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May 13, 2010

Unlisted YouTube Videos

YouTube added a very useful feature for those who want to upload videos, but only share them with a limited number of people. Until now, you could make a video private and share it with up to 25 YouTube users.

The new access level is called "unlisted", which means that only people who know the address of the video can view it. "The video will not appear in any of YouTube's public spaces, such as search results, your channel, or the Browse page, but the link can be shared with anyone."

To watch an unlisted video, you don't need a YouTube account and there's no limit for the number of people that can watch your videos. Anyone can link to the video, but it won't be indexed by search engines.

"Even though your video will not appear in any of YouTube's public spaces, links to the video could still appear elsewhere on the web if anyone who knows the video's URL shares it. It is therefore up to you to maintain the privacy of your video and the unlisted URL. You can further restrict the video at any time by returning to your account and marking the video as Private," explains YouTube's help center.


{ via YouTube Blog }

22 comments:

  1. how do you find the unlisted videos then? (other than the owner actually sharing them with you) ;-)

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  2. "For unlisted videos, users don't need a YouTube account ..."

    If I click "upload video" there is no option to upload videos without login.

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    Replies
    1. To watch, good sir. You don't need an account to watch such videos.

      Delete
  3. users don't need a Youtube account.. to see them, but they need one to upload them.

    there's no way other than knowing the actual link to the video to see it I guess...

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  4. @Varun:

    That's the whole point of this option: unlisted videos are very difficult to find.

    @Anonymous:

    To watch an unlisted video, you don't need a YouTube account.

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  5. Nice, Google social supports for sociopaths

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  6. YouTube should allow you to refresh the URL of the Unlisted video. Like this if my Unlisted video get too known, I can always change the link address.

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  7. Maybe they could fix their "private" option while they're at it, so you can see which users have access to each video and also let you easily edit the list.

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  8. This is AWESOME news!!! Now I can upload video of my children and share the link with far away family without the risk of creeps accidentally finding my videos from keywords like "girls" or from their names.

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  9. @Mike, Alex suggested unlisted videos are very difficult to find, not impossible ;-). Incidentally, why would you name your videos with "common" search words like "girls" or their names? For private videos, I think Picasa is a good option though it has a limit.

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  10. I don't get it, I have been using this feature for at least 2 yrs, what is new about it now?

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  11. So when is the same functionality coming to Google Apps?

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  12. That's one feature I have needed the most.
    Perfect Timing.

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  13. can the video be embedded on a website and when clicking on the video (url) you get to see the video in youtube.com. i.e can unlisted videos play embedded on your personal website.

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  14. @Anonymous (October 1, 2010 7:31 AM): Yes, they can.

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  15. UNLISTED HAS TO GET CHOSEN BEFORE YOU UPLOAD THE VID

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  16. No, unlisted doesn't have to get chosen before you upload it. YOu can take a public video and edit it and change ti to unlisted (or private). Of course, if you do that (with an unlisted one) and if anyone already had the URL while it was public, they will still be able to access it with the URL (doesn't change) and they could potentially pass it around to other people too. But you can change a public to unlisted , no problem, and if nobody got the URL before you made the change, it should be ok.

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  17. How do you watch unlisted videos?

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  18. the only way to search for unlisted video is use google video search engine and depend on how much the video host exposure to google

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  19. Unlisted videos can be searched for, but only by people who know to use advanced search terms like: site:youtube.com “This video is unlisted” intitle:Facebook (as recommended by "Search Ninja" http://www.zdnet.com/blog/seo/search-ninja-part-3-how-to-find-unlisted-youtube-videos-with-google/4419)

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