Much has been made about our new President being so good at using today’s new media tools (blogging, Twitter, etc.) but how about our Pope? The Vatican has officially launched its own YouTube channel which you can find at: http://www.youtube.com/vatican. The channel is being offered in English, Spanish, Italian and German.

This channel offers news coverage of the main activities of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI and of relevant Vatican events. It is updated daily. Video images are produced by Centro Televisio Vaticano (CTV), texts by Vatican Radio (RV) and CTV. This video-news presents the Catholic Churchs position regarding the principal issues of the world today. Links give access to the full and official texts of cited documents.

Now I know this isn’t about agriculture. However, besides being just plain cool I’m hoping this offers you some ideas when you’re planning your new communications strategies. Think about:

Commodity Classic Channel
New Holland Channel
Ethanol Channel (see Poettv)
Farm Progress Channel
Syngenta Channel
Eat More Beef Channel

I could go on and on. What companies are going to be leaders in using a resource in which reaches so many people around the world? Who’s going to be brave? I know many are putting video clips on their website in nice custom corporate design packages. But who sees them? How many times are they watched? How can anyone find them if they don’t visit the website first? Need help? You know who to call.

If you’ve got a channel already or are planning one please feel free to comment.