Sunday, September 11, 2022

The Evolution of YouTube

 YouTube was invented on February 14th, 2005 in San Mateo, California. It is among the websites with the fastest growth. The first YouTube video to ever surf the internet was posted on April 23, 2005. The co-founder of YouTube, Jawed Karim, created the video that is only 18 seconds long. It was titled, "Me at the Zoo." Today, it has over 90 million views and the only video he has posted on his channel. YouTube has been around for over 17 years now and it still is a popular way of sharing videos to people all over the world. There are more than 50 million channels that are still active today which shows just how much of an impact the invention of this social media app has had on society.



YouTube is a platform where people can share their videos online. It was invented by Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley, and Steve Chen. All three were PayPal workers before the foundation of YouTube. The inventors claim that the concept was conceived in 2004, a year before it was invented. The concept came about at a dinner party in San Francisco. They found it hard to send the videos and photos they took to friends over the internet, even though they were both taken from digital cameras. It was easy to send the photos over email, but difficult to send the videos. They started to talk about how to share quick and short videos as there could be an easy way over the internet. Chad Hurley said, "On their cell phones, people were gathering video clips, but there was no simple way to share them." The three men were annoyed about how challenging it was to discover and distribute videos online at the time. The problems of distributing videos soon vanished because of the invention of YouTube. The first idea for YouTube was a way for people to be able to express themselves and tell the world what they like to do. Since this idea, YouTube has skyrocketed greatly from the numerous milestones it has accomplished since 2005. Users of YouTube have access to a variety of features, including the ability to publish, watch, comment, share, and subscribe to other users' content. Anyone can publish any type of video content on YouTube, which is how it was first designed. Users should be able to upload, share, and watch content on the website without any limitations. By selling ad space before or on the videos people produce and post to the website, many creators nowadays are able to make a respectable income including millions. The platform's underlying ideas is to enable anyone to operate a personal broadcasting station similar to television. 

The meaning of the word, YouTube, can be easily solved by anyone. The "You" indicates that the content is produced by the user themselves rather than the website. "Tube" alludes to an earlier title for TV. With hundreds of hours of video content being posted every minute, it exists in more than 70 countries and can be accessed and watch in over 60 languages. There are over a billion users and has taken over as the primary online video sharing service. It is used as an educational tool especially in schools where students learn about information as there are lectures and professors that post on their own accounts. YouTube provides the connection of researchers and knowledgeable individuals to engage and provide fascinating content to educate users about the world we live in.

Several amateur animators, filmmakers, music critics, teen lifestyle experts, and others have been able to create films that are viewed by a large audience thanks to YouTube. Most content on YouTube has helped people become more conscious of social concerns like bullying, suicide, and LGBTQ-related problems. According to reports, YouTube can help people better understand the personal experience of others, gain access to specialized health data and information, receive emotional support, reduce their risk of depression and loneliness, and give them a productive outlet for self-expression, self-identity, and building a safe and respected community. As a everyday YouTube user myself, I always love to read comments under influencer's posts about how their videos have helped them become more like themselves and to be more confident. YouTube influencers and users has made so many people not lose hope in themselves and has inspired many watchers to create their own accounts. "YouTube is improving our memories", says Don Tapscott, one of the world's foremost experts on how technology affects business and society. It is a publicly accessible visual record of a significant portion of what is happening or has occurred in the world. I go on YouTube to watch livestreams of the beach or watch videos of a country that is currently getting destroyed. I have also watched parties that are from creators who are celebrating a milestone and it felt like I was there. YouTube has given us a much deeper, more accurate understanding of the past than we could have obtained from reading our history books, viewing documentaries on television, or simply being verbally told about it. 



According to reports, watching YouTube had a negative impact on people's sleep, as well as their self-esteem, ability to deal with bullying, and fear of missing out. Social media is an addicting place. When we watch YouTube too much, it can affect how we work and perform in our lives. Parental guidance and content that is not made for children is a negative attribute of YouTube. A lot of videos on the internet are not made for children and when they browse the web, it can create problems in how they act and view the world from the one video that was made for a mature audience. Users are constantly making violent videos that are made to ease past the kids filter on YouTube. This can have a negative effect on children as they can be traumatized and easily disturbed. 



One of YouTube's most revolutionary effects on communication was its capacity to make the globe smaller than it actually is. With just a mouse click, users of the platform can not go anywhere in the world and broadcast it to millions of people. Brand messaging can be quickly and effectively communicated through video. Videos are a medium for expressing the feeling and physical characteristics of what you are marketing since people respond positively to visual cues. Concepts that are difficult to express in word form can be effectively demonstrated through video. To assist viewers in winning prizes made by their favorite creators, YouTube encourages video replies, comments, and contests that allow watchers to win prizes and get in contact with their favorite creators. Many users also post their talents like singing and dancing that allowed them to rise to fame. For example, Justin Bieber who posted a video of him singing a Ne-Yo some blew up on YouTube and allowed for him to get noticed by celebrities like Usher who eventually signed Justin Bieber to a record deal. YouTube has changed the way we communicate by allowing normal everyday people to be heard and seen by famous people or people around the world. We can direct message people and collaborate with other influencers to grow each other's channels. Instead of face to face communication, we can share self-made videos and publicly address a topic or a person who the video is directed to. Without YouTube, there may have been a possibility that we would have never known who Justin Bieber or a lot of internet sensations are. People from all other the world can come together and share the same interests and passions by sharing their videos.


One of my favorite YouTubers is Baylen Levine. Most of his content consists of prank videos and videos of him having fun with his group of friends. I like this creator because he does not care what other people think. Haters can have a negative effect on YouTubers, especially when they are recording their life and expressing their interests. Levine does not let that stop him from chasing his dreams. His fans or subscribers are like his family. A lot of them think that they have known him his whole life because his fans can relate and look up to him. A lot of fans have met him by reaching out to him on YouTube or commenting on his videos. This has allowed communication to be more effective. Levine's weekly postings get sent out to his 3.72 million subscribers and over millions are watching them. The invention of YouTube has allowed people to gain a voice and a following so that they can inspire and make a change for the younger generations. Baylen Levine and many YouTubers have the freedom to post any content they want or desire in hopes that it will reach out to numerous amounts of users. 


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