What, You Mean the Academy Should Actually *Update* Their YouTube Channel?

The Academy of Motion Pictures really *gets* YouTube.

At least when it comes to promoting the annual Oscars telecast.

Not, however, when it comes to sharing content that might keep people talking about the Oscars in the days after the broadcast... and ensure that the Oscar brand remains pre-eminent among all the other awards shows.

The Academy now has its very own YouTube channel, but the most recent content on it is from the week before the Academy Awards, and the most prominent video clip is a 30-second ad encouraging you to watch the ABC broadcast.

Meanwhile, YouTube users continue to post their favorite moments from the show without permission, like the Hugh Jackman/Beyonce musical number and the Tina Fey/Steve Martin schtick.

Also: there's really no video at all on the official Oscars.org site, or a link to the YouTube channel. (You guys do know how to link to other sites on the Web, right?)

And they didn't event post this opening montage, which wasn't part of the telecast, but was shown to the attendees at the Kodak Theater. Instead, they leave that to Vanity Fair.

Am I crazy, or could the Academy have a better Web video strategy than just putting up archival material and promoting the telecast on YouTube?

One thought would be to pick 10 or 12 highlights from the show, and put them online in a way that encouraged people to blog about them, rate them, and comment on them. You might even conduct a poll, and put out a press release a few days later announcing the top three moments from the show, as judged by the Interweb community.

(I wrote a piece in Variety about the Academy's relationship to YouTube back in 2007.)