Hi everyone!
I have this question. Is it okay to include videos uploaded by other people into a hub? Example: I have included a video in my hub from YouTube which is not mine. Is this legal? Your help will be appreciated. Thank you.
you're welcome. It's always nice to include videos, maybe even on your older hubs as it increases time spent on the page
Hey, Sakina I love using youtube videos. I personally don't use just any video, though. To be on the "safe" side, I search out my topic, from my results page I click on "filter" and under the "features" column you'll see "creative commons". I select that and then my results update to only have videos under the creative commons licesnse.
So, when you see a video under this search method, you can click "show more" where the video description is. Toward the bottom, it will show the licensing info. It should say
"License
Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)"
If it doesn't say this, I DON'T use it.
Hope that helps
Thank you so much simplehappylife! This is helpful. I will check out what you have suggested.
Haha! I hate typos too. :p
Actually, Simplehappylife is being far too cautious and looking for licences is totally unnecessary.
I'm sure you're familiar with the Creative Commons licence from using photos. But when you think about it, you do not use photos and videos in the same way, do you?
When you include a photo, a copy of that photo is saved on HubPages. You can put a link to the source in the caption, but not everyone does. If you click on the photo (not the caption), it doesn't take you to the original.
When you include a Youtube video in your Hub, a copy isn't saved on HubPages. What you're doing is embedding the video in your Hub. It is always linked to the original video on Youtube, the Youtube logo is clearly visible and people can click on that logo any time to go to Youtube.
When people post on Youtube, they give permission for their videos to be embedded. If they don't want people to embed their videos on other websites, there is a setting they can choose which will prevent sharing. So the mere fact that you can embed the video means the owner gave permission for it to be used, no licences required.
If there is a CC licence, it means that you can download the video and use it somewhere, disconnected from Youtube - but that's not relevant to us because we don't do that.
It can be hard work to find a really good video but I always try to have at least one video in each Hub, and preferably two. It raises the amount of time people spend on your Hub if they stop to watch videos, and that is good for Google.
This. It's all you need to understand about using YouTube videos in hubs. My best performing hubs include video.
I would add one extra caveat: watch the video you intend to use. Make sure it's on topic for the duration.
Thank you so much Marisa for clearing this. I never thought of videos this way. Thank you for taking out the time and for explaining it very well. You're always very helpful. God bless you!
sorry, I misspelled "license" in the beginning of my comment...typing too fast lol
Aaah, I appreciate your comment and feedback Marisa I never looked at it like that. You're right; I'm overly cautious. I was just worried about doing the "wrong" thing, so I thought only using cc videos was the safest route. Thank you for taking the time to explain it properly
I do believe there is one caveat to that, Marisa. (And I am probably guilty, myself!)
If there is a video of some performance by a professional theater company, it might not be okay to use that. I'm not sure. I know I used one or two in my hub on Gilbert and Sullivan.
That said, the ones that are not professionally recorded tend to be of poor video quality; you can tell they are re-recordings from someone's TV set, or a copy of an old VHS tape recorded using consumer-level equipment. I don't use those, as I don't want to get slapped by the 'blurry/pixelated' master!
Just as Marisa said, if the person uploading does not want it to be shared outside youtube, they have settings that do just that. The video will not play on any external website if they pick this option.
What I was getting at, is that the person uploading it and sharing it may not have had permission to record and upload it in the first place...that is where I feel the issue may lie.
Indeed, there is always a risk that the person who uploaded it to Youtube didn't have the right to do so. That's the only issue you have to worry about and common sense usually tells you it's likely to be illegal.
@DzyMsLizzy
"I don't use those, as I don't want to get slapped by the 'blurry/pixelated' master! lol"
This was hilarious!
Salina, thanks for the question. This is very timely for me as I'm working on my latest hub with a video and was going to research this since I've never asked permission before for use of videos. Thanks to Marisa for clearing it up with specifics. Thanks to you, too simplehappylife for raising the issue.
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