[Cross-posted from the Google Public Policy Blog ] It's not every day that you get to ask your country's leader questions about issues you care about. But that's exactly what Canadians did this afternoon when Prime Minister Stephen Harper sat down with YouTube. Roughly 170,000 votes were cast through Google Moderator for nearly 1,800 questions - giving voice to thousands of Canadians. And don't think that these were softball questions.

Right up there with our love of award-winning Texas BBQ is our love of independent music and the people who create it. That's why the indie-centric SXSW Music Conference in Austin is the perfect place to launch the YouTube Partner Program )YPP( for musicians, aka Musicians Wanted . It's just the latest step in the YPP's continual expansion . This time,

Earlier today, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission )FCC( Julius Genachowski sat down for an exclusive YouTube Interview, right on the heels of the FCC's announcement of a National Broadband Plan - the agency's strategy to deliver high-speed Internet to more Americans across the country. You might be surprised to learn that - even though the Interent was invented in the U.S.

From its beginning, YouTube has been a place where citizens come to have political conversations, and Canada has been no exception. From interviews with Cabinet Ministers to campaign discussions to in-depth news reports , Canadians have used the site to engage with their elected officials in ways previously not possible. Prime Minister Stephen Harper himself has shared videos on his Prime Minister channel , including his CTV interview at the Olympics ,

If you're reading this, then you're probably on the Internet - via your laptop, your mobile phone or other handheld device, or maybe even through your television. But in 2010, millions of Americans still do not have access to the wealth of information made available on the Web. Even though the Internet was invented in the U.S. over 20 years ago, many Americans lag behind in both access to the Internet and speed of connections,

For the second year in a row, the United Nations World Food Program )WFP( asked activists on YouTube to make videos raising awareness about world hunger as part of their " Hungerbytes " competition. And once again, many creative entries came in. Nonprofits looking to run their own YouTube video campaign may want to take note of this effort as it effectively harnessed the imaginative minds of the community to raise awareness of an issue.

When we registered the YouTube domain on February 14, 2005, we set out to create a place where anyone with a video camera and an Internet connection could share a story with the world. Five years into it, we're as committed as ever to the core beliefs and principles that guided YouTube's creation: Video gives people a voice â€" From classrooms to war-torn countries, the Queen of England to the King of Pop , the Pope to the President of the United States ,

You may have recently seen all of the videos uploaded for the 2010 YouTube Davos Debates . Because the audience for these videos is truly global, we want to make them accessible and available to as many people as possible. We've now added captions for over 500 videos from The Davos Debates. Try a Google search for captioned video on thedavosquestion to see some of the results. To turn on captions,

As a prelude to the Grammys tomorrow, we're highlighting the importance of the arts in society on the homepage today, with top user-created videos about arts organizations that make an impact. Many of you accepted Dr. Phil's Video Volunteers challenge to demonstrate how arts nonprofits are changing your community for the better, and you sang , danced , vlogged and even tapped your appreciation for your charity of choice.

Your YouTube video speed can mean the difference between a fast and fun video viewing experience, or a slow and frustrating one. That's why, today, we're launching a YouTube video speed dashboard to make the speed information available to you. YouTube video speed depends on many different factors some of which are the speed of your Internet connection, the Internet Service Provider )ISP( you are using and the distance to the video servers.

Starting today, when you upload a video to YouTube, you'll see a rapid-fire assortment of thumbnails from the video after it begins uploading to the site. Aside from being fun to watch )it's kind of like a flipbook of your video!(, this visual representation of the process gives you further peace of mind that the video is indeed processing and will soon be live on the site. Shortly after the last thumbnail arrives, your video is ready for viewing and sharing.

We live in a time of rapid technological and political change. Groundbreaking technologies give more people more access to information than ever before. Citizens have the means to broadcast their ideas to the world with the click of a few buttons. And increased adoption of the Internet by citizens and political and media leaders have made our public dialogue more diverse than ever before. Amidst all this change, the question of, " What is Democracy ",

On Wednesday, we announced our partnership with the Sundance Film Festival to make five films â€" three world premieres at this year's festival and two audience favorites from last year's â€" available for rent on YouTube starting today, January 22, and running through the end of the festival on January 31. We're writing today to let you know that these five films are now live on the YouTube homepage , just in time for your weekend viewing.

Over the past week, citizens and organizations from around the world have rallied around Haiti, offering tremendous aid for the relief effort currently underway. But even though tens of millions of dollars have been raised online via sites like YouTube, Haiti's road to recovery will be long, and more financial support is desperately needed. That's why tonight, in partnership with a variety of media companies, we're live-streaming " Hope for Haiti Now ,

The entries are in and the finalists have been chosen. Now it's your turn to determine who should go to this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Judges Arianna Huffington, Paolo Coehlo and Muhammed Yunus watched all of the entries in our "Your pitch to the world" contest and have chosen the five finalists who will vie for the opportunity to fly to Davos to take their issue to the world leaders at the forum.

The new year can mean change and a fresh start. It's when many of us hit our reset buttons and commit to resolutions we hope will transform our lives - even if just for a few months. Often these revolve around getting healthy: losing weight, eating better, and going to the gym more often are common pledges made. The BetterYou channel , sponsored by Pfizer, is brimming with videos from partners like Livestrong, Diethealth and Exercise TV to help you meet those goals.

Is there one issue facing the world today that you feel passionate about? Have you always wanted to take your cause directly to people who have the power to do something about it, but lacked access to have your voice heard? Now is your chance to make your pitch - and win a spot at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders will gather to hear what you have to say about the issue that matters most to you.

It's all the rage : link shorteners to ensure that those useful URLs you're sharing don't take up too much precious character count while also giving you an inkling of what you're about to click on. Well, we've just launched youtu.be as a shortener for YouTube video links - and nothing but YouTube links - so you can rest assured that when you see a link with this URL, you are indeed about to click on a YouTube video. )Also,

This year's iteration of The Davos Debates is up and running, offering one YouTube user the opportunity to attend this year's World Economic Forum meeting in Davos to put forward the cause they are most passionate about at a specially convened panel. Our candidate will get the opportunity to engage and debate with the world's leaders and take the opportunity that Davos offers to elevate the cause that is closest to their heart.

Today, at 8 a.m. ET, a panel of world climate leaders, among them former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and journalist Thomas Friedman, will gather in Copenhagen and answer the top questions that you submitted to the CNN/YouTube Climate Debate channel . You can watch them address the issues that matter to you in real-time: We'll be live-streaming the debate at www.youtube.com/cop15 . Thank you for making this event truly international.