If you don't have your own YouTube channel yet but want to create one, I'd like to offer a small collection of words and terms related to YouTube that are important to know and understand. You may have already come across some of them or heard them before but didn't know what they meant.
A YouTube channel is your personal virtual TV. By creating a YouTube channel, you become a full participant in the service, gaining access to all its features. Users have the right to:
Subscribers to your channel are people who have subscribed to your videos and are regular viewers. They receive notifications when you upload new videos to your channel. As subscribers to your channel, they can see all your actions, such as leaving comments or liking videos on other channels. You have the option to show or hide these actions.
YouTube Top refers to the highest ranking position of a video in search results for a specific keyword. This can be compared to managing your own blog or running a YouTube channel. The highest achievement for a channel is appearing on the main YouTube homepage.
The same applies to reaching the top in a specific country, such as the Top of Russia. When a channel reaches the top, it can attract thousands and hundreds of thousands of visitors, resulting in millions of views.
A like - represented by an upward pointing thumb icon - is an action taken by users to express their approval of your video or comment; they simply like it.
A dislike - represented by a downward pointing thumb icon - is used by users who strongly dislike your video or comment.
By looking at the like-dislike ratio, you can quickly determine whether a video is well-received or not by users.
Annotations are pop-up banners within a video that are placed to capture the viewer's attention and convey specific information or prompt them to take certain actions. For example, subscribing, clicking on a link, etc.
A thumbnail is an image or icon that viewers see before watching a video. They are typically eye-catching and designed to evoke interest and desire to click and watch the video.
However, YouTube has rules stating that the thumbnail should not mislead the viewer. If an author uses a thumbnail that intentionally doesn't match the content of the video, resulting in user complaints, YouTube may penalize the channel of the video's author.
A ban restricts a user's access to specific content. As the channel owner, you can ban a user for using profanity, offensive language, or engaging in spamming.
Spam videos are those that contain intentionally false information. This can be seen when the title and description of the video do not match its actual content. Such videos are either blocked or removed according to YouTube's policy violations.
Artificial inflation refers to the process of artificially increasing certain metrics:
There are no specific penalties from the platform for engaging in artificial inflation, but the benefits are limited. Usually, these services come at a cost, and paying for them will unlikely result in reaching the top. Having 100,000 "inflated" subscribers won't increase your views or advertising revenue.
In general, the content promotion policies on YouTube are similar to those of Yandex and Google: focus on natural growth, provide unique and interesting content, build organic backlinks, and prioritize usability.
A hater is someone who constantly spreads negativity towards you. They criticize your videos and insult you for everything you do. Usually, such negative individuals are simply banned.
A vlog is a video blog created by an individual in which they share something interesting, talk about their life, and share their experiences and secrets. A vlog is centered around a specific person, which distinguishes it from a channel.
HD stands for high-definition video. With a reliable internet connection, YouTube automatically switches to playing videos in this format. It is not a problem to shoot and upload videos in HD format today, as YouTube streams them in the same quality.
YouTube offers the option of monetizing your channel by becoming a partner of the platform. By placing advertisements in your channel's videos, you can earn revenue.
That concludes our introduction to the main terms.