What do you get when you combine world-famous comedians with the world's biggest video-sharing site? OK, you guessed it: YouTube Comedy Week. But Comedy Week is about a lot more than simply bringing together comedy's best and brightest for an online celebration of funny. This week we also connected with YouTube's biggest comedy fans. We decided to shine our spotlight on seven "Super Fans": Zach, Christine, Mavis, Lo, Jesse,

Social media has dramatically changed the way we get to interact with our favorite musicians, actors, artists and athletes, so it makes sense that any awards ceremony celebrating social media also needs to flip the standard red carpet affair on its head. Tonight's first-ever Social Star Awards in Singapore is attempting such a feat"running an awards program for a full 24 hours via social media. Forget a few dozen statues going out to some lucky winners.

When YouTube's site first launched in May 2005, we never could have imagined the endless ways in which you would inspire , inform and entertain us every day. Today, more than 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That's more than four days of video uploaded each minute! Every month, more than 1 billion people come to YouTube to access news , answer questions and have a little fun . That's almost one out of every two people on the Internet.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Lonely Island guys, and a cat called Lil Bub all walk into a bar. Know what happens next? OK, neither do we. Luckily, we've enlisted more than 150 of the biggest names in comedy to join us for the first-ever YouTube Comedy Week . From May 19-25, YouTube will bring comedy creators and fans together for a series of live shows, new episodes from popular channels, curated lists from a range of stars and more.

We've been building a YouTube partner program since 2007 that enables content creators to earn revenue for their creativity. We've watched them build amazing channels that have made YouTube into a news, education and entertainment destination 1 billion people around the world cannot do without. Today, there are more than 1 million channels generating revenue on YouTube,

In our monthly On The Rise program, we identify four partners whose channels drive significant YouTube watch time but haven't yet reached the 100,000 subscriber mark. Thanks to your help , we're sharing four partners who each drive a lot of watch time on YouTube but still have a ways to go before they hit that milestone. This May, our nominees have had their viewers glued to the screen with videos about paranormal activity, the balance of baking and exercise,

It has been an exciting year of growth for YouTube and its partners. We recently announced that YouTube hit an incredible milestone of 1 billion unique monthly visitors, connecting 15 percent of the planet to the videos they love. And those global fan communities are watching more than 6 billion hours of video each month on YouTube; almost an hour a month for every person on Earth and 50 percent more this year than last. In addition, media companies like Time Warner,

Video plays a powerful role in bringing us closer together, especially when it connects people in real time. By transcending borders, empowering citizens, and increasing transparency, it's one of the many ways technology allows democracy to thrive. Starting this week, all members of the U.S. Congress will have the opportunity to access enhanced features on their YouTube channels, including the ability to live stream video.

Congratulations to chef Manjula, our featured "On The Rise" partner this month. Her YouTube channel, ManjulasKitchen , is in the spotlight on the YouTube Spotlight channel today. Manjula has posted cooking videos on YouTube for more than six years, but her history with the kitchen dates back to her childhood in North India, where she assisted her mother with cooking for their family. From a young age, Manjula learned the importance of fresh ingredients and simple spices.

If you've ever spent a Sunday night enjoying "Boardwalk Empire" or rocking out to )and properly using the( "Oxford Comma," you're in for a treat this weekend. On Sunday at 9 p.m. ET, Vampire Weekend will perform a concert directed by none other than award-winning actor, director and producer Steve Buscemi to close out this year's Tribeca Film Festival . And the best news of all is that you won't need tickets to the Roseland Ballroom to take in the show.

Today is an important day for the Internet. For the second time, a federal court correctly rejected Viacom's lawsuit against YouTube. This is a win not just for YouTube, but for the billions of people worldwide who depend on the web to freely exchange ideas and information. In enacting the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Congress effectively balanced the public interest in free expression with the rights of copyright holders.

Since its inception, organizations and individuals looking to change the world have used YouTube to rally an audience around a cause. Working at YouTube, we love seeing inspiring videos shared around the world everyday. "Good" videos have in turn inspired us to build tools to make it easier to run a campaign on YouTube and turn video views into action.

After putting Seoul's Gangnam district on the map and single-handedly reviving the powder blue tux, PSY's got big plans this weekend and you're invited to get involved. Less than four months after he shattered records by hitting the 1 billion mark , the artist who made K-Pop global is back to debut his second single, "Gentleman." Where? On YouTube, of course. This Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Korean Standard Time )2:30 a.m. PST(,

In our monthly On The Rise program, we identify four partners whose channels are seeing significant growth but haven't yet reached the 100,000 subscriber mark. Thanks to your help , we're excited to share four partners who are just shy of that milestone this month. The nominees this April are each invested in a specific craft that helps them stand out on YouTube: friendship bracelets, guitars, skateboards, and cooking.

Every April, tens of thousands of the world's most avid music fans flock to Southern California to kick off music festival season at Coachella. This year, you don't even need a ticket to be a part of the show. For the third year in a row, you can catch the entire first weekend live from Indio on Coachella's official YouTube channel . Starting this Friday at 3:30 p.m. PT, YouTube's three-channel feed, which is presented by T-Mobile,

To our incredible YouTube community, When we started out in 2005, we focused on rapidly increasing user engagement. We wanted an inventive way to draw people in and catalyze their creativity. The result? A contest for the best video on our site. Nearly eight years later, with 72 hours of video being uploaded every minute, we finally have enough content to close the competition. We've started the process to select a winner and as of tomorrow at midnight,

Congratulations to Colleen Ballinger of PsychoSoprano , our featured "On The Rise" partner this March. You can find her videos featured on our YouTube channel today, along with Google+ , Facebook , and Twitter . Hailing from Southern California, Colleen has spent several years growing her YouTube audience and is a successful comedienne. She guarantees that you'll enjoy a lot of laughs on PsychoSoprano, where she uploads vlogs, skits, character sketches,

In the last eight years you've come to YouTube to watch, share and fall in love with videos from all over the world. Tens of thousands of partners have created channels that have found and built businesses for passionate, engaged audiences. Advertisers have taken notice: all of the Ad Age Top 100 brands are now running campaigns on YouTube. And today, we're announcing a new milestone: YouTube now has more than a billion unique users every single month .

Whether you prefer your humor extra dry or love watching the next big talents rise to stardom, two of the biggest names in entertainment are bringing their star power to YouTube. The You Generation Simon Cowell, the mastermind )and trademark take-no-prisoners judge( behind hit shows like "The X-Factor" and "American Idol," is launching a global talent contest. Through 26 different talent competitions over the year,

In our monthly On The Rise program, we identify four partners whose channels are seeing significant growth but haven't yet reached the 100,000 subscriber mark. Your suggestions helped us identify four dedicated partners who are well over halfway to that milestone, and you get the opportunity to help them grow even further. This March, our On The Rise nominees have established themselves and built loyal fan bases who support their music, video effects, comedy, vlogs,