YouTube gets hooked up with Twitter; rolls out new EDU site

Social networks are becoming evermore connected as more users get hooked.

In a bid to keep up with the soaring popularity of Twitter, Google has added a few extra features on YouTube.

The share links on YouTube now offer a Twitter posting option along Facebook and MySpace. Users can expand the box for more sharing options, but those three are the ones YouTube promotes.

Clicking on the Twitter button opens a pop-up window that takes you to your Twitter account and fills in a Tweet telling your followers to “check out this video,” along with the title and URL. The URL is not shortened, but YouTube said it plans to add that "down the road."

It would be nice if Twitter could actually allow users to embed videos like Facebook and MySpace does.

Meanwhile, YouTube rolled out some other tweaks today as well with a new upload status bar. Users can watch lectures and educational videos on YouTube EDU, a volunteer project that highlights the educational content being uploaded to YouTube by colleges and universities. It boasts videos from educators all over the world who placed their instructions and other content on the video-sharing site. The videos are pulled in each day from the main site and are arranged by title or number of views.