An overview of YouTube - Essay Example

Part An overview of YouTube: YouTube is a website where the users can view, upload and share videos. YouTube can be termed as a video blog. “The site is now the 18th most popular in the world with 20 million visitors last month downloading 2.5 billion clips.” (What Is You Tube). Before, the internet users didn’t have much opportunity to post their videos online. But after YouTube’s launch in 2005 the users got ample opportunity to express their videos online. Thus YouTube received greater popularity among the internet users. Any person can view videos at YouTube without registration but a person can post videos only if he is a registered user. “YouTube was founded by three former PayPal employees, who, witnessing the boom of online grassroots video, realized the need for a decent service that made the process of uploading, watching and sharing videos hassle-free” (Yadav). It was on February 15, 2005 that they registered the domain YouTube. In the initial periods YouTube came out with many contests in order to publicize the domain. The major target of YouTube was teenagers and college students. They offered attractive gifts for the winners of the contest. This created more traffic in the website. A person can watch the videos in YouTube even without registering. But if he intends to upload a video into YouTube, he should at first create an account with it. Both signing up process and uploading video are made simpler than what was during the initial stages. YouTube uses Adobe flash technology for enabling the videos to be watched on the internet. YouTube and Web 2.0: Web 2.0 is referred to as the network of websites that are used regularly by ordinary users. The ordinary users of the web are referred to the students, hobbyists, diarists etc. The ordinary users express themselves through their avatar in various social networking sites and blogs. “You can visualize Web 2.0 as a set of principles and practices that tie together a veritable solar system of sites that demonstrate some or all of those principles, at a varying distance from that core” (Tim). Thus they look for an opportunity to express them through internet. YouTube is closely related to web 2.0. YouTube provides a provision for the users to create a profile of their own. By creating an account the users can upload their interested videos in YouTube. The viewers of those videos post the comments that the user can view. Thus the user gets an opportunity to interact with other people and express their opinion and attitude on different matters. In such a way YouTube can also be classified in Web 2.0. Users can upload the videos that are generated by him. Example used: YouTube can be used online diaries and blogs. Many people express their opinion on anything through writing in blogs. There are people who upload video in YouTube, in which they speak about any social issues or other matters. This is the case of using YouTube as a blog. Some people upload the videos of their college days, tour, etc. in the YouTube. This is a case in which YouTube is used as a diary. The video uploaded by a person regarding child labor is analyzed in this report. Part 2 The example used in this report is the video of child labor in Pakistan uploaded by a person. This documentary is made by the 2007 batch MBA students of Bahria University in Islamabad. (Child Labor in Pakistan). The video uploaded by the user is a combination of pictures and videos. A song is used in the background of the video. The video has not only picturized the condition of child labor but also has shown the different rates and figures related to child labor in Pakistan. Certain information that is given in the video is enumerated in the next portion. The video begins with a title that “Labor ends when a child is born.” Out of 40 million children between the age group of 5 – 14, 3.3 million are child workers. The rate of male child workers is higher than female child workers. The rate of male child laborers are 73% compared and the rest 27% the female laborers. The video gives the message that some children become handicapped and some others die due to excessive hard work. The video clearly gives shows the attitude of its creators towards the actions taken by the government to control child labor. They’d shown in the video that the government action towards child labor is not effective. They convey their message to stop child labor by portraying the pathetic conditions of many children. Videos of a child working in an automobile workshop, a child working in a tea shop, a child working in a brick factory, etc. are shown in the video. Similarly many pictures are also embedded along with the videos. The Pakistan government has enforced many rules and regulations for controlling child labor in the country. But in spite of these rules and regulations almost 11 million children aged between 4 – 14 works under very pathetic condition in the various factories in the country (Silvers). What makes matters worse is the fact that some of the well reputed companies are also accused of using child laborers for production. Nike is one of the reputed companies who used child laborers for production. Nike used child laborers for production of Soccer balls. Almost half of the soccer balls available in the world in produced in Pakistan. Thus it can be inferred that half of the soccer balls in the world has passed through the hands of one or more child during the production process. (TED case studies). While considering all these facts the video uploaded by the user can be termed as a very relevant one in the present scenario. Critical issues surrounding the example: Advantages of YouTube: YouTube is advantageous for the internet users on various grounds. Some of the advantages of YouTube are as follows. 1. Effective marketing platform: Video marketing can be done in an effective way in YouTube. The traffic is the website is very high that the video marketing will surely produce good results (Akers). 2. Easier to use: It is very easy to upload and view videos in the in YouTube. Thus it saves the valuable time of the users. The registration process is also very simple. 3. Wider access: YouTube is one of the most popular websites in the world. Therefore the videos published in it will enjoy greater publicity. While taking the case of the given example it can be seen that the documentary will receive wider publicity. The creator of the video, that is the, students are known by the people who visit the site and watch the video. Similarly, the students who have uploaded the video will also receive comments regarding the video in their inbox. Disadvantages of YouTube: Though YouTube is advantageous in many ways it suffers from the following disadvantages too. 1. Shuffling of videos: When more and more videos are uploaded into YouTube, a particular video uploaded by a user will get shuffled up. Thus gradually it will get placed in the lower priority segment in the search results. (Finley). 2. Irrelevant video responses: Some users post irrelevant and useless comments to videos which is rather a nuisance to the person who uploaded the video. The video stated as example is uploaded by the user 1 year back. Though there is a disadvantage of shuffling up, the given video is easily available in search results of child labor. But there are chances for the video to be pulled down and made unavailable in search results. Privacy: Privacy factors are less in YouTube. Any YouTube user can view and download the videos uploaded by a person. There are clearly stated privacy policies in YouTube and the users are supposed to adhere to the privacy terms (YouTube privacy notice). Future trends of YouTube: YouTube is one of the most innovative websites ever created. The website has shown a higher growth rate ever since it was created in the year 2005. People have started looking at YouTube as more than just a video blog. A typical example for this is the usage of YouTube as an advertising platform. Similarly YouTube can be used in future as a common media by all the professional sectors in the world. YouTube and other social networking sites: YouTube has many typical features when compared to other popular social networking sites or blogs. The most distinguishing feature is that unlike other popular websites people can upload videos in the web. A more personal appeal can be maintained as opinions are expressed through videos. Better and user friendly features make possible better social networking. Bibliography “What Is You Tube?” NightHawk. 23 Jul. 2006. http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/nighthawk/2006/07/what_is_youtube.html. (Accessed 31 May, 2008). Yadav, Sid. “YouTube: The Company: Background.” Rev2.org. 2 Oct. 2006. http://www.rev2.org/2006/10/02/youtube-the-complete-profile/. (Accessed 31 May, 2008). Tim, O’Reilly. “What is Web 2.0: The web as platform.” O’ Reilly. 30 Oct. 2005. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html. (Accessed 31 May, 2008). “Child Labor in Pakistan.” YouTube. 2008. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggPSrpZtd9o. (Accessed 31 May, 2008). Silvers, Jonathan. “Child Labor in Pakistan.” Atlantic.com. 2007. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199602/pakistan. (Accessed 31 May, 2008). Akers, Simon. “The Advantages of Marketing on YouTube.” Marketing Oasis Blog. 20 Nov. 2007. http://www.marketingoasis.com/blog/the-advantages-of-marketing-on-you-tube/. (Accessed 31 May, 2008). Finley, Adam. “Taking Advantage of the YouTube System.” 2008. http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/04/15/taking-advantage-of-the-youtube-system/. (Accessed 31 May, 2008). “YouTube Privacy notice.” 27 Feb. 2008. http://www.google.com/gwt/n?u=http://www.youtube.com/t/privacy. (Accessed 31 May, 2008). “TED Case Studies.” http://www.american.edu/TED/nike.htm. (Accessed 31 May, 2008). Read More