UND YouTube Channel Tops 100,000 Views

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2011

Abstract

UND YouTube Channel Tops 100,000 Views

The University of North Dakota YouTube Channel reached a milestone over the weekend, topping 100,000 views in nine months. The increase in YouTube traffic comes as a result of a rededication to creating original content for UND.edu.

UND has had a presence on YouTube since January 2007. During that time, UND’s channel accumulated just under 50,000 views before being reimagined in January 2011.

A majority of the new content is generated by the editorial team at UND.edu. The UND Channel is controlled by the UND Marketing Group, led by Director of eMarketing, Tim DeBolt, and run by a small team of editors and writers who rely on participation from across the campus community.

“It’s great to be able to tell the story of UND in such a direct way that isn’t totally filtered through a writer’s perspective” says Amanda Hvidsten, Managing Editor for UND.edu. “What we show is real life on campus, in Grand Forks and in North Dakota. And, it’s awesome.”

The feat is all the more impressive when one considers much of the credit for shooting and editing all that video goes to a single, part-time videographer, Jordan Simon. A UND graduate in Communication and Sociology, Simon is also an alum of the Studio One program, the weekly broadcast television show produced by UND’s Television Center, where he learned the basic skills of shooting and editing.

Reaching the first 100,000 views took a lot of effort, but Simon sets his sights a bit higher. “I knew getting to this point would take a lot of hard work, and we certainly aren’t finished. In reality, I think we should have many more views.”

The marketing team develops content through the work of director DeBolt, editors Amanda Hvidsten and Craig Garaas-Johnson, reporter Lacey Erickson, student-reporters Sean Lee, Abhishek Goswami, and Miranda Hilgers, student-photographers Patrick McLaughlin, Rakesh Subramanian, and videographers Jordan Simon, Chuck Crummy and student-videographer, Stephanie Wothe.

“The monthly UNDHealth.org show and the weekly UND Sports show are going to help bring our video efforts to the next level and will bring positive things to the University,” says Simon. “Now that we have branched out to broadcast video, I see no reason why we can’t keep up the momentum.”

Worth mentioning are you, the viewers. Simply put, there is no way the UND Channel could have reached 100,000 views without your participation, and we appreciate every second of it. We’re excited to reach this milestone, but we’re even happier to have you along.

Craig Garaas-Johnson

News & Features Editor

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