The Mexican Revolution on YouTube

November 20 will mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the Mexican Revolution and we’re looking forward to observing that anniversary on YouTube by celebrating a new revolution that’s taking place in Mexico today: a cultural revolution that has pushed Mexican filmmakers onto a global stage.

A number of the nation’s most talented filmmakers, including Gael Garcia Bernal (who starred in Amores Perros, The Motorcycle Diaries and Pedro Almodovar’s Bad Education), Diego Luna (who came to fame with Y tu mama tambien), Carlos Reygadas (who won the jury prize at Cannes for his film Silent Light in 2007), Rodrigo Garcia (who directed the award winning Nine Lives and was nominated for an Emmy for directing an episode of HBO’s Big Love) and Patricia Riggen (who directed 2008 Sundance hit La misma luna), to name just a few, have banded together to create a feature film, Revolución, made up of 10 individual short films that explore the topic of Mexico’s revolution 100 years after it took place. The film has played at numerous film festivals throughout the last year, including the Cannes Film Festival, and will be available on YouTube for 24 hours on November 20 (thanks to YouTube partner Mubi) and for Mexico from November 20th at 23 hrs to November 21st until 23 hrs.

In advance of the film’s premiere, you’re invited to submit questions about the movie, the filmmakers or about the Mexican Revolution at youtube.com/mubi. The filmmakers will answer the most popular questions in videos that will be posted to the Mubi channel on November 20, the day of the film’s premiere.

Get your questions ready after watching this video from the filmmakers of Revolución:

Sara Pollack, Entertainment Marketing Manager, Directors' invitation to watch Revolución

YouTube answers your questions about “YouTube Worldwide”; next topic is advertising

“YouTube Answers” is a series we began in April to introduce you to a variety of people who work here and give you the chance to ask us questions about a broad topic relevant to the site. Camille Hearst and Shenaz Zack bravely went first, to answer your questions about partnerships. Next, we recruited Brian Truong, Product Manager; Shalabh Chaturvedi, Software Engineer, and Victoria Grand, Head of Policy, to tackle your queries about our international sites and policies:




Big thanks to everyone who asked a question! We saw a three-fold increase in questions and votes this round.

Next up: head over to the YouTube channel where we’re using Moderator to collect questions on the topic of “Advertising on YouTube.” This is a good opportunity to ask about how advertising on YouTube works, what the different ad formats are, what advertisers are looking for, and ways you might be able to connect with them. We’ll be taking questions until Monday, July 26, and then we’ll be back as soon as possible afterward with two new staffers in the hot seat.

Mia Quagliarello, Product Marketing Manager, Community, recently watched “Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10.”

YouTube answers your questions about partnerships (and next topic announced)

YouTube is a big place, but we’re trying to make it feel a little bit smaller. That’s why in April, we announced a new initiative in which you submit questions on a broad topic and then several employees who work in that area answer the most popular questions on video. It’s an opportunity to ask us anything you like relating to the subject at hand and to get to know many of the faces working at YouTube.

Our first topic was partnerships, and there were 2,017 votes on 96 questions from 223 people. After reviewing your questions, rehearsing, applying a little more makeup than usual, and rehearsing some more (because we’re not naturals at this like you are!), two members of our partnerships team -- Shenaz Zack, Product Manager, and Camille Hearst, Product Marketing Manager -- made this video response:



We hope the video helps to demystify any burning questions you may have had about being a YouTube partner.

Next up, head over to our YouTube channel where we’re using the nifty new Moderator tool to collect questions on the next topic: “YouTube Worldwide.” This is a good opportunity to ask about what goes into localizing the site, how to find cool content in your language, translation features, and lots more. We’ll be taking questions until Sunday, June 13, and then we’ll be back as soon as possible afterward with two new staffers in the hot seat.

Mia Quagliarello, Product Marketing Manager, Community, recently watched “Mike Tyson’s Tea Time.”

Google Moderator on YouTube enables real-time feedback from your audience

YouTube is about starting a conversation. Every day, hundreds of millions of videos spark dialogues on everything from the future of the African continent, to what should be done about the oil spill, to the best slam dunk of all time.  But until now, it’s been difficult to harness those free-flowing discussions. 

That’s why, starting today, we’ve integrated the ability to use Google Moderator into every single YouTube channel. Moderator is a versatile, social platform that allows you to solicit ideas or questions on any topic, and have the community vote the best ones up to the top in real-time. We previously used Google Moderator as part of our interviews with President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. 

Here’s how it works: You set the parameters for the dialogue, including the topic, the type of submissions, and the length of the conversation. Watch as submissions get voted up or down by your audience, and then respond to the top-voted submissions by posting a video on your channel. The platform operates in real-time, and you can remove any content that you or your audience flag as inappropriate. You can also embed the platform on your own website or blog.

To get things started, we’ve invited 12 YouTube users, including Michael Buckley, the New York Times, Stanford and Howcast, to try out the feature and show us how it’s done:

Foodwishes wants you to submit and vote on your favorite recipes, and Chef John will make the top-rated dish and name it after the creator:





GreenForAll is asking for your ideas for how to help clean-up the Gulf Coast oil spill:






HotforWords is looking for your best examples of redundant acronyms: 





HouseholdHacker welcomes your questions in his series “Ask Household Hacker”:





HowtheWorldWorks invites you to make the case for why the YouTube community should listen to you when you vlog: 






Howcast wants your ideas for their next “how-to” video: 





Kina Grannis is looking for a poet to help write the lyrics for her next song: 





Michael Buckley wants to hear about your problems in love and life, because he thinks he can help:






Mystery Guitar Man is taking your ideas for what crazy instrument he should use in his next video:





Nick Kristof of the New York Times is open to your questions about his travels around the globe, and why a man like him so often writes about women’s rights issues: 






Stanford is offering up renowned cardiologist Dr. Euan Ashley to answer your questions about heart disease and other genetic-related disorders:






The Team Flight Brothers are looking for your nominations for the best (non-NBA) dunk ever: 





The Will of DC is turning over his entire “Winners and Losers” show to you this month - who do you think are YouTube’s biggest winners and losers? 






Have an idea for how you might use Moderator on your channel?  You can get started by going to your channel page and clicking on the "Modules" tab in the "Edit Channel" menu. 







For more details on how to set up your Moderator series, visit youtube.com/moderator.  And please note that in order to participate in a Moderator series, you'll need to be logged into a Google account that is linked to a YouTube account.



By Olivia Ma, YouTube News Manager, and Ginny Hunt, Product Manager, Moderator, recently watched “Cowrite with Kina - Part 1.”