Securing your Extension program YouTube Channel's future

Securing your Extension program YouTube Channel's future

Don't let years of content disappear in an instant! As one Extension team recently discovered during a team transition, your YouTube channel could face a significant risk. If the Primary Owner of a channel is an individual’s account and that account is deleted (for example, when an employee retires or leaves), the entire channel and all its content are deleted along with it. This happens even if there are other owners or managers listed.😟

To ensure the long-term continuity of your YouTube video channel, it is critical that your channel primary owner is tied to a stable departmental email address rather than an individual.

How to check and update your ownership:

1. Go to your YouTube channel's settings
   
2. Click Add or remove manager(s) 
3. Click the Manage Permissions button
4. Look for your departmental email (e.g., ext-anr@umn.edu)
• If the departmental email is already an owner, use the drop-down menu next to it to change its role to Primary owner. 
• If the departmental email is not listed, click Invite new users in the upper right corner to invite the departmental account. Once the departmental email has accepted the invitation, you must wait 7 days before you can transfer primary ownership.
  
5. This change won't affect your ability to upload or manage the channel; you can still be listed as an Owner or Manager to maintain your access
6. Follow the prompts to confirm the transfer and click Done.

By making a departmental account the Primary Owner, we protect our valuable resources from accidental loss during future staff transitions. Take a minute today to check your settings!

Article by Karen Matthes, Extension Learning Technologies, klm@umn.edu