The Best Sites for Sharing Videos (Publicly or Privately)

Author: Yuvraj Wadhwani / Source: How-To Geek

There used to be a time when sharing a video online was a tough job. These days, the problem has morphed into having too many options. Whether you want to share a video with the world, or only show it to your friends and family, the following websites will help you out.

YouTube: The Best Option for Most People

YouTube is the world’s largest video sharing platform. It’s fairly easy to use (many video apps even support uploading directly to YouTube), and you can share videos publicly or privately for free.

To upload a video, you’ll need a Google account and to be signed into YouTube. On the top right of the screen, you’ll see the option to upload your video.

Clicking the button will take you to the following screen. You can then select your video files from your computer or drag-and-drop your files in the upload area.

You can also upload videos privately on YouTube if you wish. The option is not straight-forward, so let us explain. If you click the drop-down that says “Public,” you’ll see four options.

The “Public” option means that the video you upload will be public and appear in YouTube searches for the relevant terms. The “Scheduled” option makes a video public but sets its availability for a specific date and time.

For keeping videos private, there are two options, and this is what they mean:

Private: Private videos can only be viewed by people you authorize. You can invite up to 50 people via email to watch the video and only they will be able to watch the video.
Even if one of those members shared the video with someone else, those people wouldn’t be able to watch it unless you’ve added them to the list. Private videos also don’t appear in YouTube search.
Unlisted: Unlisted videos are quite similar to public videos, but don’t appear in the YouTube search results. It’s a good option if you’ve got a video you want to share with more than 50 people, but don’t want the general public stumbling across it too easily.

The level of privacy you want to set on each video is your choice. You can upload all your videos publicly, or create a private collection just for friends and family.

Google Photos: Simpler Sharing, Good for Collaborative Albums

Google Photos is another excellent way to share videos. The advantage of Google Photos is that it has a more straightforward interface than YouTube and sharing is easier through your mobile phone. It’s even possible that your videos are already uploaded to the site if you’re a Google Photos user. The service also supports albums, which can have both photos and videos, making it an excellent option for sharing pictures and videos together.

You can upload a video manually or use one of the videos that your phone backed up automatically, but shared albums give you more control and also allow other people contribute to the album so that pictures and videos from everyone can be organized in the same place.

You start by creating a shared album.