5 Questions with Chris Carver, Chief Operating Officer of Invisible Children

On March 5 of this year, Invisible Children uploaded “Kony 2012” to their YouTube channel. Today, the video has over 93 million views and has made Joseph Kony a household name. We caught up with Chris Carver, Chief Operating Officer of the organization to learn more about how Kony got to be such a viral sensation, the action (and controversy) it inspired, and their new documentary, “MOVE.”

1. KONY 2012 was the most viral nonprofit video ever on YouTube. What is your outreach strategy when putting out a new video?

We’re a grassroots movement so we first reach out to the supporter base we've developed over the past 9 years. A big part of Invisible Children's model is to tour our documentaries for free in schools, colleges and churches throughout North America. We do two tours a year, reaching around 500,000 students each tour. Prior to KONY2012, we had done 14 tours, with over 13,500 free screenings to over 5M students. There are over 500 Invisible Children clubs around the country, and we’ve put on 5 international events with over 400,000 people in attendance. I mention all of this to show how much importance we place on face-to-face interaction. The offline experience is just as important (if not more) than the online experience. Our supporters are truly the catalyst for getting our/their message out and we invest a lot of time cultivating these young, amazing leaders via phone, email, livestream, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

There are so many other factors we consider as part of the outreach strategy when putting out a new film: From the importance of strong branding and design, to clear and concise copy that's synchronized across all platforms, to making sure everything has a very clear call to action.

2. Your new documentary tells the story of Kony. What was your motivation behind putting out this documentary? Why now?

Actually, all of our documentaries focus on Joseph Kony and the LRA in some form or another (11 films total). I think we all got to the point where telling the same type of story year after year wasn’t resulting in the amount of awareness about Kony that was needed to put international pressure on him.

In putting out KONY 2012, we told the story differently. We felt that after 26 years of child abductions, terrible atrocities and mass displacement in central Africa, the time had come for Kony to become famous. Not to celebrate him, but to bring his crimes to light. Although we far exceeded what we ever could have imagined in terms of view count and awareness, we know that seeing a permanent end to LRA violence is going to take much more than that. It is going to take a continued awareness, continued mobilization, more protection of communities from LRA violence and more recovery programs to rehabilitate, educate and create jobs for people affected by LRA violence.

Our new documentary, MOVE, goes behind-the-scenes to tell the story of the KONY 2012 whirlwind, how we made an African warlord famous, and how we’re going to challenge our generation to take a stand for international justice.

3. There were more than 40k videos uploaded to YouTube in response to KONY 2012. Were you able to engage with any of these folks? Did the volume of video replies surprise you?

To be entirely honest, I think almost everything about this campaign was initially surprising. Millions of people responded and our infrastructure couldn't handle the response. I take responsibility for this, but I'm not sure anyone could see this coming. As a result, people couldn't get any context for who Invisible Children was. So although we love the fact that so many people responded with more videos (extending the conversation), it was a loss that we couldn't respond back. We've always tried to make our various platforms a two-way conversation, but we just weren't set up for this much volume.

4. How did the KONY 2012 viewership translate into offline action?
KONY 2012 was/is an awareness campaign, and the international community responded with the most intense period of global engagement in the history of the LRA conflict:

• March 5: The film went live
• March 21: the KONY 2012 legislation was introduced in the Senate
• March 23: the African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) announced that 5,000 troops will pursue Kony
• April 19: the European Union (EU) pledged their support
• April 20: Cover The Night promoted global awareness & service
• April 23: President Obama extended the deployment of U.S. military advisers to help stop the LRA
• May 12: the Ugandan army captures Major Caesar Achellam, one of the top commanders in the LRA
• May 24: U.S. Senate State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee approves $10,000,000 for humanitarian aid in LRA-affected communities
• June 26: Invisible Children delivered 3.7 Million KONY 2012 pledges to the United Nations
• June 29: the AU & UN released their strategy to combat the LRA
• July 31: U.S. Senate Defense Appropriations Committee approves $50,000,000 for intelligence and surveillance of LRA activity
• August 2: the KONY 2012 resolution that was introduced on March 21 passes the Senate by unanimous consent

On November 17, we’re encouraging thousands of supporters to gather for the largest global summit on the LRA in history. Participants will hear directly from the top 10 global leaders on the LRA conflict, surround the White House for a demonstration of unity, and end the evening by celebrating human connectivity through the universal language of dance.




5. KONY 2012 and MOVE are both quite a bit longer than the average YouTube video - how did you decide that a longer video was right for this subject?

For the past 9 years and subsequent 14 tours, we developed our films to be distributed in person. KONY 2012 was the first film that we released online, and its length was determined by how much time it took to tell the story. Because we knew it was longer than most online videos, we were strategic in making sure that every second held your attention, had a strong storyline, and was less than 30 minutes (clocked in at 29:59).

We took the same approach for MOVE and hope people who watch this time, share the film with the same idea as the first. Where you live should not determine whether you live and we have a responsibility to protect those that cannot protect themselves.


Ramya Raghavan, YouTube for Good team, recently watched “Protection Plan”

YouTube’s original channels go global

A lot has happened since we announced nearly 100 new original channels coming to YouTube: 7-year-old Ruby taught Amy Poehler about feminism. Rainn Wilson interviewed Deepak Chopra in the back of a mysterious van, and Phil DeFranco’s SourceFed became one of the hottest comedy news shows on the Web or TV. What do all these moments have in common? They’re being created for you on YouTube. And, when we look at the numbers, you’re liking what you watch:

• Our top 25 original channels are now averaging over a million views every week
• 800 million of you are watching 4 billion hours every month, that’s up from 3 billion hours earlier this year
• The number of people subscribing has doubled y/y
• And partners this year are reaching the 100k subscriber mark 5x faster than they were just two years ago

Given the success of these and the tens of millions of other amazing channels already out there, we still know there’s more great content to find, follow and fall in love with on YouTube. That’s why today, we’re excited to launch a new generation of original channels coming from France, Germany, the UK and the US.

From local cuisine, health and wellness and parenting to sports, music, comedy, animation and news, this new lineup of original channels will have something for everyone. They are backed by some of the biggest producers, well-known celebrities and emerging media companies from Europe and the U.S.

You can get a sneak peek of the all the coming new channels here. So go and find something to love and stay tuned as this new generation of channels roll out in the months ahead.

Robert Kyncl, VP, Global Head of Content

New features for teachers

It’s World Teachers’ Day, and to honor the hard-working and talented people in front of classrooms everywhere, we’ve put together some new resources to make YouTube even more useful for learning. (Oh, and we’re celebrating teachers in the YouTube logo today too! Check it out!).

First, we’ve created a special YouTube EDU Creator Playbook Guide (download it here), full of video best practices for online educators to learn from each other. The Guide suggests ideas for organizing curriculum videos on YouTube, attracting a bigger audience to your educational content, and explains how to use YouTube features like annotations and playlists to make educational channels more interactive.

Second, we asked James Sanders, KIPP Bay Area Innovation manager (and former YouTube teacher-in-residence), to create a presentation on 10 ways teachers can use YouTube to build a 21st century classroom. It’s full of great, proven ideas for using YouTube to bring educational topics to life. For more advice, and playlists of educational videos visit YouTube.com/Teachers.

Today we also hit a great milestone at YouTube EDU - more than 1000 educational channels to learn from. So whether you’re a teacher looking to make physics more fun, an art student looking for inspiration, or a parent needing help with algebra homework, there’s a channel on YouTube EDU for you.

If you create great educational content and are interested in having your channel added to YouTube EDU, you can nominate your channel here.

And to teachers everywhere - thank you for all you do!

Arthur Woods, YouTube EDU team, recently watched “Dan Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation”.

Supersonic freefall from the edge of space to Earth, live on YouTube

This Monday, the launch window opens for aviation pioneer Felix Baumgartner to freefall from the edge of space back to Earth, hoping to break the speed of sound with nothing but his body and a parachute on the way down—live on Red Bull’s YouTube Channel. The mission aims to collect scientific data for the advancement of aerospace safety.

”All systems are a go” for The Red Bull Stratos Mission starting 6:00am PT on October 8. Since freefalling from space requires perfect weather conditions, the full launch window extends for two weeks. To find the exact time of the launch, check the Red Bull YouTube Channel or sign up for email updates at redbullstratos.com.



How it works
The 120,000 foot jump over Roswell, New Mexico is the culmination of over five years of work by Felix and the Red Bull Stratos mission team, who are now prepared to break the 102,800 ft record set by US Air Force legend, Col. Joe Kittinger 52 years ago. After rising in a capsule propelled by 30 million cubic feet of helium, Felix will jump from 23 miles above Roswell, New Mexico. You’ll see a live data feed that will show exactly where Felix is in the sky, his rate of speed during the freefall, and how high above earth he is throughout the entire flight. You’ll also be able to hear Felix’s conversations with Col. Kittinger who will be the only voice from Mission Control advising Felix.

Enjoy the ride.

Tim Katz, Sports Partnerships Manager, recently watched “Supersonic Freefall - Red Bull Stratos CGI.”

Improving Content ID

*Updated on 10/4: In the third paragraph we've clarified that potentially invalid claims are manually reviewed by the content owner.*

In the nearly five years since we launched Content ID, it has helped everyone from large media companies to up-and-coming creators manage their content when it appears on YouTube. More than 3,000 content owners have supplied more than 500,000 hours of reference files to the system. Content ID hasn’t stood still over the last five years. We’ve been rolling out regular updates and we want to highlight three particular efforts that we think improve Content ID for everyone.

A New Appeals Process
Users have always had the ability to dispute Content ID claims on their videos if they believe those claims are invalid. Prior to today, if a content owner rejected that dispute, the user was left with no recourse for certain types of Content ID claims (e.g., monetize claims). Based upon feedback from our community, today we’re introducing an appeals process that gives eligible users a new choice when dealing with a rejected dispute. When the user files an appeal, a content owner has two options: release the claim or file a formal DMCA notification.

Smarter Detection of Unintentional Claims
Content owners have uploaded more than ten million reference files to the Content ID system. At that scale, mistakes can and do happen. To address this, we’ve improved the algorithms that identify potentially invalid claims. We stop these claims from automatically affecting user videos and place them in a queue to be manually reviewed by the content owner. This process prevents disputes that arise when content not owned by a partner inadvertently turns up in a reference file.

Smarter claim detection minimizes unintentional mistakes. Of course, we take action in rare cases of intentional misuse, up to and including terminating Content ID access.

Improved Matching Quality
At the heart of Content ID is the matching technology that identifies partners’ content among all the videos on YouTube. Earlier this year we introduced a significant improvement to how the matching happens. We continue to work on ways to make the matching more precise through better algorithms and a more comprehensive reference library.

There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but we believe that these are significant steps forward in our efforts to keep YouTube a vibrant place where the rights of both content owners and users are protected and everyone can control their original content and make money from it - money which can be put towards the production of more great content.

For now, keep on watching, upload a video or two and please, please keep the feedback coming.

Thabet Alfishawi, Rights Management Product Manager, recently watched/danced to "Psy - Gangnam Style"

Celebrating teachers who make a difference with Google

For most of us, there’s at least one teacher whose name we will never forget—that favorite teacher who made a difference in our education, whether they were our first grade art teacher or a professor in college. For me, that teacher was Ms. Taylor, my 8th grade science teacher. Ms. Taylor didn't just foster my love of science—she understood that 8th grade can be a tough time for students as they try to navigate social cliques and prepare for the pressure of high school. Ms. Taylor knew that taking the time to ask us if we were feeling okay was just as important as teaching us about geological formations. She didn’t just care about teaching us—she genuinely cared about us as people.

This Friday is World Teachers' Day, and we want to honor the teachers like Ms. Taylor who helped make us the people we are today. We’ve long supported education through technology, offering free tools like YouTube Edu and Google Apps for Education, and by developing cost-efficient devices like Chromebooks. But it’s the teachers who really make the difference by creatively incorporating that technology into their classrooms. As technology usage in schools increases, we hear even more amazing stories about how teachers and students are using our products to foster collaborative learning.

And that usage is growing quickly. As of today, more than 20 million students, faculty and staff worldwide use Google Apps for Education. In addition, in the last year we announced that:

• 400+ universities are posting lectures and/or full courses online using YouTube Edu
• 600,000 staff from the Philippines Department of Education will now be using Google Apps
• Universities across the continents are signing up for Apps, including schools in Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Africa
• More than 500 schools and districts went back to school with Chromebooks this fall
• Seven of the eight Ivy League universities and 72 of this year’s top 100 U.S. universities (as determined by 2013 U.S. News and World Report’s ranking) have gone Google with Google Apps for Education

As a tribute to the educators who are putting these tools to work, this week we’ll be highlighting a few amazing teachers on our Google in Education page on Google+. To kick off the series, we want to celebrate Ms. Kornowski—a science teacher at Kettle-Moraine High School in Wales, WI, who is using Google Forms to bring her students together.



To all the Ms. Taylors and Ms. Kornowskis out there—thank you, both for the positive impact you have on your students and for letting Google be a part of that experience.

Posted by Cristin Frodella, Google in Education

The 2012 Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates, live on YouTube

In just 34 days, American voters will head to the polls to cast their ballots in the U.S. election.

Throughout the month of October, President Barack Obama and Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney will go head-to-head in a series of highly-anticipated general election debates. This year, for the first time, you can watch the debates live and in full on the YouTube Elections Hub, via our partners at ABC News, who will be live streaming all four debates on the ABC News YouTube channel. No matter where you are in the world or how you’ll be accessing the internet, you’ll be able to watch the most important events of the 2012 election on YouTube.

Want to make sure you catch each debate? Click the Google Calendar buttons below to create a reminder for each.

• October 3 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Presidential)  
• October 11 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Vice Presidential)  
• October 16 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Presidential)
• October 22 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Presidential)

These four general election debates represent the only opportunity to see the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates challenge each other’s positions on the most pressing issues of our time -- from jobs and the economy to the future of the Middle East.

In addition to the live broadcast of the debates, we will also have commentary and analysis from our eight YouTube Election Hub partners -- ABC News, Al Jazeera English, BuzzFeed, Larry King, New York Times, Phil DeFranco, Univision and the Wall Street Journal -- each of whom will be be providing their own unique live and on-demand coverage of the four debates before, during and after. And Univision will also offer a version of the debates translated into Spanish, live.

Tune-in to the Elections Hub on Wednesday at 9:00 pm ET to watch the first Presidential debate, live from the University of Denver. And if you miss it, fear not-- we’ll have the full debate, as well as highlight clips, available to watch soon at youtube.com/politics after the debate is over.

Olivia Ma, News and Politics Manager, recently watched "Jesse Ventura on 2016 Presidential Campaign."