YouTube is an undeniable media giant. From humble beginnings its expansion over the last decade means it now sees 800 million unique users a month who combined consume roughly 1 billion hours of video every day. Despite this, with 400 hours of content uploaded every minute, its popularity means it has become impossible to run out of things to watch. Unsurprisingly it is ranked as the second most popular site on the internet and, while it may face competition when it comes to live streaming, YouTube is top dog in the world of online video sharing any which way you slice it. So how do you get involved with the fun and start uploading your first video? You’ll be happy to know that YouTube has made an effort over the years to develop a simple interface for the site to ensure its ease of use for all.

Uploading Your First Video

So then, from the YouTube homepage hit the camera-shaped ‘create video’ symbol in the top right corner of your screen.

Select ‘Upload Video’ from the dropdown menu that appears.

Now you’ll be faced with a screen reading “Select files to upload”. Either click the central logo and select the file you want or drag it over from your file explorer.

As the file uploads you now have the opportunity to edit the video’s information (add a title and description, select a thumbnail etc.) in the new screen

The dropdown box on this screen will also let you choose the privacy setting for the video:

• Public: can be seen by and shared with any user.
• Private: can only be seen by you and the users you choose.
• Unlisted: can be seen and shared by anyone with the link.
• Scheduled: not privacy related so much as it lets you set a specific time and date for the video to go live to the public. This particular feature is very useful once you develop a posting routine.

If everything looks good to you and the ‘Processing’ bar has reached 100% you can hit the button marked ‘Publish’ or ‘Done’ (depending on the privacy setting you gave it) to let the world see your creation!

We hope this has given you a smooth entry into the world of YouTube content creation. If you have any more questions about getting started on the internet, check out the other articles in our ‘How To’ series. You might even find some info you didn’t know you needed!