iPOP Tips: Ways to Kickstart Your Childs Youtube Channel These days, keeping your kids busy is a job in itself. When they also happen to be an aspiring performer, this is even more true. One great way to keep your child entertained and boost their social presence is by starting a Youtube channel. Whether they opt to bust out their best moves or even cooking skills, the results are pure fun. Read below for helpful tips on kickstarting your child’s Youtube channel!
1. Safety first If your child is under the age of 13, they will not be able to create a YouTube channel on their own due to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. They will either need to create one through your Google account or by using Family Link. Stage names are also very helpful for privacy. If you simply want to make a YouTube channel for fun in your spare time, consider a username on the channel that is not their real name in order to protect your child’s privacy. However, since your child is likely to create a channel as part of their career, considering adopting a stage name that your child could use both for their professional career and for the channel. This way, if the channel becomes wildly successful with millions of views, you’ll be protecting their privacy. Of course, this decision is ultimately up to you and your child. 2. Develop a strategy. Before your child starts uploading public videos, it would be wise to have a strategy discussion with them. Start by asking your child why they want to make the channel. Is it to make people laugh? Is it to express opinions about topics that they are passionate about? To sing or dance? To get famous? If it’s the latter, this would be a great time to have the fame conversation with your child if you haven’t already. Emphasize the importance of acting and entertaining for the love and joy of it and not for the end result of money or fame. Money and fame most certainly do not guarantee happiness. Once you get clear on your child’s intention, you can support them with some brainstorming conversations. Perhaps they want to talk about toys, perform comedy sketches, or sing songs. The goal is for your child to highlight and express their personality. Make a list of ideas and talk about which types of videos they are most excited about making. Once you and your child have decided on a channel idea or theme, you can then help them make a list of different episode ideas.
3. Test launch some videos You could start out by having your child create a few videos and then sharing them via private or unlisted links with trusted friends and mentors, and perhaps include their teacher or manager. You can adjust the setting to private or unlisted just before posting the video to YouTube. Private videos can only be viewed by fellow YouTube users that you share them with. Unlisted videos can be shared by anyone that you share the videos with and anyone that these people choose to share the links with even if they do not have YouTube accounts. Though unlisted videos can be shared freely throughout your network, they cannot be found via public online searches. Get some constructive feedback from people you trust. This could be about video length and content, or about other technical factors such as lighting and sound. When relaying suggestions to your child, keep the conversations positive, light, and upbeat. This process of creating should be a fun undertaking every step of the way!
4. Be consistent Once they do launch their channel, it’s important that they update it consistently. You can perhaps start with a goal of uploading one video per week. It takes time to build an audience and consistent posting is key. Whatever posting goal your child chooses, encourage them to stick to it. 5. Monitor the comments It might be a very wise move for your child to turn the comments off entirely. YouTube comment threads are, unfortunately, a very common ground for cyberbullying and it’s important that your child not be exposed to this at such a young age or ideally, ever. If your child chooses to keep the comments on, we suggest that you read and monitor them before they see them.
6. Have fun! If we aren’t having fun, then why are we doing it? Check-in with your child regularly to see if they are having fun with the channel and maintain a positive and encouraging environment always.
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