How Youtube Has Changed the Way People Communicate and Collaborate.
The medium that is YouTube has been in existence for a mere eight years. In
February 2005 Steve Hurley registered the name ‘YouTube’ and in May of 2005
Hurley, Steve Chen and a small group of employees launched the site www.youtube.com. In 2006 Google acquired YouTube for a reported two point two billion dollars (A brief history of YouTube) and in the same year a mash-up video of dance crazes over the last fifty years becomes the most watched video in YouTube history at the time with 131 million plus views (Lidsky, 2010). In 2007 YouTube in conjunction with CNN hosted their first Presidential debate with questions asked by citizens via video (Lidsky, 2010) and in 2009 a recording of Susan Boyle’s audition on a British television show received eighty million plus views resulting in her debut album being the highest ever selling for a debut album from a female artist. It is this growth and the acceptance of usage of the site by individuals and business that will be examined in this essay including how traditional media outlets have had to examine their own practices in order to survive in an era of continual technological advancement. The role YouTube plays in the way everyday people communicate, collaborate and share their every day experiences has expanded in leaps and bounds in a very short period of time and it is this ability to expand that has come about with the advancement of the internet, in particular the Web 2.0. The biggest change to date in internet technology, “the so-called Web 2.0, has blurred the line between producers and consumers of content and has shifted attention from access to information toward access to other people” (Brown & Adler, 2008). It has also been the development of applications that allow for a more user emphasized environment and experience along with the increase in high speed broadband internet that has shaped the ability and increased the ease to generate, edit and publish works through social networking sites and
February 2005 Steve Hurley registered the name ‘YouTube’ and in May of 2005
Hurley, Steve Chen and a small group of employees launched the site www.youtube.com. In 2006 Google acquired YouTube for a reported two point two billion dollars (A brief history of YouTube) and in the same year a mash-up video of dance crazes over the last fifty years becomes the most watched video in YouTube history at the time with 131 million plus views (Lidsky, 2010). In 2007 YouTube in conjunction with CNN hosted their first Presidential debate with questions asked by citizens via video (Lidsky, 2010) and in 2009 a recording of Susan Boyle’s audition on a British television show received eighty million plus views resulting in her debut album being the highest ever selling for a debut album from a female artist. It is this growth and the acceptance of usage of the site by individuals and business that will be examined in this essay including how traditional media outlets have had to examine their own practices in order to survive in an era of continual technological advancement. The role YouTube plays in the way everyday people communicate, collaborate and share their every day experiences has expanded in leaps and bounds in a very short period of time and it is this ability to expand that has come about with the advancement of the internet, in particular the Web 2.0. The biggest change to date in internet technology, “the so-called Web 2.0, has blurred the line between producers and consumers of content and has shifted attention from access to information toward access to other people” (Brown & Adler, 2008). It has also been the development of applications that allow for a more user emphasized environment and experience along with the increase in high speed broadband internet that has shaped the ability and increased the ease to generate, edit and publish works through social networking sites and
References: 1) A brief history of YouTube. YouTube5Year. Accessed 24/01/2013. Web 2) Lidsky, David. (2010) “A Brief but Impactful History of YouTube.” FastCompany.com. Accessed 24/01/2013. Web. 3) Yen, Kevin. (2010) “YouTube and the new creative class”. Cnet.com. Accessed 26/01/2013. Web. 4) Elliot, Amy-May. (2011) “15 Aspiring Musicians Who Found Fame Through YouTube [VIDEOS]” mashable.com. Accessed 28/01/2013. Web. 5) Brown, J. & Adler, R. (2008). Minds on fire: Open education, the long tail, and learning 2.0.EDUCAUSE Review, 43(1), 16-32. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0811.pdf 6) YouTube statistics. http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics. Accessed 28/01/2013. Web. 7) McLeod, S. ,Fisch, K. & Bestler, L. (2009) “Did you know 4.0”. Sourced from YouTube.com. Accessed 28/01/2013. Web.