YouTube: Cache Videos, Share them on Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 15 Jun 2009

As you very well know, all you need to watch videos shared via YouTube is a computer and an internet connection. But the video is not stored exclusively online, it is stored in your browser’s cache as well. What this means is that you can load a particular video several times directly from the local cache. It also means that if you have a lousy internet connection, you will only have to wait once for the video to download; when you want to watch the video again and again, it will be loaded from the browser’s cache.

There is even a YouTube Help article advising you what to do when dealing with a slow internet connection. “Still rockin' the 56k? No problem. As you may already know, a slower connection simply means slower delivery of services. You only need a little more time and patience than with a faster connection. For best results, you may want to start the video player and then click on the PAUSE button immediately. Then, wait until the red progress bar has reached the end of the video before playing it. Allowing the entire video buffer lets you watch it without interruption. Remember, the shorter the video, the shorter the amount of time it takes to buffer,” explains YouTube.

The one thing you will want to keep in mind is that your browser’s cache size is limited. If you want to store large numbers of YouTube videos in your local cache, then I suggest you ensure the cache size can accommodate your needs.

Moving on, you might remember that last month YouTube announced a new feature that would empower the user to instantly answer any YouTube video out there – the feature allowed “users to conveniently record a video response immediately after watching a video” as Product Manager Ryan Junee explained at the time. While announcing this new feature, YouTube reaffirmed its commitment to developing new ways of sharing content online – and the results of this commitment are starting to show.

Product Manager with YouTube, Brian Glick, explains: “We want you to be able to do more of it with your videos. With a simple one-time log-in on our upload page, you can now have your YouTube account automatically update your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, and Google Reader shared items when you upload a video. If you change your mind, you can shut it off at any time. And of course, for those videos that you'd rather not share, mark them as private and they won't be sent to any other site. We hope this makes it easier to share your good times with your friends.”


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