Well as many of you old timers here know, and some may not but will now, I run a YouTube Channel called "3rdID8487" and I post videos from the DoD, DVIDS, CENTCOM, NATO and the Pentagon and make a few of my own from materials I get from them. I of course got written permission from all of those first (That was interesting and a story in itself!). Well it started out small and I thought that even if one or two people a day looked at the videos I would be happy. Wow how could I have known what it would evolve into!
After starting out with a few videos and maybe a couple of hundred views, I began to post new videos weekly. Then the viewership went up. I began to get request from family and friends of soldiers for specific units and people (which I tired my very best to fill for them, sometime I was able to and sometimes not). In the beginning I averaged about 100-200 views a day. And I thought that was AWSOME! The videos I was posting were those that the mainstream media types would not waste the time on, because most of them were positive uplifting stories about the good stuff we are doing overseas.
Then about 2 years ago viewship went up some more and I began to think maybe, just maybe this could catch on. So began to try and get permission to use more videos from more sources and slowly but surely was granted access and posting rights. I even wrote a blog post here about it back when things really started to look up.
http://shadowwar.joeuser.com/article/301672/I_never_thought_it_would_get_this_big
But now, I have to share some news. Over the last 2 years or so, I learned a few things, and seen things skyrocket! The viewership went from about 1000 a day to 12,000 a day to now over 30,000 a day! I have posted over 2700 videos and have had over 14.3 MILLION viewers! Even 4800+ subscribers to the channel now! I ended up creating a Facebook page linked to the YouTube Channel (you can find it under the name "Military Videos") and also a Twitter account to report the links to the videos. On March 17th, 2011 the Channel became the 81st most viewed news channel on YouTube. While 81st is not ABC News ranking, its not bad for literally a one man hobby!! And YouTube, being nice to me for once, removed the 10 minute limit on videos and I now can upload full length feature videos from the military. very cool stuff like "Navy's Silent Strike Force, The Submarines" -
http://youtu.be/L7obDhS26X0
Imagine my surprise (and at first fear) when I got an e-mail from the Pentagon! The e-mail was from the - Senior Assistant for Public Affairs Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)/Community Relations/ DoD Branding and Trademark Licensing Program, The Pentagon, Rm. bla bla bla. You get the idea. Whoa was I shocked when they said they liked my Channel and I had permission to order and post videos from the Military's video archival system. What!?! Very cool.
So with that all said and done, I now post new video daily, am reviewing others and ordering them (I get them on DVD from the DoD directly) and getting about 200 e-mails from all the military partners that send me notices about new footage.
So thoght I wouldshare the great news with you all, its become a great success. Here are the links to the places this octopus has become!:
3rdID8487 YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/3rdID8487
Facebook at "Military Videos"
Twitter at "3rdID8487".
Be well all and check out some of the feature films, I love the one on the Old Guard that guards the Tomb of the Unknown and performs the drill team and works at Arlington national Cemetery.