Analysis Of The Ways Youtube Has Proved To Be Successful And Unsuccessful
“The most public place in the world, from the privacy from our own homes: YouTube has been used for many things: a political soapbox, a comedian's stage, a religious pulpit, a teacher's podium, or just a way to reach out to the next door neighbour or across the world. To people we love, to people we want to love, or people we don't even know. ” Michael Wesch, 2008 The use of social media has increased as a tool for communication, education and collaboration and this has led to potential problems arising through the creation of excessively addictive and compulsive habits. Griffiths (1999) stated that in previous years and online addiction was dominantly about the addiction on the various sites on the internet instead of the addiction on the internet itself and a majority of these social addictions are actually towards the forms of content posted online instead of the internet in general. Out of the different forms of social media websites, the highest interaction rates have proven to be from applications in which users can share videos.
In 2005, Jawed Karim Steve Chen and Chad Hurley created the online video sharing platform YouTube, with the registration of the domain name logo and its trademark on the 14th of February within that same year. The initial idea for the website was for it to be a platform for singles looking to start dating, through an online site sourcing potential partners and couples. The way this would have worked was by users filming and uploading a video of themselves speaking about their interests so other viewers would be able to watch and see if they can relate to the same things, however the idea of YouTube being a dating website was unsuccessful there leading Karim, Chen, and Hurley to making the decision to keep YouTube as just a generic video sharing site instead. In the early stages of the launch of YouTube investors began to fund the start-up costs and the site was being run in a make shift garage office. After Chen moved house he hosted a get together which Steve Hurley attended, they recorded footage of this day and then both realized that they didn’t have a way to share it due to the fact that the files were excessively too large email and if they wanted to upload it to the web it would take them hours. Therefore, they decided to take the problem into their own hands using the cash they had from the PayPal purchase from eBay in 2002.
Within the early years the none of the creators had an unusually talented attribute to guarantee them success however they all commonly shared the mindset of having a passion for technology. One of the ways in which the creative project of YouTube has proved to be successful is through combatting the Copyright issues of the internet. For example, Video sharing sites are protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act however there is still legal grey areas which makes the legislation only effective to somewhat extent. The creation of YouTube lead engineers to look for ways to adopt a new and different approach to copyrighting and protection of original videos through new and more intelligent systems due to the fact that, footage that had only a slight difference from the original video were bypassing the system. Therefore, leading to the creation of Content ID, in which a spectrogram was created by engineers which shows a representation of the video and its audio output in a graphical format. This creation was proven to be effective because of its method of blocking duplicate videos using spectrographic information that work through a similarity scanner instead of only exact duplicates. Once a user uploads a video there’s now a cross referencing with million other files within a database, and when a match is found guidelines are checked for the legislation for the specific content. If this results in a positive agreement from the copyright holder which is alerted by YouTube they can agree to share the ad revenue or monitor the statistical information provided from the upload. Within the CNN Debates on the presidential elections in 2007 regular members of the public as well as known youtubers were able to submit their own questions to U. S candidates via the YouTube video, endorsing the idea that YouTube places authority and power towards the person behind the camera. Katherine Q. Seelye a Journalist from the New York Times mentions that there is indeed more power in visual imagery rather than written words which is due to the fact that it’s more captivating for the audience and spikes a sense of real emotions which can be reflected in responses from audiences to the video. By 2008 after the election it was mentioned that videos affect the perception of the electoral candidates for their voters in comparison to the conventional and traditional mailing strategies.
Ways in which the Creative Process has been Unsuccessful/ Negative Impacts
The creation of YouTube can also be critiqued for having a negative effect on people due to the risk of becoming quickly emotionally invested into the content, therefore creating addictions to vulnerable people that possess the attributes of forming quick obsessions. For example, the audiences form a connection between YouTubers and themselves which may create the idea that they are friends with the individuals as they have a regular insight to their lives which they upload on the platform. Which can affect the ability for these vulnerable individuals to form the same connections to people in real life. However, YouTube has created other creative opportunities for its users through providing a platform for freelance content creators, editors and people with a passion for self-made quality content, on a budget compared to Hollywood style videos which require higher expenses, YouTube has created a space where talented individuals can come together and share ideas and thoughts through their videos worldwide. Businesses can also benefit from the creation of YouTube as it can be used to help the promotion of brands as well as a tool for planning, and the observation and analysis of myriad of audiences in combination with their responses to the brand. It has also created a stronger bond between the brand and the consumer aiding the level of recognition that the business may obtain as well as presenting an influential visual voice to a business’ demographic.
Theoretical Perspectives
Bulmer and Katz uses and gratifications theory has been used as an exploration tool to look at he addiction of personal media such as Facebook and Myspace as well as content creation through interpersonal systems. The viewing of content on YouTube creates a delight which is similar to the same feeling obtained through watching television and other forms of entertainment-based media usage. The craving of engagement and interaction on a social scale can be seen to influence the behavioural patterns of sharing within the media. Social media emergence and the ways in which its functions are diversified has resulted in the users taking on the creation of content and intensive exploration with the aim of the gratification of social and personal needs. YouTube cannot be limited to the idea of the platform being only a site to share videos and view videos but an innovative field to source new forms of creativity through a myriad of talents from entertainment to education. With this being said its success is primarily a reflection of the each individual user has to offer and the way in which each audience has responded to their creativity.
References
- Review Social Networking Sites and Addiction: Ten Lessons Learned. Kuss DJ, Griffiths MD Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Mar 17; 14(3)
- Griffiths M. D. (1999). Internet addiction: Fact or fiction? The Psychologist: Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 12, 246–250. https://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/History_of_YouTube MySpace and Facebook: applying the uses and gratifications theory to exploring friend networking sites. Raacke J, Bonds-Raacke J Cyberpsychol Behav. 2008 Apr; 11(2):169-74.
- Shao G. (2009). Understanding the appeal of user-generated media: A uses and gratification perspective. Internet Research,19(1), 7–25. doi:10. 1108/10662240910927795
- Motivations for play in online games. Yee N Cyberpsychol Behav. 2006 Dec; 9(6):772-5.
