YouTube is one example of a web based service which can be used to host videos for streamed viewing. After a YouTube account is created, videos less than 10 minutes in length and under 100MB, can be uploaded and shared. An account holder can create their own channel from which all their videos can be browsed. http://www.youtube.com/bedeedward.

Links can be placed on organisational web pages to videos which open and play via YouTube. An object or container can be placed on an organisation’s web page, by copying the Embed string available from the video’s YouTube page and pasting as HTML into the page. The video will then run on the page, but streamed from YouTube, with no bandwidth demands on the organisations website.

YouTube is also an effective platform for distributing audio documentaries. Audio formats aren’t supported, but when an audio track is added to a video timeline with a single image, or a series of suitable images and rendered as a video it can be uploaded to YouTube to share. YouTube is a far more popular platform than any audio sharing service, making it an effective mechanism to share video and audio.