YouTube Turns Seven With a ‘Lighter’ Feature For Slower Connections

Yesterday, the world’s leading video sharing site, YouTube, turned a very healthy 7 years old, since being acquired by Google back in 2005.

The golden secret behind the success of this site is its dedication to user-generated content that gives everyone an equal opportunity to load up, listen and share whatever it is they like, be it music videos, film clips, audio content (accompanied by some graphic representation) as well as podcasts and a whole lot more. Youtube even made it to Ghafla!’s list of Top 20 Entertainment Websites in Kenya.

“The content industry is becoming increasingly diverse, and as we celebrate YouTube’s seventh anniversary, Google is happy to be keeping pace with the changing needs of Kenyan consumers, content creators and businesses,” Joseph Mucheru, Google Kenya Country Manager commented, “Since the launch of the Kenyan domain, we continue to see an upsurge in creative, informative and educative content go up.”

Last year, in October to be precise, Youtube launched a localized version of their global portal: http://www.youtube.co.ke at a more than colourful event at the Tribe Hotel in Nairobi, and saw dozens of musicians, celebrities and tech gurus attend the invite only affair. The ‘Kenyan’ YouTube concept was well received and has led to a massive increase of local content uploaded through channels such as Kenya’s leading media houses NTV Kenya, KTN Kenya and Citizen TV.

Competitions and Television shows such as Tusker Project Fame, MTV Shuga and even Big Brother Africa are also using YouTube as a media to connect with fans and keep them up to date with relevant content to their brand.
In addition to the standard YouTube experience, users also have the option to watch videos with a relatively new feature: YouTube Feather. This “light” version only includes the site’s most basic features, to help ensure that those with low-speed Internet connections are able to play videos play faster. YouTube Feather can be found in TestTube (http://www.youtube.com/testtube), the area on the site where new products are tested