There is however a quieter failure, going on every day and hitting many Whitehall departments. It is quite simply this: lots of films made, almost no-one watching.

Take the example of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Plenty of films on its YouTube channel but not many viewers. The most watched at the time of writing has just under 4,500 views accumulated over two years. No film less than a year old has more than 1,300 views. Yet individual films with lower viewership feature not only high profile figures but also topics hotly discussed online – such as Vince Cable on digital rights (under 800 views).

BIS is not the exceptional bad child at the back of the class though. Other departments blessed (or cursed, depending on how you see it) with high profile and controversial issues have produced films on them but they consistently get lower viewership – witness the Department for Education and free schools. Sometimes the figures are almost embarrassingly low when you consider the size of the potential audience, such as with the DCLG’s Happy Hanukkah message. Not much happiness was spread there.

The Department of Environment and Climate Change gets close to good performances, with a couple of films in the last year that have broken the 3,000 views barrier. One of those however has had the bulk of its views come via the DECC website and the other via a dedicated official micro-site about redesigning pylons. In other words, whilst DECC is getting the benefits of video hosting for free from YouTube, it is not benefitting very much from the ability to use YouTube to spread videos to a wider audience.

There are some good films, and some nice digital touches – such as the increasing standardisation of YouTube channel names to all end in “govuk”, so that it is easy to spot (or guess the name of) official channels. Nor should every film be expected to succeed. There is merit in doing several on varying topics, planning that one will hit the big time but covering your bets as to which one it will do by producing them all.

Yet if there is some intention to reach audiences, it is hard to see what successes are really being had. It is also notable how exceptionally rare it is to see YouTube films from government departments embedded in political or news blogs, despite the very healthy state of such blogging in the UK.

Overall however, some honourble exceptions aside, it is very much a case of lots of films, little viewership – leaving the nagging suspicion that use of YouTube is being judged too much by inputs (“Good news Minister, we’ve done another film”) and not nearly enough by outputs.

If you’re putting time and money into getting the Home Secretary to make a YouTube clip about the recent riots, shouldn’t you be getting more than under 1,500 views in a month?

Cross-posted from the Huffington Post.

Use your head to control YouTube http://bizt.ag/g2L9Nw

Hugo Boss has developed an intriguing YouTube film, which is controlled by your head movements (as detected via a webcam). Tilt your head left or right and the film changes. The film itself is somewhat obscure but the technology is inventive and original.

10 ways to get more insight into your tweets http://bizt.ag/e3Q7Ff

A handy round-up of 10 (mostly free) tools for learning more about what is and isn’t working on Twitter for you.

Google+ statistics http://bizt.ag/n5H6Rj

A new statistics service for the new social network, AKA another way you can fret about how your online numbers compare with those of Mark Zuckerberg. Me? I’m still recovering from finding out that his dog is 100,000 times more popular than me.

The Cult of Done Manifesto http://bizt.ag/Ha7j4G 

Two years on, still reads well though I’m not sure its authors would appreciate me taking two years to get round to mentioning it…

Get your own customised Barbra Streisand song http://bizt.ag/x7D2Ny

Your life is now complete.

It is also a film which, by showcasing Tim’s passion and oratorical skills, does something that only a film can do. Often YouTube political films are people talking to camera in a way that makes only limited use of the the fact that you’ve got moving colour pictures. (I plead guilty to often doing that, which is part of the reason why I admire the way Tim’s film makes use of the medium so well whilst still being low budget.) But also there are some great YouTube political films which are great because they use a large budget or reuse content intended for elsewhere, such as a party political broadcast or editing together footage from the TV.

I also like the movie because it doesn’t just lapse into lower common denominator messaging – “vote for me, I’m nice, I work hard” – but gives a core reason for voting for him that is sufficiently clear and stark that it will put off some other people. That’s his focus on being a Party President who would be appearing in the media all the time as a spokesperson for Liberal Democracy. Not everyone shares this view of the role of the President by any means, so it is refreshing to see that debatable point put at the heart of the movie rather than lots of motherhood and apple pie stuff.

Tim Farron’s film has been winning plaudits from across the political specturm.

In terms of impact on the relevant electorate per pound spent , I struggle to think of a better UK political clip on YouTube than this one:

Gordon Brown’s foray during his premiership into YouTube in order to promote his plans for reforming MPs’ expenses was widely panned. So what lessons should be drawn by anyone thinking of using YouTube to strengthen the communication of a message in future?

First, YouTube can be very powerful (think just how much mainstream media coverage the clip got) but it shouldn’t be over-prioritised. As Matthew Parris pointed out, Gordon Brown recorded the clip before even consulting his Cabinet about the reform plans. Scheduling time to get new media content ready in advance of a big announcement is a good move, but what really matters is spending enough time on getting the contents of the announcement right. Substance still matters.

Second, the production qualities (lighting, sound, focus etc) were high. But they don’t matter that much. It’s the look on Gordon Brown’s face and the words coming out of his mouth that gave the film the impact it did. Going from ok to high quality production values often takes a disproportionately large amount of extra resources. Perhaps for a Prime Minister it has to be that way, but as others such as Rob Fenwick, Luke Pollard and Lynne Featherstone have demonstrated, you can use basic production qualities to produce effective films. (I’ll let you judge for yourself whether you think my own films such as this one where I confess to suspicious terrorist activity are a success.)

Third, you have to have someone slightly detached from the production process who can say, “No, that isn’t good enough.” I’ve once (thankfully, only once) produced a YouTube clip for the Liberal Democrats which really wasn’t good enough to go out, but everyone involved in the process got so sucked in to worrying about which take to use, when to release the film and so on that we lost sight of whether overall the quality was good enough.

Particularly once you’ve stared at footage several times as you trim bits of the start and end, it’s very easy to lose sight of what the footage will look like to someone coming to it fresh. In Gordon Brown’s case, well - try watching the clip with the sound off. It’s weird. Not just the apparently random smiling through the film, but also the fact that there is so much smiling at all. Watched without the sound and you’d guess it might be about congratulating some sporting winners, not about a serious and dour subject such as MPs’ expenses.

So you need someone who can watch it and say, “Sorry, but no”.

The lessons in summary then: get the substance right, don’t over-fixate on production qualities (this is YouTube after all) and get an outside view on whether the final film really is good enough.

It’s fairly cheap and easy to produce videos and make them available to the world via YouTube these days. But how do you get people to then watch them? Here are six tips to get you started on building your YouTube audiences.

1. Go local with YouTube

Most YouTube videos done for a political purpose get relatively few views. If you take a look at national videos from the main political parties, viewing figures are usually at best in the thousands or tens of thousands whilst it takes millions of votes to win a general election.

However, at the local level where views are often in the hundreds, it only takes hundreds or thousands of votes to win. That’s a good enough ratio to be able to make a big impact.

(There is a role for YouTube on the national stage, particularly in communicating with niche audiences such as party members, but it’s always worth remembering what the much-hyped and expensive WebCameron is reduced to these days: www.webcameron.org.uk now just takes you to the front of the main Conservative website. All a  far cry from the hype regurgitated at the time of launch by the likes of The Guardian: “Tories unveil their secret weapon … watch out BBC, ITV, Channel 4, we’re the new competition”.)

2. Get your YouTube information right

Around 45% of online video views come from people visiting a video site and then searching or browsing around (source: TubeMogul). When they are doing this, the title and description play a big part in determining whether or not people decide to watch the video. Make it sound interesting. Make it sound relevant. Don’t use political jargon. And give a clue about what the viewer will get out of watching it.

Good: What is happening to the Anytown High Street development? William Gladstone MP explains all.

Bad: Footage of Anytown Council Planning Subcommittee meeting on my new camera. Sorry about the poor lighting and the sound which is very hard to hear but turn up the volume and it might be ok.

YouTube also gives you the chance to specify exactly where the film was made. Entering a postcode means the clip will then appear on Google Maps (for people who have the option to display films on the map ticked). This can provide a nice little stream of extra traffic. You don’t know exactly who is deciding to look at your film through this route, but unless your film is at a location such as a sports ground or tourist attraction, there’s a high chance that it is people living in the area or thinking of living in the area.

3. Relate your films to popular and relevant content

The tags you set help not only with YouTube search results, but can also make your masterpiece turn up in the “related videos” panel on the right of other videos. If it turns up there on other relevant and popular videos, it is a great way of picking up extra views.

Comments and ratings can also help your video’s visibility on the site (e.g. by getting it into the list of most commented videos in the last day) but it is rare for a local video to get enough of these for it to have an impact.

4. Get your video embedded on blogs

Another 45% or so of online video views come from people watching videos embedded on blogs. Here’s a three step list for getting your video out there:

1. Make sure all the Liberal Democrat “official” bloggers in the area know about it (e.g. MP, councillors, local party blog etc.).
2. Make sure members and supporters who may have their own blogs know about it. Many of these will be largely non-political, but people are often willing to have the occasional political reference and these sites are a great way of getting at a wider audience beyond those heavily interested in party politics.
3. Politely and sensitively approach non-Lib Dem local bloggers. If the video is about an interesting and relevant local issue, many of them are usually willing to highlight it, just as they would highlight an interesting story from the local newspaper’s website.

5. Email YouTube links

Publicising the video’s existence through all your conventional means is a good idea, but many of them are not very well suited to getting people to watch. For example, a story in a Focus newsletter requires someone to read it, go to their computer, fire up their web browser, type in the information from the leaflet and then finally watch it. And what if they picked up the leaflet from their doorstep whilst leaving to go shopping?

What really works, though, is email. If you include a link that people can click on to go direct to watching the video, you cut out all those inconvenient intermediary steps.

6. Content matters on YouTube

Even if you get all the above right, content matters. People love watching things that are excellent or awful (though awful might not quite send the message you want…). Unless you’re really skilled with the camera and editing software, excellent is most likely to mean packed full of interesting and relevant information. Artistic zooms not required.

Other YouTube tips

There are two useful search engines which let you track what other people have been filming in an area, as I blogged about here.

Any other tips? Share them in the comments below.

You can watch the answers over at http://www.youtube.com/ukelection – and in particular look out for Nick Clegg’s very strong answer on the Digital Economy Bill question.

• As with Twitter, YouTube’s promoted videos are adverts where the advertisement is existing content on the site rather than a dedicated advertising creative
• As with Twitter, YouTube mixes in the promoted content with normal content, but marks them clearly as such
• As with Twitter, YouTube puts promoted videos at the top of search results (though, in one difference, more often to the right)

So not so innovative after all. But copying Google’s approach to advertising isn’t a bad model to pick.

I’m not quite sure what Lynne Featherstone will make of the description of her as an “old aunt” Not very gallant of you Richard, but the full description is friendly:

One of the reasons, Featherstone has been a hit locally, it seems, is her obvious knowledge of the area and her apparent interest in even the smallest of issues. She is the interfering old aunt that the fragile Labour council in Haringey must be sick to the back teeth of. Featherstone has after all micromanaged the constituency to a tee. Take her YouTube efforts below. She plays the part of peeved of train customer superbly.

The full piece is well worth a read, particularly for the good spot about a problem with one of Labour’s films in Hornsey & Wood Green, saying of the Labour candidate:

She has fewer outings on YouTube, but there is this gem in which she attempts to tell voters that she is a candidate that should be taken seriously… by hauling in the John Prescott battle bus. He grinds his teeth about the Liberals and insists he’s here to help win it back for Labour. Shame then, that at about 1min 11secs [actually 50 seconds] in the film, he looks sleepy-eyed and half asleep on the stage when Jennings is addressing a members rally.

One point not mentioned is that YouTube views can give a sense of how well different campaigns are running. They are not a perfect standard by any means, but they are more useful than the web polls we sometimes see which are open to anyone to vote in and easy to vote in more than once.

So in Hornsey & Wood Green, where the future of the Whittington Hospital is a big issue we see the following numbers of YouTube views:

• For the Hornsey & Wood Green Liberal Democrat films on the topic: 378, 224
• For the Hornsey & Wood Green Labour films on the topic: 73, 22

You can watch all Lynne Featherstone’s films at www.youtube.com/lynnefeatherstone

A ban on broadcasting video clips of the proceedings of the House of Commons on YouTube could come to an end in the coming weeks after months of delicate negotiations between the Palace of Westminster and broadcasters led by the BBC.

Existing rules forbid YouTube or any other website, such as a newspaper’s, from embedding any clips of parliamentary proceedings – meaning that the only way to watch parliament online is via the news clips from the major broadcasters, live on the BBC’s Parliament channel or the Westminster website…

Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat MP for Dumbarton East, has long campaigned for the ban to be relaxed. “The situation is absolutely nuts. What we are told is that officials are concerned about video being taken out of context or abused – but you can do that with the text of Hansard if you wanted, so the ruling is not consistent.”

You can read the full story here and back Jo’s campaign on Facebook here.