Effects on culture
Education and proliferation of knowledge
In his 2010Searchable information repository
Beyond being what a Forrester Research analyst characterized as the largest video ''platform'' on the globe, as of January 2012 YouTube was also the world's second most popular search engine. However, YouTube keyword searches are confined to metadata—video titles and labels—rather than the video content itself.Spurring innovation through distributed communities
In the year following YouTube's 2005 launch, some early video creators gained large viewing audiences, while others created small, tight communities among mutual watchers. In 2010 TED curatorCollaboration and crowdsourcing
In projects such as theBroadening awareness of social issues
The anti-bullyingEffects on values and standards
YouTube was included in ''Entertainment Weekly's'' "100 Greatest" list in 2009—though with the ironic praise, "a safe home for piano-playing cats, celeb goof-ups, and overzealous lip-synchers since 2005". In 2010, citing YouTube's then most viewed video '' Charlie Bit My Finger'' as an example of viewers not choosing what might have traditionally been judged "quality", ''Advertising Age'' journalist Michael Learmonth asserted that for information and entertainment the Internet had both killed and redefined the concept of quality. Learmonth reasoned that online journalism, being based on "greatly diminished economics and expectations", is intrinsically inaccurate and a de-professionalized version of offline journalism. In this vein, GroupM's CEO was quoted as saying there seemed to be a bigger premium on popularity than authority. Concerning these phenomena, the CEO of Associated Content (now Yahoo! Voices) said that people are increasingly comfortable receiving information from unfamiliar sources, and that quality had come to revolve around properly timed usefulness rather than being decided by professionals.Personal connection and identity
In 2008, cultural anthropologistDisruption of conventional media
DiscussingNegative effects on viewers
Videos that frighten or excite children were found to receive the most views, often because of algorithm-driven demand measurement and automated editorial oversight, automated oversight that is thought to be inadequately effective and easy to avoid. Very young children tend to watch the same video many times and were thus found to be particular vulnerable, including to videos with bizarre, sexual, scatological or violent content. Researchers, parents and consumer groups say that, despite YouTube's years of vowing to police inappropriate content, the website's recommendation algorithm and default autoplay feature continue to reach children with "violent imagery, drug references, sexually suggestive sequences and foul, racially charged language", making parental monitoring impractical. Separately, in September 2019 YouTube's owner Google agreed to pay a $170 million fine—exceeding the previous $5.7 million FTC record though only 1.7% of Google's profit for the quarter—for illegally collecting personal information from children without parental consent, in violation of theJournalism
A Pew Research Center study found that a new kind of "visual journalism" had developed, in which citizen eyewitnesses and established news organizations share in content creation. The study found that while 51% of the most watched YouTube news videos were produced by news organizations, 39% of the news pieces originally produced by a news organization were posted by users. Pew's deputy director observed that news reporting on YouTube was opening up the flow of information and forging new areas of cooperation and dialogue between citizens and news outlets. Though YouTube executives denied the company itself intends to get into content creation, YouTube's news manager described it as a "catalyst" for creating new original content by developing partnerships with news organizations, the Pew Research study concluding that the website was "becoming an important platform by which people acquire news." Independent or alternative news organizations, such as Baltimore-basedDirect effect on world events
The YouTube video ''Engagement between people and institutions
Engagement between citizens and government
In at least the CNN/YouTube presidential debates (2007) and the NBC News YouTube Democratic candidates debate (2016),Federal News Service transcript. ordinary people and prominent YouTubers submitted questions to U.S. presidential candidates via YouTube video. Remarking that YouTube "put power in the hands of the camera holder", ''New York Times'' journalist Katharine Q. Seelye noted that because visual images can be more powerful than written words, videos have the potential to elicit emotional responses from the candidates and frame the election in new ways. Quoting aEngagement between individuals and private institutions
Institutions, including old-line law firms, use video to attract new talent in members of what is called the "YouTube generation"—creating videos and websites having thePersonal expression
Broadened expression of political ideas
YouTube was awarded a 2008Promotion of extremist views
A 2017 ''New York Times Magazine'' article posited that YouTube had become "the new ConservativeFalse political content
Disinformation on Youtube has been described as "rampant, unchecked". Lies and fallacies may spread through YouTube videos without labels or warnings. Observers have noted how YouTube policies lack transparency, are inconsistent across countries, and do not explicitly prohibit the spread of false information. According to Nobel laureateFalse scientific content
A '' Frontiers in Communication'' study published in July 2019 concluded that mostExpression of minorities and minority viewpoints
''The Washington Post'' reported that a disproportionate share—8 of 20 in April 2012—of YouTube's most subscribed channels feature minorities, contrasting with mainstream American television, in which the stars are largely white. Such channels thus target an audience largely neglected by traditional networks, which feel pressure to appeal to a broader audience. According to the study, online media offer a way to push back against enduring stereotypes. Science journalist Anna Rothschild wrote in 2019 that YouTube can be viewed as a "marvelous force for democratizing science and education" and has helped more young people find science role models than ever before, but its production and sponsorship models—still dominated by established media entities—increasingly resemble those ofSharing of personal information
Benefits of sharing personal information
After the 2010 repeal of the U.S military'sDangers of sharing personal information
Some personal-information videos, such as those depicting uploaders' self-harm, may have a negative impact on viewers. Such videos may encourage, normalize or sensationalize self-injury, may trigger viewers to self-injury, and may reinforce harmful behavior through regular viewing. The ability of videos to bring fame to oneself or humiliation to others, has motivated physical violence, such as the video-recorded beating of a 16-year-old Florida cheerleader by six teenage girls over a half-hour time period, causing a concussion and temporary loss of hearing and sight, generating international media attention, and inspiring the 2011 Lifetime television network movie '' Girl Fight.'' Some YouTube content creators have taken advantage of their perceived celebrity status and have abused their relationships with fans, sometimes perpetratingAdvertising and marketing
Online video, especially dominant player YouTube, has enabled small businesses to reach customers in ways previously accessible only to large companies that could afford television ads, and enables them to form "brand channels", track viewer metrics, and provide instructional videos to reduce the need for costly customer support. Large companies "Measurement of mainstream opinion
In the year following its 2005 formation, YouTube, with its display of view counts, was likened to "a survey of cultural whims", whose more popular artists attracted the interest of established production companies. In YouTube's first years, however, music labels had trouble gauging the commercial value of online popularity, perceiving that the Internet's "convenience factor" made an artist's online following less indicative of audience attachment than direct measures such as CD sales and concert attendance. By early 2013 '' Billboard'' had announced that it was factoring YouTube streaming data into calculation of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and the Hot 100 formula-based genre charts. Putting online listens on the same footing as actual song purchases to determine hits was described as reflecting "the latest shift in power in the music industry: from record labels and radio DJs to listeners". Later in 2013, ''Reaching wider audiences
YouTube has been used to grow audiences, both by undiscovered individual artists and by large production companies.Evolution of YouTube as a platform for individuals and companies
Within the year following YouTube's 2005 launch—which one commentator called "the biggest jolt to Internet video"—entertainment industry executives and casting agents were researching video sharing websites. When a video hit big it was not uncommon for its creator to hear from production companies. By June 2006, recognized Hollywood and music industry firms had begun to establish formal business ties with "homegrown" YouTube talent—the first believed to be comedian blogger Brooke "Brookers" Brodack (through Carson Daly), then singerPosting videos as a livelihood
Enabling a new way of earning a livelihood, YouTube's "Partner Program", an ad-revenue-sharing arrangement begun in 2007, grew by January 2012 to about 30,000 partners, its top five hundred partners each earning more than $100,000 annually and some earning "much more". Also, brands were reported in 2012 to pay six figures direct to the most popularSee also
* Computer addiction *References
External links
* Wesch, Michael (2008