In addition to, or instead of, subscribing to a channel, you can add that user as a friend. Your friends' videos don't show up in your Subscriptions box (unless you're also subscribed to them). However, being friends with another user allows you to share your videos privately with them (more on private videos in Chapter 7), and it means all the bulletins you post will appear on their channel. And vice versa.
To add someone as a friend, simply visit their profile, and navigate to just below their channel description. You will find a section titled "Connect with…" containing an Add as Friend link (Figure 4-14). After you click it, that user will be notified and will have the option to accept or reject your friend request.
Other than sharing private videos or posting bulletins, the friend function on YouTube serves one other important purpose. You can choose to allow only your friends to comment on your channel page and/or on specific videos. I advise against this if you're trying to reach the largest audience possible. But enabling this on a specific video can be a useful feature if you begin receiving a lot of spam or hate comments on that particular video. We'll cover setting this "friends-only" option in the next chapter when we discuss uploading your video.