YouTube As an Educational Tool and a Hue Diversion

YouTube As an Educational Tool and a Hue Diversion

There are so many things you can do on YouTube. Every minute, users churn out more than 500 hours worth of content. These videos delve into a wide pool of topics. Many of them are about video games or the daily lives of the content creators. Then, there are some about music or anime or just about anything.

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7 Most Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make On YouTube

An Entrepreneurs Guide to Starting A Successful YouTube Channel For Their Business

A lot of business owners are now considering taking a plunge into the best sites to buy YouTube views to advertise their brands. Well, no one can blame them. Such is a smart move considering that 300 hours of videos are uploaded to the platform every single minute. However, it is not as easy as creating a channel and uploading your videos there. Instead, you need to come up with a strategy to ensure that your YouTube business channel will be up and running. 

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YouTube Fights Myths and Improves Health Content Views

Health is something that people should pay attention to. Especially now that there is a global pandemic affecting everyone, they should access health information the quickest way possible. And when you say the quickest way, the first thing one will think of is no doubt the internet. 

Now that everyone can have limited access to healthcare, such as hospitals, they turn to the internet to search for health-related information. In addition, they now consume more video content than ever. For instance, when they experience coughs or colds, they look for video tutorials that teach home remedies. This made YouTube even more popular than it already is. 

YouTube is Featuring New Health Content

There Are Many YouTube Myths In The Healthcare Space

Moreover, the video-sharing giant YouTube is aware that people rely on its platform for health-related information. For this reason, it is now coming up with an effective way to ensure that users will get the most factual health information that they need. There are still many YouTube myths about buying views, that are persistent across the platform.

Recently, the video-sharing giant YouTube has unveiled a new health partnerships team. This team will be responsible for addressing the evolving digital health needs of people. Also, it will continue to connect people with credible and reliable health information. 

Dr. Garth Graham will lead this new effort. His team will show YouTube users easy-to-understand medical information from some of the most respected clinicians and organizations in the healthcare industry.

Besides, the team will bring higher quality content from authoritative and evidence-based sources. This way, such content will be front and center on YouTube. 

More About Dr. Garth Graham

According to Dr. Graham, he saw the importance of health and access to health information firsthand while growing up. His parents emigrated from Jamaica to the US. The reason is that her mother was given a job as a nurse in Miami, Florida. After moving to the US, her mother would leave each and every day for the hospitals to treat her patients selflessly. 

But Dr. Graham’s mother did more than just treating patients. Instead, she fostered community with them. She equipped her patients with the information that they needed to understand their health conditions. In addition, she encouraged them with helpful ways of improving their health. 

Dr. Graham’s admiration for the work that her mother did and how she impacted people’s lives have become a huge part of his decision to become a doctor. 

For the past two decades, Dr. Graham has worked in many healthcare areas. He is a cardiologist who treats patients and a researcher who educates people. Also, he is a member of the health policy community that advocated for improved healthcare. 

Before he joined YouTube, he was a Chief Community Health Officer at CSV Health. He was also a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the US Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, he has been the President of the Aetna Foundation and the Assistant Dean for Health Policy. In the Department of Medicine at the University of Florida School of Medicine. In the same department in that university, he was the Chief of Health Services Research.

YouTube is Featuring New Health Content

Taking all of these past positions into consideration, some may say that coming to YouTube is an outlier for his resume. However, he still feels excited to bring all the facets of all his experiences together. This will serve as a bridge for people between the clinical world and YouTube. 

How Dr. Graham Perceives the Evolution of Health Education Through Digital Video

As clinicians, Dr. Graham and his colleagues are always looking for various ways to move forward inpatient care. Also, they are constantly aiming to stay current when it comes to how the world is changing. 

Dr. Graham advised people not to let outdated pagers fool them. Those who want to be at the forefront of change in health should know the importance of YouTube in the digital revolution. The reason is that almost everyone around the world is always on their mobile phones, consuming videos. More specifically, most people are watching videos related to health information from YouTube and the internet. 

The Mission of Dr. Graham and His Team On YouTube

Dr. Graham noted that he and his team’s mission is to empower people to live their healthiest lives using knowledge, inspiration, and support. They want to ensure that everyone will be able to access credible and evidence-based information from trustworthy sources. Like we mentioned earlier, buying YouTube views is one of many myths that still linger.

However, the information that people can access in the digital space is so vast. For this reason, it isn’t easy to find out which information is trustworthy. It is also hard to find information sources that make complex medical jargon more accessible and easier to understand. 

Now that the world is facing one of its most challenging public health crises, people must access objective and evidence-based information. This will help them make healthy decisions. This is the reason why Dr. Graham and his team are excited to work with YouTube on innovative tactics that will ensure trustworthy scientific information is more broadly accessible, engaging, as well as actionable. 

The Plan of Bringing Additional Credible Content to YouTube

The team is now working hard to surface medical information that is easy to understand. This is the information that came from the most respected clinicians and organizations in healthcare.

YouTube is Featuring New Health Content

Some of the team’s newest collaborators include the Cleveland Clinic, American Public Health Association, Harvard School of Public Health, Osmosis, Mayo Clinic, Psych Hub, and the National Academy of Medicine. 

The aforementioned organizations are creating high-quality health content for viewers all around the globe. Besides, healthcare professionals are a major part of the vision for health on YouTube. 

What You Need to Know About the Art of Vlogging

What You Need to Know About the Art of Vlogging

Vlogging is an excellent way to engage with your audience online. It can also help you in gaining more subscribers, fans, or followers. More so, if you are not a writing enthusiast, vlogging is a great alternative way to get your message out for the world to see.

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How to Make Good YouTube Videos – Or Even Great!

Learning how to create a good YouTube video is the first process in starting an online video venture, and it’s something we think should be comfortable and free to learn for everyone. What do you think?

In this article, we’ll solve the underlying issues and provide you with the relevant information you need to make good YouTube videos. From the planning, making to editing, we will discuss all.

How to make good YouTube videos

1.     Plan Your Video

The first step is to understand why you want to create the account.

Your video content falls typically into any of these:

·       Education: do you want to teach your audience a skill, idea, or concept?

·       Engagement: You want to make something that builds an emotional response from viewers, such as likes, comments, or shares.

·       Awareness: You want to identify a problem or get people’s attention

When you understand how the reasons why you are creating a video, it will help you plan effectively well on how to go about it.

This plan should have everything you’ll need to help you create a good YouTube video. You should try to understand your target audience and determine whether you will need to write a script yourself or hire someone to do it.

If you still don’t understand how to plan a video, I advise you to pick up a pen and get an answer to the following questions.

·       What is the intent of my video?

·       Who is my target audience?

·       Do I have a working budget?

·       How many people do I need on my team?

·       What is the target duration?

·       Where will I shoot the video?

·       What is the process of the video?

·       What will I say in the video?

·       Do I need a script?

·       If no, what sounds do I want in the video?

·       What instruments do I have presently?

·       Do I need to edit the video myself or outsource it to professionals?

·       Do I need to add any text or images in my video?

All these questions will guide you effectively on how to make good YouTube videos.

2.     Prepare Your Equipment

Now you have a plan, the next thing to put in place is to identify the tools you need that will bring your idea to reality.

Depending on the kind of video you want to make, you’re going to need various types of equipment.

The kind of tools you will get depends on your budget.

Here are some essential tools you will need:

·       Camera: you can get a normal one of those fancy DSLR or even your smartphone

·       Microphone: most preferably external

·       Lighting: can be natural or artificial

·       Storage: external drives (or enough space on your smartphone)

·       Editing software: anyone that works for you

You can get these from any of your friends if you don’t have and can’t afford them for a start.

3.     Set the Stage

When you want to make a YouTube video, you need to prepare and “set the stage.”

This implies setting all machinery in proper motions and making the place you want to record the best for the camera.

For example, if you are recording entertainment content, you need to look for the brightest part of the room and create good lighting and attractive background behind you.

4.     Prepare yourself to face the Camera

It is not everyone that can withstand the crowd or love the camera. Some people are naturally shy.

If you always have anxiety, stutter, or don’t feel comfortable in front of the camera, you need to be calm as much as you can.

It doesn’t have to turn this way every time; you need to be comfortable around the camera and see your viewers as your loved ones. Imagine speaking over the phone with your college best friend. That is how it is supposed to be.

The best thing you can do is to see the camera like you are speaking directly with one of your audience. It is not a reality show or competition; it is just two matured adults sharing knowledge over the internet.

This implies doing it the same way you will hold a conversation. Maintain eye contact, show passion, smile, and flow with the topic you are treating.

If you can follow these tips, you won’t have a problem staying in front of the camera and churning out amazing content.

5.     Start Recording

Now we are here, you have followed all the previous steps to get to this point. It is time to switch on your camera and start recording.

Irrespective of what you are doing, there are some things you need to have in mind.

·       Keep recording

No matter what happens while you are recording, you should try as much as possible not to stop the camera. You can always filter or correct your mistakes while you are editing. It will save you from a lot of back and forth and save your time.

·       You should be open to mistakes

You should not be scared of making mistakes if you want to discover the creative genius in you. Things you don’t know before can be a blessing in disguise and make you build amazing and stunning YouTube videos. 

·       Ensure you have fun

You should have enough fun while you are making a YouTube video. Enjoy the growth process, and don’t worry about what you don’t know much. If you take it seriously, you might lose interest over time. So keep it fun-filled as much as you can.

6.     Editing Your Work

Now you have finished recording your video; it is time to edit your project and correct all the mistakes you have made. 

The editing process always looks like:

·       Arrange your scenes the right way

·       Align the sound with the motion

·       Remove ambiguous footage

·       Add introduction or outros

You can also do other stuff, such as adding images or short clips from other videos if you want to bring out the creative side in you.

However, you should follow the list above to get your first YouTube video right.

 Editing software and tools may be the most crucial equipment investment you will make if you want to create good YouTube videos. It can change and innovate what you have created for your YouTube channel and turn it professional.

Conclusion

You should have a better view or grasp of the whole, creating good YouTube videos ideas now.

However, the major points are to find an enabling environment with the right lighting to record in. You should also try as much as possible to have fun while recording so you won’t get tired and frustrated.

Editing is essential, and with more time, you will marvel at how creative you can be.

E-commerce Made Easy On YouTube

YouTube has created a medium for users to gain visibility and popularity online. Even though most users believe this platform is dedicated to movies, watching music videos, and tutorials, this platform can do more than that. For most E-commerce store owners, A YouTube channel holds a lot of advantages that can help your brand grow.

Since just a few E-commerce owners know how to use this tool to their advantage, putting all the tips mentioned here into practice will no doubt take you ahead of competitors. Below are tips to help you promote your E-commerce business on YouTube.

Optimize Your YouTube Channel

If you want to drive more sales using video marketing, you will need to create a YouTube channel for your business. Fortunately, there are several tutorials on how to create a YouTube channel, so you shouldn’t have any problem doing so.

Secondly, ensure the channel is optimized as you would do to your blog posts. For Instance, look to use tags and add a description that tells your audience what the content is all about beforehand. Once your channel is launched, you will need to start creating videos and uploading them immediately. Keep in mind that you should be consistent with how you upload.

You can create a schedule on how frequently you want to post. This could be done once or even twice a week, depending on the amount of time you can spare. The more you post, the more your popularity increases. 

If you’re just launching, it’s important to post more often if you want to keep people attracted to your channel. Once someone finds your channel through the search bar, they want to consume as much content you have available, and if the contents are valuable, getting subscribers will be quite easy.

Decide On Your Video Format

Before uploading a video, there are few things to consider. You need to take time to figure out the kind of video you want to post. Meaning you need to define your objective, goals, and how to achieve them. You should start by introducing your company and explaining your content to your audience. This shouldn’t be complicated, and neither should it take long. Ensure the content is engaging and appealing to your audience.

The followings are the guidelines to help you decide how to structure your video.

  • User guidelines– this video should center around how to use a product, that’s if you’ve gotten complain from past users about how complicated the product is. You can make the video practical by actually showing them how to use it rather than talking at length in front of a camera.
  • Manufacturing process: while most producers prefer to keep these details private. Divulging this to your audience builds trust. Take some minutes from your busy schedule to show your audience around your company, show them how the product was manufactured, the brains behind the production process as well as where the product was put together. This satisfies people’s curiosity about the product.
  • Company’s History– this video is good for those just getting started. Take advantage of this to tell your audience how the company was founded and the inspiration behind it. For new product in the market, take videos of testimonials from Customers as this will make it more comfortable for customers to relate with you and your brand.

Start A Contest

Most E-commerce owners opt for contests rather than posting a video about their company. While this is a helpful strategy considering people’s appeal for freebies, if not properly executed, it could create a negative footprint on your business.

Most Contests are aimed at creating short videos around the product being promoted. Reward the user with the best video with a gift or voucher that matches their efforts. Most times, this strategy may not work well for beginners, but if you manage to record a significant amount of engagement, consider yourself lucky.

Promote Your Product

Just Like on Facebook and Google, you can also promote your products on YouTube. Paid ads can be a quick way for you to make more sales in no time. You need to be careful and must have carried out enough research before going for this. YouTube paid ads are quite expensive and may not be favorable if you’re on a budget.

Here’s a swift guide on how to make YouTube Ads.

When it comes to creating YouTube Ads, there are three things you need to pay attention to video format, targeting, and Ad objective. This shouldn’t be strange to those already familiar with Google and Facebook ads, but you may notice slight differences.

For now, YouTube offers ads in two formats: Search Ads and Instream Ads.

If you opt for search ads, you will be charged less, but your options will be limited in terms of the visuals you’re allowed to use. Instream Ads give more options and are usually displayed when a user is streaming content making it more likely for them to be clicked. In reality, people skip in-stream ads as viewers hate any form of distraction when watching a video.

Use Video Testimonials

When buyers see past Customers saying good things about your product, they’re encouraged to buy from you. They feel more confident, which makes buyers trust you. Rather than using pictures, testimonials in video format are easy to believe and generates more engagement.

While most customers won’t post a testimonial unless you ask, consider requesting a short video testimonial if you received any praise about your product from a previous buyer.

After getting a few Testimonials, add them to your website; however, if the testimonial is about your online store, add it to your home page, but if it is about your product, add it to the product page.

Conclusion

Creating a YouTube channel is a step in the right direction for promoting your product. Further, ensure your channel is optimized and do the same on your website. Keep your customers engaged by posting videos frequently.


Using Videos Wisely To Get An Edge Over Competitors

Videos are considered as one of the best content formats to engage people online, but it can be a challenge if you don’t know how to use them effectively. Let’s take a look at some of the best video strategies that will let you dominate your competition. 

Do product videos

Product videos have become a perennial favorite among YouTube marketers. These videos let you introduce new products to a wider audience faster than other means of promotions. They are also great tools for sustaining that initial interest and eventually turning it into conversions. 

One thing that you need to know is that just uploading a random product video will not always guarantee good results. You need to make the effort to get people from watching them eventually heading to your site to make a purchase. Some ways to enhance your product videos are:

  • Shoot from different angles: Make sure to show all sides of your products and zoom in to reveal the finer details and present it more accurately to viewers. 
  • Add context: Show your featured product in situations that your target customers will most likely encounter them in to better convince them that it meets their needs. 
  • Don’t scare your viewers: Instead of focusing on the negatives of not getting your product, you should highlight its benefits in the video. 
  • Add a human element: Tug your viewers’ emotions and get them to connect with the characters that are featured in your product video. 

These steps help turn your product video from being a simple advert to a more compelling piece that will better convince your viewers to purchase. Google uses some of these strategies to effectively present an otherwise intangible product in their videos. 

Use video testimonials 

A study done by analytics firm BrightLocal reveals that 84% of consumers trust online reviews they read or watch. This means that posting video testimonials for your products is another effective strategy for enticing viewers to make a purchase. 

The big challenge here is how you can create with a really convincing, and genuine, customer testimonial video. In this case, you should get a customer that did have a positive experience with your brand or product. The easiest thing to do, since you’re on YouTube, is to see if anyone has already done videos on their own. You can then: 

  • Add them to a Playlist on your account
  • Add it to your Liked videos list
  • Ask them if you can post the video to your account 
  • Film a video with them,

When filming your video testimonials, let your subject speak as freely as possible. This will pave the way for a more authentic statement from them. You can edit out some unfavorable comments, but be critical in determining what you would leave intact. These other commentaries will help make your video testimonials more convincing to audiences. 

Create support videos 

After your customers make that purchase, you still want to continue engaging with them to encourage future purchases or referrals. Videos are again a useful tool for this effort. 

How-tos are one of the common support videos that you can create. 

Cover everything from the basic use of your product or service to advanced features. You can also focus on troubleshooting to answer some of the common issues your customers encounter. Lowe’s excels at this:

Make your how-tos more engaging by:

  • Keeping them short: A video length of two to nine minutes would be suitable to help your audience go through the tutorials at the right pace, but it may take a bit more time with more complicated projects.
  • Use talking heads: Open your video tutorial with a full shot of the person doing the demonstration. This helps viewers connect with and focus on the demo better. 
  • Do a more dynamic presentation: Moving your camera from left to right or zooming in to follow the action is an effective way to keep your viewers watching through to the end. 

By making these how-to videos more digestible, you turn them into more effective resources that people can refer to anytime. To further build them up, embed these how-tos and support videos to your website and incorporate them into your larger customer support procedures. 

These three strategies are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to using videos for your business. Explore other ways of incorporating videos into your online marketing cycle and you can attract even more customers and get ahead of your competitors faster. 

Understanding the Impact Of YouTube Censorship And How To Prevent It

Understanding the Impact Of YouTube Censorship And How To Prevent It

YouTube is considered one of the best platforms to learn about a variety of topics, but it’s not without issues when it comes to censorship. This can have a significant impact on creators when their content gets censored and deleted. Let’s take a close look at how they cope with the issue and how you can avoid censorship violations. 

Weed and YouTube censorship

While YouTube’s strict stance against things like extreme violence or pornographic content is generally accepted, some subjects can create a gray area. One such subject is cannabis use. Despite the plant being considered a prohibited substance (although it’s becoming legal in many states and even Canada), there has been a growing number of studies highlighting its medicinal benefits. 

This dichotomy creates a dilemma for YouTube. The site struggles to strike a balance between allowing informative content on the matter and removing potentially harmful material. While it initially gave cannabis-related content a great degree of freedom, the site has recently begun purging accounts that promote its use. 

In an interview with Forbes, cannabis advocate Arend Richard said that the deletions came swiftly. He added that he only found out about this when he saw other accounts within the cannabis promotion community removed at a fast pace. 

While YouTube does have a three-strike policy youtube before suspending an account, Richard noted that the site didn’t give them enough warnings. He explained that YouTube’s system flagged multiple videos at once, causing them to get multiple strikes instantly. 

The cannabis advocate said that he started his YouTube channel in 2015 and already had 119,000 subscribers before the channel was deleted. While Richard’s channel has been reinstated, he and other cannabis advocates on YouTube have since pushed in developing their own site to host their video content. 

Dealing with YouTube censorship

The case of Richards and other weed advocates on YouTube is just one of the many instances of the site dealing with gray areas. What makes the issue more complicated is that there are often external pressures that can affect YouTube’s censorship decisions. Lobbying by different political groups is one such influence that’s taken into account by YouTube when censoring content. 

To address concerns from creators, the site has made changes in its strike system, as explained below. 

YouTube said that this new system will make it easier for creators to understand why their channel is being flagged and give them enough time to comply with the guidelines. 

While this is a welcomed move, you still need to be ready to deal with censorship issues that might be encountered by your YouTube content. Some of the things you need to do are: 

  • Study the YouTube Community Guidelines: Look into different cases of YouTube censorship to have a better understanding of how YouTube’s Community Guidelines work in different situations. 
  • Consider your audience: Study the cultural norms and habits of your audience groups to have a good idea of what they might consider inappropriate. Such differences in values can cause them to flag your videos even if your content might be fine with other viewers. 
  • Choose your content topics wisely: Weigh on the general acceptability of your video’s subject matter. Make the necessary changes to suit your audience better. 
  • Test your videos: Ask your test audience to look for specific sections that they might find offensive or don’t agree with. Revise based on their recommendations. 

These steps will help you discover red flags early and lessen the chances of your content being suspended or deleted

Despite YouTube’s claims of providing complete freedom to creators, it is unlikely that YouTube will halt its censorship policies anytime soon. By knowing how to conform and work with YouTube’s policies, you can ensure that your videos will stay active and be enjoyed at any time by your viewers.

How To Create A YouTube Video Series That Will Attract More Viewers

Uploading as many videos as you can is essential to keeping your YouTube channel going. Instead of creating videos at random, why not do a video series? Let’s take a look at how you can get started in launching your own series on YouTube.

Planning your video series

One good reason why you would want to do a video series is that it creates more continuous engagement. People will want to subscribe to your channel to see the next part of your series. 

Doing this type of video content is also effective for building your channel’s credibility. By using the series format, you can deliver more information in a more coherent manner. This makes you look authoritative on your chosen topic, attracting more viewers. 

To determine what topics would be good for your video series, look back at your channel’s videos. Use YouTube analytics to break down the stats of your most popular content. Some data points to consider are:

  • Number of unique viewers
  • Watch time
  • Average view duration
  • YouTube Search reports

These metrics will give you an idea of the topics that interest your audience. From there, you can brainstorm relevant topics. 

Asking your audience for suggestions is another way to come up with topics. Focus on the ones that they think would be useful for them. This even has the added effect of getting them more excited for your series. Look in the comments section for these suggestions as well.

Creating your YouTube video series

One challenge when creating your YouTube video series is deciding how many videos you should create. While there is no definite rule to follow, five would be a good starting point. This lets you list all the previous and next videos in the series in one end screen. Don’t forget to assemble all of your videos in a YouTube playlist sidebar, like this one:

Break down your series’ general topic into subtopics that would best fit the number of videos. On the other hand, if you have a list of individual topics, choose the ones that are directly related to each other. This will help you encourage your viewers to check out the next videos in the series. 

Making your YouTube video series more searchable

Optimizing your videos is vital for your viewers to discover the entire series. Do keyword research to match your series’ topics to the actual search terms that people are using. Add these keywords to different sections like the title, tags, and video description. Make sure that you incorporate them the right way to give your viewers a better context. 

Other optimization strategies you can do are:

  • Address your topic early: Talk about your topic within the first 60 seconds of your first video. This improves watch time, as viewers become more invested early. 
  • Add subtitles/captions: This makes your videos more accessible to viewers who might have a hard time following the visuals. 
  • Provide more information: Use your video description to write down other important details not covered in your videos or direct them to specific parts of the series. 
  • Ask them to subscribe: Add an end card urging your viewers to subscribe. Promising them more video series is a good hook to convince them. 

These will help build your video series into a more engrossing viewing experience and increase engagement. 

Promoting your video series

Social media is a useful tool for promoting your series. Share your first video on platforms where most of your viewers are in, encourage them to visit your channel, and watch the other parts of the series. If you are doing episodic videos, you can share any of the videos and encourage people to watch in the same manner. 

You can also use your video series to encourage more interaction outside of YouTube. For the benefits of your visitors, create a section on your website where you can embed your series. Look for relevant online communities (like forums), engage them, and share your videos to boost your reach.  

Doing an entire YouTube video series can be a daunting effort, but the results will be worth it. Start your own series, and watch your viewers grow.

You’d Be Surprised to Know How Many YouTube Views Chris Brown Has

On March 10, Chart Data tweeted that Chris Brown’s official YouTube channels (there are two of them) have surpassed 15 billion views on YouTube:

YouTube views as a statistic are important as it pretty much sums up the success of a video. In fact, video creators are always on the prowl for strategies on how to get more views on YouTube

Compared to other musicians

For comparison’s sake, other musicians have more views than him:

  • Justin Bieber: 22 billion views
  • Katy Perry: 17 billion views
  • Taylor Swift: 16.3 billion views
  • Ed Sheeran: 16.2 billion views
  • Shakira: 15.8 billion views

Keep in mind that Chris’ data includes songs he’s been featured on, while the above stats are purely for their channel alone. Including feature views for these artists would place Brown even further behind them.

Chris Brown, of course, knew that this was a big moment in his career, and he bragged about it on Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

🔥❤️🙏🏽

A post shared by CHRIS BROWN (@chrisbrownofficial) on

A hip hop/rap music website was quick to tag this as ‘goat’ talk, but getting 15 billion views is no easy feat, man. 

Chris Brown has some serious bragging rights, but none of his videos still qualify for the list of the most viewed videos on YouTube.

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