YouTube Now Has One Billion Monthly Users

We all know YouTube is the biggest video sharing site around, but how big is it, exactly, when compared to sites such as Facebook or Twitter? Here's a hint: YouTube has just hit one billion monthly unique users.
For comparison, Facebook hit that milestone in October 2012. It took the social network eight years to reach one billion active users — almost the exact amount of time as YouTube, which was founded in February 2005. Twitter, which has been around since March 2006, has more than 200 million monthly active users.

The YouTube team gives us a few more comparisons for good measure: "Nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visits YouTube. Our monthly viewership is the equivalent of roughly ten Super Bowl audiences. If YouTube were a country, we’d be the third largest in the world after China and India," says YouTube on its official blog.

YouTube also gives a more detailed insight on what's powering this growth in another blog post about Generation C and mobile devices. According to YouTube, Generation C (or Gen C) is a generation that has grown up consuming content "where and when they want". They watch YouTube on all screens; they constantly switch between devices, they're deeply engaged with online video and they thrive on community. Finally, they're curators — they care about finding content that's important to them.

Gen C, which YouTube considers to be its core audience, now watch just as much YouTube content on smartphones as they do on PCs, and 67% of Gen C watch YouTube on two devices or more, compared to 53% of the general population.

With the rise of smartphones, which have become the dominant force in the mobile phone industry in the last couple of years and show no signs of slowing down, YouTube needn't worry about maintaining this growth for at least another couple of years.

Image credit: YouTube

Pinterest’s New Look Is Rolling Out To All Users

Pinterest’s redesigned look, which went through a short testing period in January, is being rolled out to all users over the next few weeks.

At the beginning of 2013, Pinterest asked a few users to test an updated version of the social pinboard site. Pinterest took the testers’ feedback into account and made a few more tweaks to the site. Earlier today, Pinterest announced that the update was being released to everyone, informing users on the Pinterest blog that they would see an invite to the new look soon.

Enlarged pins have been improved, with more information surrounding a pin after it has been clicked. Surrounding a chosen pin are pins from the same board, pins from the same website and pins from other people who also pinned the enlarged pin. Pins from the latter group are laid out exactly as the would be on the home page, as well as on individual boards. Pins from the same board are also laid out in a similar fashion, but only as images – without repins, likes or comments.


Mobile users won’t be able to see the pins from people who also pinned the enlarged pin just yet, but Pinterest say that the feature will be introduced to Android and iOS users soon.

Pinterest has made significant changes to the foundation that the website is built upon, making it easier to update and simpler to use. Pinterest didn’t want users to have “to learn anything new”, so they’ve made “some subtle but useful changes”. For example, pins are bigger so that there is more to see.

Also, Pinterest “responded to some feedback from pinners who told [Pinterest that] they hated losing their place while browsing. Now, when you scroll through pins and click on something that interests you, the back button lands you right back where you were no matter how far you’ve gone.”

What do you think of Pinterest’s new look?

Twitter Will Release Music Discovery App This Month

Twitter is planning to release a standalone music app for iOS called Twitter Music as soon as the end of this month, according to CNET.

CNET reports that Twitter Music will help users discover artists and will stream music in the app through Soundcloud. The app itself is reportedly powered by technology from We Are Hunted, a San Francisco based startup that processes feedback for songs on social media among other places, and which CNET says Twitter quietly acquired last year.

The app is said to have four sections, including a 'Suggestions' tab for recommended music, a 'Popular' tab for trending tracks and a '#NowPlaying' tab that shows songs being tweeted by people you follow on the social network or in the app. Importantly, users aren't required to have a Twitter account in order to use Twitter Music, which might help the social networking company broaden its user base.

If true, this move would put Twitter into an increasingly competitive space. Facebook is rolling out a new subfeed solely for sharing music and Tumblr recently added a music category to its explore page. Big companies like Apple and Google are also said to be looking into launching music streaming services.

Twitter did not immediately respond to our request for comment.

Mashable composite. Image courtesy iStockphoto, mstay