YouTube uses and access
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Handbook
YouTube uses and access
Everyone within the GitLab team is encouraged to live stream their meetings and events on GitLab Unfiltered. First time livestreaming? Find out how below!
We prefer livestreaming over uploading because:
it allows more people to participate in real-time.
You don't have to upload the video to YouTube later on (extra step).
You can't forget about uploading the video.
It is clear to all participants that the content will be public.
But it can happen that you're not in a livestream and something interesting comes up. In that case, you can .
If you're not a host, you can't livestream direct from zoom, so the host will need to do that.
If there is more than one host for the meeting the host that joins the meeting first is the only host that can livestream direct from zoom.
Click the [ More ] button and click Live on YouTube
Select the GitLab Unfiltered or GitLab
Grant permissions to the YouTube account by clicking the [Allow] button
Allow OBS to automatically configure your settings:
Accept the recommended video settings:
Add your webcam as a "Video Capture Device" from the Sources tool:
We post everything that doesn't contain confidential information to YouTube. We found that it helps with:
Hiring because candidates can get a feel for the company by seeing meetings.
Retention because sharing reinforces our value of transparency.
Community because people feel more part of what is happening at the company.
Sales because people see our training materials they sell themselves.
Enablement because people can find detailed content about certain subjects.
Awareness because lots of time is spent on YouTube and our videos get lots of views in aggregate.
You don't need to be worried that something is not of the high enough quality because:
Algorithms will ensure that a video will be distributed to the right-sized audience.
We can embed videos if and where they are relevant, for example in docs.
Follow up later if we need to (rerecord, do an interview).
Creating content for the Unfiltered channel shouldn't be extra work. You should do what you normally do. But when a meeting is possibly interesting for more people, make it a livestream for the Unfiltered channel. Or when you start talking about something possibly relevant to more people, hit the record button.
have mouse-over thumbnails.
can be played at a higher speed.
can be fast forwarded and rewound in 10-second blocks.
can be timeshifted by adding them to a watch later list.
can be embedded, for example in the handbook.
restart at the right spot after being reloaded.
can be easily viewed on other devices, like TVs or streaming devices, with YouTube support.
can have subtitles added automatically.
will be served to people when it is relevant, automatically, since YouTube is a distribution channel.
allows anyone to contribute by leaving comments.
public videos show up in Google search.
easy to make public if the video is suitable for that.
have playlists that allow for better organization of the video content.
There are two YouTube channels we use at GitLab:
There are three types of visibility:
Main
Public
Private
The level of visibility should be displayed clearly in the titles of calendar invites. For example, when you do a livesteam to the public channel say: "Public stream" at the start of the invite. You can skip live in livestream since every stream is live. Do not say Unfiltered stream since it is ambiguous. Do not say just livestream since people don't know what the level of access is.
We don't post:
Private videos on our branded channel, all videos on that channel are intended for a wider audience.
If you get a "Video unavailable This video is private." error on youtube, the error may be caused because the video is private to GitLab Unfiltered and you are accessing the video with your individual Youtube account. In order to see the video,
Click your photo or icon in the upper right corner of Youtube.
Then Click > Switch Account
Once you are on GitLab unfiltered, reload the page and you can view the video
Please remember that if you find a user comment to respond to on one of our channel videos, that it will be perceived as official communication from the company. In almost all cases, unless your job specifically requires you to interact in a community manager role or capacity, it is best to switch to a personal account prior to engaging with a video or user on YouTube.
Consider switching to your personal account, responding to the comment, and identifying yourself as a GitLab employee offering help.
Please do not comment on videos from non-GitLab YouTube accounts using any company related YouTube profile. Commenting as GitLab is reserved for responses to our owned videos on our channels only.
Should you come across personal, political or inappropriate channel subscriptions, comments or shares in GitLab's Youtube account, please notifiy people-exp@gitlab.com immediately to ensure this can be removed.
When publishing, Youtube will ask if the content is made for kids. GitLab content should be marked as "No, it's not made for kids".
It is essential that we always know if something is public or private. Always mention that both in the countdown and in the calendar invite title.
Therefore say:
Public stream
Private stream
Public recording
Private recording
Never say: livestream or recording since those are ambiguous.
There are some recordings where it is not clear whether they should be Private or Public or they require a review by the Legal team before posting publicly on YouTube. It would be disingenuous to tell our team that the recording is Private and then change the recording to Public. In this scenario, we should state that this a Reviewed Stream or a Reviewed Recording. This stream will be initially Private and upon Legal review could be changed to Public.
The below instructions apply to either livestreams to YouTube or recorded videos that are uploaded to YouTube soon afterwards.
The moderator asks the host "NAME OF PERSON, can I initiate the countdown for this public/private stream?" and waits for confirmation. The moderator counts down from three ("I'll start the countdown for this public/private stream/recording in 3, 2, 1"), and nothing else is said by the moderator beyond this point so that so it is not accidentally recorded. Click Live to YouTube and start the livestream. Be sure not to click Live to YouTube any earlier than 1 minute before the start since it can time out.
The host should do an introduction stating who they are, what their role is, and what the meeting is about, e.g. "I am Jane Doe, the VP of Widget Production, and today's Group Conversation is about the molding phase of widget production."
Please note that if the recording starts a 'this meeting is being recorded' message the host should talk over that because otherwise the recorded video will needed editing to prevent an awkward pause.
Unless stated or arranged otherwise, our expected behavior is that the meeting organizer is responsible for distributing the video after the meeting.
Select the meeting and download the recording to your computer (if you can't find the recording because it was a while ago check "Trash" in the menu on the top left and "Recover" the recording).
Drag and drop your recording into the window to upload it. Keep the privacy dropdown on the default 'Public' setting (unless there is confidential material). Use the dropdown menu to set the video to private if it the video contains confidential material.
While it's uploading, edit the title and description. Place "Confidential:" at the beginning of the video's title if the video will be kept private on our YouTube channel.
Be sure to include relevant links (for example a handbook page or presentation) in the description, and add the video to any relevant playlists.
In the "Comments and ratings" section, select "Hold potentially inappropriate comments for review" - this allows all valid comments to be posted, allowing everyone to contribute, but holds spam or derogatory comments for review. There may be videos where we do not wish to open the comments section or need to moderate each comment. If you think your video would potentially need to go this route, add your question to the #marketing Slack channel.
When it is done uploading, press publish, then click on the Embed tab and copy the code, and insert that in the relevant part of the handbook or documentation.
After uploading a video to the GitLab Unfiltered channel, be sure to add a link to the new video in the #content-updates channel in Slack.
Everyone at the company probably has at least one conversation every week that is relevant to more people, so please share it.
Don't worry about whether or not it will be interesting to absolutely everyone. Just give it a descriptive title so people know what it is about, and let them decide whether or not they should watch it.
Make sure that all participants are aware that you're recording.
You don't have to be sure it is interesting and OK to share when you start recording; you can make that decision after the fact.
If you record an in-person conversation with your mobile phone please hold your phone in landscape (horizontal) mode.
Depending on your needs, you might want use software to provide overlays and/or reroute audio. 99% of the people at GitLab don't use this, but see below for instructions if you do want to use it.
Install both OBS Studio (encoder) and an audio rerouting software.
Open up OBS Studio and open preferences
Input your encoder variables under "Stream"
Configure your to-be-recorded software's audio to be rerouted to an alternative audio source/output.
Under "Video" select your preferred resolution and fps settings. Please take note that these should optimally reflect video aspect ratio such as 1920x1080.
Optionally you can set up some output options under "Output"
In the normal window of OBS Studio you should now see 2 audio sliders, including "Mic/Aux 2". Configure these to your liking.
Select "Start Streaming": You are now streaming
Please remember to .
Generally, for a livestream, it's helpful to have a separate person handling .
Please don't include any confidential information in the description of your Youtube video since there is a bug that can cause
Configure your Zoom to enable livestreaming for YouTube.
Follow the instructions for .
Install and launch
Select "Custom" service and configure OBS to livestream to :
Training because content on YouTube is easier to consume even for team members, see
The is our casual space for communicating and sharing with the public. Content on the Unfiltered channel includes, but is not limited to, team meetings, discussions, monthly release kick-offs, office hours, CEO 101 meetings, and nonformal demos.
Enhance videos later if we need to (, add transcript, extensive description, links to relevant materials).
In case there are any concerns raised about a video on the Unfiltered channel, everyone has the authority to make it private. You don't have to wait for any permission, just go to the channel specific YouTube Studio, and mark the video private. Please note that there is another tab for live videos. If you mark a video private when it doesn't need to be, it is be easy to undo: simply mark the video public.
Always use YouTube and never use Google Drive, even for , because YouTube videos:
are streamed .
allow links to a .
are
: used for content intended for people in the wider community, including marketing and event content, customer, community and user stories, employment branding, and polished sales videos and demos. For example .
: used for content intended for team and community members, including (but not limited to) team meetings, discussions, monthly release kick-offs, office hours, CEO 101 meetings, and casual demos. For example .
Unlisted videos (see the "" section below).
Use Google Drive for any video, since it has .
We never post videos on any channel: it is too insecure for sensitive materials and not findable enough for public materials.
Sometimes, some videos are still posted as unlisted, they can be spotted with this (while using the GitLab Unfiltered account).
You can change the visibility of videos by clicking on the Details buttons when you hover a video in the list linked above.
Now Select > GitLab Unfiltered. Do not select the account with your name. If GitLab Unfiltered is not an option, see
Check out for a visual walk through of how to access private videos on GitLab Unfiltered.
GitLab branded channel: To request access, create a and assign the listed provisioner (column G) from the .
GitLab Unfiltered: Everyone should get access to YouTube Unfiltered during onboarding. If you do not see an invitation in your Inbox, please check the section of your GSuite account. If your invitation is not there, please request a new invitation in the #peopleops Slack channel.
Our YouTube channels contain a lot of content. As a result, it can often be hard to find videos once they are published, particularly on the Unfiltered channel. Make liberal use of and to organize the video content you publish. For published recordings of recurring meetings, which should be posted on the Unfiltered channel, please search for a playlist to put the video in. If there is no applicable playlist. please create one. You can also create a playlist that would automatically add new videos containing certain text in their titles, descriptions or tags to avoid manual steps ()
- Here you can check if your channel meets all requirements for live streaming
- If you need extra help or information on setting up a YouTube live stream in general
- Here you can find your encoder setup variables, manage your stream and see your chat
Default to instead of uploading.
Please follow the process for .
Log in to the account of the meeting and go to the menu on the right and choose "My Recordings" (it can take up to 30 minutes before the recording is available to be shared).
Go to the and log into the . If you're logged into your personal YouTube account, you may need to first log into your GitLab YouTube account to access the channel. If you're already logged into your GitLab YouTube account and have access to the channel, you need to switch accounts to that channel. To switch accounts, click on the account icon in the top right corner and then click "Switch account".
There is no minimum quality, so please share it on our , as long as there is nothing inappropriate or confidential.
We always list videos publicly instead of , unless there is confidential material. This allows more people to find the content. If the material is confidential, set the video to private.
or install with 'brew cask install obs' on mac
or install with brew cask install soundflower
- Great closed source alternative
if your channel is ready to live stream.
Copy your encoder variables en setup your live streaming environment with the
Under "Audio" in OBS Studio preferences, select the alternative audio source/output under Mic/Auxiliary Device 2. See for more help
Go to your to see your live stream and interact with your viewers.