Types of YouTube Accounts

No matter what type of account you have, you can participate
fully as a member of the YouTube community; that is, you can
upload videos, comment on videos, create a playlist, and share
videos. Each of the specialized accounts, however, differs in

the way you can brand yourself through your Channel page.
Your Channel page is where you organize your YouTube information
such as your own favorite videos, your subscribers,
the videos you’ve uploaded, and the personal information you
provided when you set up your account including where
you’re from, what you do for a living, where you went to
school, and so on.
Here are the major differences among the accounts:
Comedian: This account type is for people who do standup,
parody, satire, or sketch comedy. As a Comedian,
you’ll be permitted to add a custom logo, provide a more
extended profile, give show date information, and link CD
purchases to your Channel page.
Director: This one is for show creators and personalities
who entertain and inform on YouTube. If you select this
type of account, you’ll be able to list customized performer
information that will appear on your Profile page,
including such things as your style and your influences.
As with the Comedian account, you can show your personality
with the use of custom text and graphics on your
Channel page.
Guru: You’d select this channel if you were planning to
upload how-to types of videos that reflect your expertise,
whether that is cooking, creating videos, knitting, or any
other area you feel competent to advise others about. Gurus
have the same ability to customize their Channel
pages as Directors and Comedians.
Musician: This is the place for bands, singers, songwriters,
and even representatives of record labels. Anyone involved
in the world of music will want to select this type
of account. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to include

a custom logo on your Profile page and list genre, tour
date information, and links to CDs you’ve bought.
Reporter: Get ready all you scribes out there! Select this account
type if you write for a print or online publication, or
are a broadcast journalist. You don’t even need press credentials.
Individuals can join professional journalists in
reporting and commenting on local, national, and international
news. As a reporter, you can create a Channel
page that describes your own particular beat. You can explain
your influences and perspectives, and list your own
favorite news sources. If you can’t get enough politics and
news, this could really be the place for you to call home!
When you first sign up on YouTube, you’ll be a basic
YouTuber. If you decide you’d rather sign up for one of the
more specific account types, you’ll get your chance in several

ways. The very last screen you’ll see as you complete the




If you’re already a registered member, and you have a basic
YouTuber account, don’t worry. Simply click on your Account hyperlink
at the top of most pages, then channel info, and finally
change channel type. As you can see in Figure 1-6, from there you
can select an account you feel more specifically identifies you and
your YouTube goals.Here are the basic criteria YouTube says you must meet to become
a YouTube partner:
• You create your own original videos that can be streamed
online.
• You own or have legal permission to use and make money
from the audio and video content that you upload—no
exceptions!
• You regularly upload videos that thousands of YouTube
users watch.
• You live in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom,
Japan, Australia, Ireland, Germany, France, or
Brazil.
We spoke with many such partners throughout our research
for this book, but not one of them felt free to answer any questions
about revenue-sharing arrangements that are part of their deal with
YouTube. We respectfully declined to pump them too hard for answers,
because a commitment to nondisclosure is just that, and we
are honorable writers. So, we’d love to tell you more specifics, but
instead we’ll say this: keep working, think of great new ideas, post
your videos, and someday, perhaps, with a little luck and a lot of
hard work, you’ll gain all the information you need about YouTube
partnerships directly from YouTube itself.