTube playlists.
If you want to add a video to the playlist directly on your playlist page , just click "Add Video", then paste the video URL, choose a video from the uploaded videos, or search for the video on YouTube. Once you find the video you want to add, select the "Add to" menu from that video and add it to your playlist.
Your friends can also contribute to your playlists. All you have to do is turn on the ability to collaborate on playlists. When this feature is enabled, anyone who shares a link to a playlist can add videos to that playlist. (They can also delete any videos they've added.)
To add friends to a playlist: Visit your playlists page and open the playlist you want to collaborate with again. Click "Playlist Settings" and select the "Collaboration" tab. Toggle the setting that allows collaborators to add videos to the playlist, and from there you can send them a link where they can add the video to the playlist.
YouTube Collaborative Playlist Settings.
Once you invite friends to a playlist, they can add new videos to it and delete videos they've added in the past. They just need to follow the on-screen instructions first to confirm that they want to be a contributor and save the playlist to their account.
When you add a video to a playlist you want to collaborate on, your name will appear next to the video in that playlist, and everyone invited to collaborate on that playlist will be notified that a new video has been added.
(To learn more about how to manage contributors, stop accepting contributions to playlists, and more, read this YouTube support page .)
7. You can save the video to watch it later.
Have you ever watched a YouTube video that you wish you could bookmark later? Maybe you can't turn on the sound right now, or maybe you don't have time to watch. Well, YouTube by adding a " save for later " feature with Facebook. On YouTube, you can save videos to a "Watch Later" playlist for easy access at any time.
Watch Later playlists work just like normal playlists, so the instructions are the same as in the previous step (except you can't invite others to collaborate on a Watch Later playlist).
To add a video to a "Watch Later" playlist: Just like in the previous step, open the video on YouTube and click the "Add to" icon below the video title, then check the box next to the playlist you want to add to this playlist box. The steps are very similar on mobile, but click here. If you need full instructions on the YouTube support page.
To access these videos: Just go to your YouTube homepage and select "Watch Later" from the menu at the top left of the screen.
