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iePlexus Social Media News Brief: May 5, 2010

YouTube Users Could Soon Rent Out Their Videos

YouTube users may soon be able to charge others to watch their videos. That’s what Hunter Walk, director of project management, told Media Post this week. He said that the company has been experimenting with ways that YouTubers could cash in on their videos. 

Right now, only the most popularly viewed videos help their creators get paid through Google ads. However, Walk said that the company is experimenting with a rental service that would allow the everyday user to make anywhere from $1-$6 per user rental. No word on when the new service will be available for users to test out.

To Friend or Not To Friend Your Children on Social Media Sites

A recent survey from Retrevo shows that nearly 48 percent of parents actually friend their children on social media sites. Several parents said “it can be awkward” to see status updates from their children but they would rather have it be a little awkward to keep a closer eye on them.

Retrevo also asked parents, “What age do you feel is appropriate for kids to join sites like Facebook and MySpace?” A little more than a quarter of all parents felt that 18 was the right age, while 36 percent felt that teens between 16 -17 should be able to have an account. Thirty percent of parents said between the ages of 13 -15, while the remaining 8 percent said they felt that children under 13 could join social media sites.  

Former Idol Contestant’s Thoughts on Social Media

It’s been nearly three years since we first met Sanjaya Malakar on “American Idol.”  Since then, we’ve seen him go through a number of hairstyles, release a record and camp out in the jungle on “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.” Overall, though, Malakar has stayed pretty low key.

The now 20-year-old sat down with me for a one-on-one interview over the past weekend.  Although the primary reason for the interview was to learn how he’s using cupcakes to help a local charity, we did talk a little about social media.

Malakar said that he was just able to sign up for Facebook. The social network had blocked anyone from creating a ‘Sanjaya’ profile to protect the singer from imposters.  Malakar had to contact Facebook and is currently in the process of setting up his page.

Malakar does use Twitter and, although he’s been on it for a little over a year, he says it’s still a strange concept. “I like Twitter,” he said. “I’m still kind of getting used to saying ‘Hey, what’s up?’ Usually if you’re [on] Facebook, you have a lot more things to do … But with Twitter you just do it and go. I’m still getting used to that.”