Statistics and Social Network of YouTube Videos - Essay Example

The power of YouTube as a video sharing channel has elicited wide-ranging opinions from scholars and social network experts. Uploading videos on the site is easy and free. It offers a wide range of video categories such as gaming, animation, news, entertainment, and many others. Since the advent of YouTube, many people who were little known outside their neighborhoods and schools became famous because they were able to upload and show the world what they had to offer (Cheng, Dale and Liu 144).

Researchers believe that the potential of YouTube as a means of talent discovery is not going to fade any time soon. However, it is generally agreed that one does not have to become famous simply by adding his or her video on YouTube, there has to be some level of creativity to go with it (Burgess and Green 43). Most of the people who have posted their videos on YouTube and ended up becoming famous for doing that include Jackie Evancho, Maria Aragon who is a 10 year old singer, Edwards Gould who is a world-famous animator and there is, of course, the sensational Justine Bieber, the Canadian child superstar who has taken the music world by storm.

Bieber was discovered on YouTube after his mother posted some videos of himself singing. Jackie Evancho is also a child superstar whose talent was discovered on YouTube. She finished second in the fifth season of the popular show ‘America’s Got Talent’. Some other people have used YouTube to showcase morally questionable content such as pornography, something that has made people question the type of influence YouTube has (Burgess and Green 220). The mainline American entertainment industry is also turning to YouTube to get talented individuals.

For instance, some of the participants of the dance show ‘America’s Best Dance Crew’ were selected after their videos were watched on YouTube. It is not only musicians and dancers who can highlight their talent on YouTube. There have been models and actors and actresses who have been able to build careers after showcasing what they could do on the site (Rowell 133). Despite some of the criticisms leveled against the video-sharing website, there is no doubt that many people have gained rather than lost from using it.

YouTube’s popularity at the present is nothing but an indication that more and more people can make their talents known to the world, and this could open gates of opportunities for them.