Aside from the gaming scene, Youtube is another part of the internet I find myself spending a lot of time on. Whether it be listening to tracks that have yet to be officially released, to watching my favorite gamers and streamers play a variety of video games, to watching those emotion inducing shorts by Wong Fu, to seeing Youtubers react to popular vids... The list goes on and on.
There's just so much to watch on Youtube, but sometimes I ask myself, "How did Youtube get to the way it is now?" I vaguely remember when I first learned of Youtube or watched a video from it. Unfortunately, I do not remember the first video I saw, but I'm pretty sure I was introduced to Youtube by watching videos of people "failing" at different things--basically people embarrassing themselves, something akin to America's Funniest Videos. Back then that was what Youtube was mostly about--comedy and music. You had the greats like NigaHiga or Kev Jumba coming up with hilarious skits, or various unknown people performing covers of mainstream music.
The Youtube scene has grown so much in the past decade. Just like with e-Sports, people are starting to sustain themselves through posting vids and earning money based on advertisements and viewcounts. It's gotten to the point where there's video conventions now, where Youtubers--both known and unknown--meet and greet. There's even an awards ceremony based on Youtube, as mentioned in this article that will take place later this fall. The article states that Youtube is perhaps the best way to give awards, as its numbers (viewcount and rating) are the most accurate for what is actually a hit.
Though Youtube is growing, I do have a qualm with the direction it's growing in. I'm not too big of a fan of it being commercialized. Not to say that I don't want people to earn a living off of video taping themselves and uploading it on youtube--I actually support people that do earn money this way. It's actually not about earning the money, but more along the lines of "can you consider them to be a youtube celebrity or not?" I don't believe people who are already big stars outside of youtube should be considered part of the Youtube community or a Youtube star. Youtube stars should be people like Wong Fu Productions or Niga Higa or Freddie Wong--basically, people whose main outlet is Youtube videos. I don't consider Lady Gaga or Psy to be Youtube celebrities even when their view counts on their videos are high. But I guess that's just my personal opinion.
Outside of that, I think Youtube is a good example of how computers or technology in general are helping to bring people closer together. Here we have individuals doing what they love to do and interacting with one another--whether it be through collaboration videos or commenting. It's helping to bridge the gap between entertainers and viewers.
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