Ever come across the phrase “unlisted YouTube video” before and wondered what it was? This article explains everything you need to know about an unlisted YouTube video.
Overview
Whether professional or personal, YouTube is a great platform for sharing videos. However, there are times when you don’t wish to share your videos with everyone on the internet.
That’s where this YouTube privacy feature – unlisted YouTube video – comes in. To be more specific, an unlisted YouTube video is a YouTube video with its privacy setting set as “Unlisted.”
Additionally, this kind of video won’t appear on YouTube search results or even on the owner’s YouTube channel page. As a matter of fact, the video won’t appear on subscriber feeds, suggestions, or the YouTube homepage.
So, how would people be able to view such a video? Well, only those who have access to the video’s link will be able to view it.
The owner of the video can share the video’s link with anyone he/she wants to. In actual fact, you can also share the video’s link with someone who doesn’t have a YouTube account.
This basically means that anyone could still see an unlisted YouTube video, but only if they have the link! Besides, if you unlist a new YouTube video, your subscribers won’t get any notification informing them about the new video.
How Does it Work?
How an unlisted YouTube video work isn’t that complex. As mentioned in the overview section above, this kind of video is a video that has its privacy setting set to “unlisted.”
Hence, when you set such a video’s privacy to “unlisted,” only people that have the video’s URL link can view it. As I mentioned earlier, the video won’t be shown on YouTube’s public spaces, such as search results or the homepage.
However, unlisted YouTube videos are still treated like public videos by YouTube. Hence, if you post any inappropriate content or copyrighted video, YouTube has the right to take it down!
Besides, people mostly confuse private YouTube videos with unlisted YouTube videos because they operate similarly. However, unlike private YouTube videos, you don’t need a YouTube account to view an unlisted YouTube video.
As stated severally in this article, all you need to view an unlisted YouTube video is the video’s link. In fact, an unlisted YouTube video isn’t limited to sharing it with 50 people, unlike private YouTube videos.
You can share the link of an unlisted YouTube video as many times and with people as you want. As a matter of fact, even if you aren’t the owner of the video but have the link, you can share it with others.
To make things even better, you can also change the privacy setting of an already-uploaded YouTube video to “unlisted.” Hence, such a video will instantly become an unlisted YouTube video.
Having said all that, let us discuss some of the major features of this YouTube privacy feature in the section below.
Features
In the previous sections, I discussed what an unlisted YouTube video is all about and how it works. However, this section examines some of the major features of this YouTube privacy feature.
Only People With the Link Can View it
When a person unlists a video on YouTube, only people with the video’s link can view the video. So, it is up to the owner of the video to decide who will be able to watch the video.
Thus, if you don’t have the link to an unlisted YouTube video, you won’t be able to view it.
It Doesn’t Appear in Public Spaces Like Search Results
If a video on YouTube is unlisted, it won’t appear in YouTube’s public spaces like search results. Therefore, even if you input the exact name of the video on YouTube’s search field, it won’t appear.
As a matter of fact, you won’t be able to find the video on the owner’s channel page or YouTube’s homepage. Only if the owner of the video or anyone shares the video’s link with you, that’s when you will be able to view it.
You Don’t Need a YouTube Account to View an Unlisted YouTube Video
All you need to view an unlisted YouTube video is the video’s link. Hence, even if you don’t have a YouTube account, you can view the video as long as you have the link.
People can Leave Comments Under an Unlisted YouTube Video
As long as you have the video’s link and can view the video, you can leave a comment about the video. However, only the owner and people who have access to the video via the link will see the comment.
Pros of An Unlisted YouTube Video
People With the Video URL Link Can Share the Video
Basically, even if you are not the owner of the video but have the link, you can share it.
Hence, the people you shared the video’s link with will be able to view the video.
It Allows Privacy
If for any reason, you don’t want to share a YouTube video with the public, you can simply unlist it.
The video won’t appear on the YouTube homepage or even among search results. Hence, only people who have the link to the video will be able to view the video.
It helps if you Want to Get Rid of Old Videos but Want to Keep Them Available to Those People who Embedded the Videos
When you delete a YouTube video, the video will be removed from every website or blog that it is embedded.
However, if you don’t want that, you can simply unlist the video rather than delete it. Thus, the video won’t be available to the public but will be available to those with the link.
Hence, since video links are used to embed videos, the video will still be available on the website or blog that it is embedded.
Unlisted Videos are Good for Beta Testing
Unlisting a YouTube video is a great way to gather reactions from people before making the video public.
This also guarantees that a video already has positive comments or reactions before making it available to the wider public. Besides, based on the gathered reactions, you can decide whether or not to make the video public.
It Can be Shared With a Large Number of People
Unlike a private YouTube video that is limited to sharing with just 50 people, you can share an unlisted YouTube video link with over 50 people.
In fact, people with the link can also share it with other people
Cons of an Unlisted YouTube Video
You Cannot Control How Other People Share it
You can choose who you share the link of your unlisted YouTube video with.
However, once they have the video’s link, you cannot control who they share it with. Hence, they might end up sharing the link with someone who you don’t want to see the video.
You Cannot Download an UnIisted YouTube Video for Offline Viewing
YouTube doesn’t provide the service to download an unlisted video for offline viewing.
You Cannot Make Money With an UnIisted YouTube Video
Even though YouTube treats unlisted videos as public videos, you cannot monetize them.
This is because they are not in the public domain, and people cannot freely share or view them on YouTube.
You Cannot Schedule an Unlisted Video
Unlike public videos, YouTube doesn’t give you access to schedule an unlisted video
Conclusion
Sometimes, you might not want the public to have access to a video you post on YouTube. In that case, you can simply unlist such a video.
By unIisting a YouTube video, the video won’t be available to the public to see. In fact, the video won’t appear on YouTube search results as well as on the homepage.
Hence, only people who have the link to the video will be able to view the video. However, the people you share the video’s link with will also be able to share it with others.
Also, it is important to note that YouTube still treats unlisted videos as public videos, even though you can’t monetize them. Thus, if your unIisted video goes against any of YouTube’s policies, it can be taken down by YouTube.
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