University kicks off YouTube channel, offering more online videos

Oregon State University is going high tech in spreading the message about its programs and showing life on campus.

OSU quietly launched a YouTube channel this summer, and is planning to add a permanent, full-time position where an employee would develop videos and other content for social networking sites on the Internet.

“Everybody used to think about doing a newsletter. Now Facebook, YouTube and blogs are realities of communication,” said David Baker, OSU’s director of web communications.

YouTube is an online site where videos are posted, and people regularly browse there for fun or to gather information. Baker said it’s part of an explosion of online video that’s occurring.

“It’s a serious part of the Web right now. It’s not just a flash in the pan or something that’s going to go away,” Baker said.

“I’m on YouTube a lot,” said OSU junior Hannah Diers, an animal science junior from Hood River. She thought that OSU’s investment in social media would be worth it because of the popularity of YouTube and other sites.

“People use YouTube more to find gags and funny things than they do for educational resources,” said Sara Sheets, a senior in nutrition and food management from Klamath Falls. She thought if OSU had links to the channel from its main Web site, the idea would be worthwhile.

The university is waiting for more content to be added to its channel before it promotes it in that way.

OSU already is creating new content for YouTube almost every day through the work of a half-time graduate assistant employee. The new social media position would be in addition to that worker.

The university also already has thousands of hours of video content of lectures, television commercials, special events and Beaver sports.

“It’s better to get it out there than to have it gathering dust in a warehouse somewhere,” Baker said.

“We are behind other universities on this, but when you look at the quality of our product in the pipeline, we’ll be in real good shape shortly.”

The University of California at Berkeley, for example, has already had 2 million views on its channel. Since it hasn’t been publicized, OSU’s channel has only gathered about 1,500 views.

Baker joined OSU’s staff in the spring, and immediately noticed that the university didn’t have a YouTube channel. “It’s much bigger than YouTube. It’s online video in general,” Baker said. More videos are being added to the hundreds of official OSU Web pages, as well.

YouTube gives OSU and other higher education institutions more freedom in running their channels, such as no limit on how long videos can be.

OSU also is starting an iTunes initiative, Baker said. “We will have a permanent spot in the iTunes store where users can download video to their iPods or their desktops.”

To view OSU’s YouTube channel, see www.youtube.com/oregonstate.

Kyle Odegard covers Oregon State University. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.