People who like to broadcast themselves and make Internet friends have a place where they can electronically congregate at YouTube.com. The web site enables people to upload video and make it available for the word to see.
At the site, one can create an account and tag certain videos as favorites and join groups, similar to other community web sites like myspace.com or facebook.com. I use the site to see video clips I missed form television, whether it be sports highlights, news clips, or some other type of reference. Every once in a while a college instructor may even post a homework assignment via video on YouTube...
While the site is a good method to express freedom of speech, the uploaded videos are monitored to prevent any inappropriate material from being posted on the site probably a smart idea. There are also disclaimers at the beginning of some videos that mention some youtube users have tagged them as ‘inappropriate’.
Once in a while a video will be removed, such as the Saddam Hussein lynching video that was quickly censored after people posted them. The way video clips are advertised is creative, with still shots and a title posted in the side bar while viewing a video usually of the same genre.
It seems like YouTube is becoming one of the more useful reference sources because of the visual images provided. The cliché "a picture's worth a thousand words" obviously means that visual images can say a lot with less work than writing something out in words. Why read online news articles if you can watch the news story at your convenience if it's posted?
In the sense of ''broadcasting yourself'', youtube serves and gateway to make networking contacts. Some people might post family videos, others might post backyard-wrestling scenes, and it is even common to see people posting blogs.
Blooper videos are extremely popular on the Internet and what's better than re-watching someone get hurt? College students are often spending hours on the site continuously having their attention captured by ensuing links. The site has an addiction and it is widely discussed as a popular place to waste time.
The funniest video I've ever seen has to be a satire bloopers reel of random television shows. Loving family characters from sitcoms would have voiceovers with crude language and honestly, it is undoubtedly hilarious.
Quick access and easy to use options make the site attractive to anyone who is computer literate. The other day my friends and me were watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the characters randomly burst out into munchkin song form the Lollipop Guild on the Wizard of Oz. I ''YouTube'd'' the clip from the actual movie and emailed it to my friend who then went to the link and ended up wasting 3 hours of study time watching random clips.
I see the site as a network. It is a giant forum where people can visually display any aspect of their life and throw it out there for people to find and make a contact with a common interest. Other web sites are more commonly using links to youtube for videos.
Homemade montages with music coordinated into the video can help a video editor get discovered. YouTube is being referred to as a sanctuary where people can find almost anything they want to see in case they missed it or want to watch it again.
YouTube will only grow in popularity and if possible, the site will expand. Eventually, YouTube will go through changes like all sites do, but probably because of all the negative attention directed towards popular new fads.
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This column certainly provides a lot of background and basic information about YouTube.
What it lacks is a clarly articulated main point, or opinion, though it drifts that way at the end of the piece.
The writer gives good examples, particularly when talking abut the removal of inappropriate vidoes and might have used that as a launch point to make this column, well, more column-like. For example, what is appropriate for something like YouTube? That could bear some exploring in light of the notions of free speech.
Does free speech include the right to say things on websites?
I notice that the writer gives high praise to videos with music. It makes me wonder about copyright issues for music shown on YouTube.
Is it legal to post a video with a Toby Keith song as the soundtrack?
Inquiring minds wish the columnist had written more expansively about that, too.
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