YOUTUBE ANALYSIS
The worlds most visited website along side Google and Facebook has enabled video sharing across the globe and the expansion of web 2.0 since 2005. Three former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim founded YouTube in February 2005 (Fitzpatrick, 2010). The platform allows users to use to upload, share and view videos. Since the founding, this social networking platform site has continually grown and reached a new level in its expansion. Marked by 2006 when Google purchased $1.65 billion in stock for the growing social media platform (Fitzpatrick, 2010).
YouTube was one of the fastest growing sites on the Internet, uploading more than 65,000 new videos and delivering 100 million video views per day. YouTube averages nearly 20 million visitors per month; the presence of YouTube within the social networking cluster with 2 billion views of the sites content daily (Fitzpatrick,2010).
The importance of YouTube and its impact on society and social networking goes beyond the first level use of the platform, viewing video content, as its impact is greater than that. The website is essentially a worldwide community with various groups and communities within. It allows users to connect on a basis of similar interests and the genre of videos in which the users subscribes to, watch and personalities on YouTube that they have connections too. YouTube is an example of how society has changed and the way in which information is viewed, shared discussed and the importance of community online.
The site facilitates conversation between users in more than one way. For example instructional videos created by companies and businesses demonstrate their product, which then generates a conversation between the viewer discussing their experiences and issues with one another. For the genre where individuals and couples upload daily ‘vlogs’, the content creators often pose questions in their videos and their ‘subscribers’ can comment back. These daily ‘vlogs’ are also controversial in that they can lead to bullying in the comments section between the fans of the ‘YouTubers’ that share an emotional connection and those that comment negatively on the videos.
The conversational genre of ‘vlogging’ is emblematic of the user-produced content identified associated with social networking, confirming the existence of community engagement at the site’s core (Jarred pg. 328). The two kinds of users often bully one another and are not accepting of the others view of the people or content in these daily ‘vlogs’. Through the development of YouTube and its site such hateful and negative comments are removed when they are receiving too much negativity, or is considered spam by YouTube administrators.
For the above stated reasons we can understand that although YouTube is difficult to define as it is not simply a platform where content and a vast amount of information and entertainment is uploaded everyday but more importantly a platform where participation is key to the social network itself.
YouTube’s fundamental reliance and focus on communication amongst community and the important role that the YouTube community plays is at the core of the platforms existence. As a platform in the context of social media and web 2.0 YouTube is another example of growth of participatory culture or what is also discussed as convergence.
YouTube as a platform in the era of web 2.0 speaks volumes about the way in which our culture and society has changed and the way in which we communicate is a culture in itself. Jenkins discusses the culture in which fans, or consumers that come to YouTube for entertainment or information are by the nature of the video and comment features are “invited to actively participate” in content created and sharing of content (Jenkins 2006, p.290).
We can conclude that that the site facilitates communication between not only the users or those that watch YouTube videos but also between the users and content creators and a small part between companies and their consumers where reviews of products are often discussed in the comment section of product review videos. In a natural progression the website not only facilitates, nonetheless its existence is based up the creation of community and the web 2.0 consequence of participatory culture.
YouTube has grown financially through advertising by allowing ‘YouTubers’ to promote themselves and/or their products/services through videos. This social platform has also allowed major companies to market their products through a 20 second mini commercial. When users click on a video, an advertisement will appear before proceeding to the video. The advertising of movies is a major financial benefit for YouTube as it allows production companies to promote their trailer of a new and upcoming movie, which in return boosts the popularity of YouTube because it will be the first networking site someone will use to view the trailer to a film.
The growth of users on YouTube has also increased. The platform enables individuals to promote themselves or ‘go viral’ by uploading videos and creating content demonstrating their talent or entertainment. Depending on how many followers the user has, YouTube will then decide how much they will be paid to continue uploading and promoting themselves and other brands (Lange 2007).
With the popularity of watching make up tutorials and learning about make up, types of genres have surfaced and popular culture of beauty related videos has been created and even filtered into mainstream media and other social networking platforms.
For example a type of following and interest in ‘beauty gurus’; which there are personalities and content creators that discuss beauty, health/fitness, lifestyle and entertainment. YouTube and other companies have sponsored or supported these ‘beauty gurus’ as it is can be a free marketing and advertising tool that can reach a large and broad viewership. If a successful partnership is established ‘beauty gurus’ are contracted to promote and work with major cosmetics companies (Lange 2007). ‘Beauty gurus’ give their opinions on certain beauty products and share their opinions with their viewers. Given the state of our culture and society ‘beauty gurus’ on YouTube have contributed to the growth in their success for products and advertising to reach an large amount of viewers world wide and create ‘buzz’ online. They have established relationships with their subscribers and are part of their success in marketing products. YouTube have now created salary based relationships with popular users, which in turn has enticed more people to make this their career too.
Conversations
The wave of the web 2.0 and social networking has not only had a great impact on the way in which we communicate with one another, choose how we want others to perceive us and an even a greater impact can be argued on the innate way we search for information. The web 1.0 version of YouTube would correlate to a combination of Britannica Online and personal websites, a combination of personal blogging and information content in the form of video content (O’Reilly p18).
YouTube for many can be used frequently when searching for instructions on how to use their latest piece of technology or on the other side of the spectrum be where an individual goes to find laughter, and happiness. For others a place to come together with others to discuss a review on the latest product or a place where we can learn from a make up artist the best way to apply make up.
YouTube as a social network has been adopted into our culture and accepted as a recourse for information and for many a place where they can connect and bond with others over a shared interest or admiration for a YouTube personality. For many YouTube as a recourse and social networking platform is the first stop for many consumers and this is an example of its adoption into our culture that before purchasing a product we turn to YouTube and “the wisdom of crowds” as coined by James Suriowecki (O’Reilly p26).
In the same way that we would have previously turned to Britannica online and personal websites for information and entertainment, our society that relies on the YouTube to offer us the same if not a greater source of information and sharing.
Sharing
Interacting and sharing is made easy with the use of YouTube as a social networking tool. It allows you to easily share videos by ‘tagging’ your friends with the support of Facebook, comment in videos and interact with the content creator, other friends and users across the world. For those who do wish to create an account, a history list is created to show the user everything they have looked at. Others may look at the history list as well, but that also depends on what settings the user has put their account on; private or public (Lange 2007). YouTube allows people to also put their individual videos on private and only the people who have access to that particular link can view the video.
Although a fundamental aspect of the website and its functionality is based around users and individuals sharing, the platform users are also in control of who they are sharing with, with an extensive amount of options and settings (Lange 2007). YouTube may conclude that users are breaching copyright law; the video will be removed immediately. Copyright laws and breaches to an extent restrict the social media building block of sharing that the site is so reliant upon.
Some users similar to the ‘beauty gurus’ mentioned before make a living out of documenting their lives on YouTube. These videos are called ‘vlogs’. These types of videos fuel to the debate and discussion behind over-sharing.
Presence
In a similar fashion to other social networking sites such as Facebook one function of YouTube is that you are able to view other users activities and their presence on the site. According to Kietzmann and the discussion of this building block, “presence represents the extent to which users can know if other users are accessible” (Kietzmann,Pg.244).
In discussing presence of YouTube users the ‘YouTuber’, with an established YouTube channel with fans and subscribers has a greater presence and with greater importance placed on their online presence. When you enter their main YouTube channel page you are able to view what the user, through their “channel” has viewed, subscribed too or commented on. From a YouTube standpoint, this is the way in which they build their online presence. Building their presence online is also the way in which they connect and interact with the community. This is an example of the way in which YouTube is a many-to-many network type (Yu 2013).
Having a presence on YouTube also extends to the concept of mapping and documenting your activities as a way to document your digital self-portrait (Rosen,2007). Every view of a video, whether it be of the same genre the ‘YouTuber’ is or not, every comment and every video posted, even down to the banner are details that the user choices to depict their online digital self-portrait (Rosen,2013). As Rosen discusses in ‘Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism’ YouTube is “interactive, inviting viewers not merely to look at, but also to respond” to the digital self the ‘Youtuber’ has created online, through their YouTube channel.
Sharing
DulceCandy89 is the YouTube channel chosen to represent how content and videos are shared with the fellow public. DulceCandy89 is a ‘beauty guru’ who creates tutorials on make-up, do-it-yourself (DIY) tutorials and also hauls on things she has bought for the month. All of these videos are shared on this users account for her fellow ‘subbies’ also known as subscribers to watch, learn and to be inspired. DulceCandy89 also shares other social networking sites where people can connect with her in the ‘down bar’ of the video.
DulceCandy89’s evolution on YouTube and her gathering of a large following over several years exemplifies that although YouTube is the platform and created to share video content it also enables users of the site to share personal experiences and observations (Kietzmann, Pg.245). Watching DulceCandy89 discuss and share her birthday presents and experience is a prime example of the extent of sharing and that it can include revealing personal and private experiences such as a birthday.
Conversations & Relationships
The YouTube channel, SaconeJoly’s will be discussed in regard to two building blocks of social media and the implications of conversations and relationships. In short the channel is where a young Irish family document their everyday life and post it on YouTube in video format. They have uploaded a video of their life for the past 1,235 days.
Keeping up with the Sacconejolys on Youtube
(Kristina Trajkovski user KristinaLoves01 comment above)
The SacconeJoly’s daily ‘vlogging’ facilitates conversation between its varied audience, subscribers or users of YouTube which can come to the video for varied reasons of entertainment, seeking happiness to curiosity (Kietzmann,2011). They can discuss issues or positives they see in the content posted or merely share with the content creators their thoughts on questions posed by the SacconeJoly’s in their videos.
This is also example of the building block of relationship created by the daily ‘vlogging’ genre. Viewers have followed and viewed these videos for years to months and have built an emotional connection to the family as well as a relationship between the audience that comes together to view and discuss the videos for similar reasons and relate to one another over enjoying the same content (Kietzmann,2011).
The image above illustrates that a comment that referred to the user being from Melbourne, Australia received 19 ‘likes’. This illustrates that there is a relationship from one viewer in Melbourne to another that have a relationship over the enjoyment of watching a family online such as the SacconeJoly’s.
Identity
YouTube gives individuals the chance to put themselves out there by posting their own videos to either provide comic relief for others or some choose YouTube as a way to reach stardom or get noticed. Justin Bieber is a great example in regards to identity; he chose to post YouTube videos of him singing in the hopes of one day, gaining recognition for his talent.
One aspect of Identity as a social media building block is “the extent to which users can reveal their identities in a social media setting” (Kietzmann,2011). It is how one represents them self on a social media network through being conscious or un- conscious of the information such as age, location, etc.
With the use of home videos, singing competitions, busking videos, Justin Bieber was noticed by a music agency on YouTube. Fast-forward 5 years later, Justin Bieber is considered one of the biggest stars on the planet. His YouTube channel has subscribers of 5,960,981. Justin Bieber’s identity has been developed through YouTube and he will always be identified with his first video posted that landed him in the spotlight.
Beauty Guru
References
Fitzpatrick, L, 2010, ‘Brief History’, Time, 175, 21, p. 17, Health Business Elite, EBSCOhost, viewed 16 September 2013, http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.vu.edu.au/login.aspx? direct=true&db=heh&AN=50833766&site=ehost-live.
Jarrett, K 2010, ‘YouTube: Online video and participatory culture’, Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 24,
no. 2, pp. 327-330.
Kietzmann, J, Hermkens, K, McCarthy, P, Silvestre, B, ‘Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media’ , Business Horizons, Volume 54, Issue 3, May–June 2011,www.sciencedirect.com.library.vu.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0007681311000061.
Lange, P. 2007, ‘Publicly private and privately public: Social networking on YouTube’, Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 13, no. 1.http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/lange.html (accessed 8 September 2013).
Rosen, C 2007, ‘Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism’, The New Atantis , Summer, viewed 17 September 2013,<http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/virtual-friendship-and-the-new-narcissism >.
Yu,J., 2013, ‘Week 3 A Brief History of Online Social Media’[lecture notes], ACC3004 Social Media, Melbourne, Victoria University, delivered 7th August 2013,http://acc3004.wordpress.com/lecture-notes/ ,accessed 17th September 2013.
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