Internet Killed the Video Star

http://mashable.com/2016/03/29/gen-z-media-diet/#Zhvacmp4iuqJ

After having read this article, I was surprised to see that teens would rather live without cable and satellite TV than without social media. What surprised me even more was that this study showed that teens would rather live without Netflix than live without YouTube. I had always thought that professionally made movies and television shows would remain our society’s most preferred source of media, however this study shows that this may not always be the case.

YouTube has gained increasing popularity among young people and it’s definitely not slowing down. YouTube’s online celebrity population is growing immensely and their fame among young people in the online community is growing daily. With the newly produced YouTube Red Original films featuring these famous YouTube stars, these online celebrities that created those online communities are starring in professionally made productions. However, by charging people to view these productions, they contradict what made them so famous in the first place: the building of online communities. According to Jean Burgess and Joshua Green’s article, “… it is unclear whether YouTube Inc. is fully committed to the responsibilities as well as the benefits that flow from its role as patron for the creative and collaborative work of its core users –the work that actually produces YouTube as a community”(98). Since YouTube’s popularity relies on its community building, these productions are seeking to take advantage of these online communities by charging a fee to participate in something that used to be free.

It is no surprise then, to see that watching videos on social media is quickly becoming one of the top ways that people watch videos. According to this article, https://blog.hootsuite.com/video-social-media-trend-2016/ viewing videos on social media is growing exponentially. It’s fairly obvious that the increasing amount of social media platforms that are now including video are doing so due to the fact that they know they will increase usage by developing online communities. Therefore, it’s clear that videos will be, and always have been a social medium. Whether it is watching a film in the theatre with others, watching television at home with friends and family, or viewing and commenting on videos online, the fact remains that videos at their core, are best when shared with a community.

2 thoughts on “Internet Killed the Video Star”

I feel like the social element of online videos is very heavily dependant on their subject matter. I’ll probably share some video of animals or a uniquely bizarre music remix but I personally wouldn’t share something like a movie review with friends and family. Because, unless they’re familiar with the person already, what do they care what that person has to say? But, though I don’t partake, it is intriguing that those types of videos build a cult of personality and a following among many isolated members rather than previously existing social connection. They don’t get shared like immediately acceptable viral videos but they form self-sufficient communities within Youtube and more anonymous social media like Reddit.

Maybe it’s that lone user-to-Internet connection that creates a stronger personal bond than a professionally-made movie among these types. Watching movies is a social sharing experience but not a social exchange, and that element in partaking in something greater could lead to more reliance on that medium or creator.

I hadn’t thought much about this until just reading this right now, but I would be hard pressed to pick keeping my subscription to netflix over having access to things like podcasts or other forms of internet entertainment. While I love netflix and the great content that it gives me access to and is also now producing, I think podcasts might be up there at the top of my media consumption pie chart (do pie charts have tops? sorry I’m tired). One of my favourite things to watch/listen to is stand-up comedy, and while netflix has recently stepped up its efforts immensely in respect to producing stand-up specials, over the last few years podcasting as a medium has becoming increasingly intertwined with stand-up, not only as a way for comedians to promote themselves but also as a way for them to provide stand-up and other great content. A great example of this is the podcast Kill Tony which consists of the hosts Tony Hinchcliffe and Brian Redban, two stand-up comics who are joined every monday by a panel of guest co-hosts who are also stand-ups and then watch as comedians who are in the audience are randomly drawn out of a hat to perform a minute of comedy, after which they are either roasted, interviewed, or critiqued/roasted depending on how well they do. If a comic does particularly well (which is very difficult to do with only a minute to to set up a joke or jokes and get a crowd on your side and laughing) then they could be offered a full spot on a show that friday night sharing the line-up with some really legit comics. A few weeks ago the guests were comedy legends Dom Irrera and Bill Burr and it was as good as you would expect. The thing is as much as I love the professional content put out by studios that is featured on netflix, the type of hilarious insanity that can happen while listening to or watching a podcast like kill tony for me is something that that kind of professionally produced content simply can’t provide. And because of that I hope that nobody ever makes me choose between the two and I can just keep filling (or wasting depending on who you ask) my time with as much media content as humanly possible until they upload all of our consciousnesses to the cloud and I can just be fully immersed in it.

cdonald55 says:

April 5, 2016 at 2:56 am

I feel like the social element of online videos is very heavily dependant on their subject matter. I’ll probably share some video of animals or a uniquely bizarre music remix but I personally wouldn’t share something like a movie review with friends and family. Because, unless they’re familiar with the person already, what do they care what that person has to say? But, though I don’t partake, it is intriguing that those types of videos build a cult of personality and a following among many isolated members rather than previously existing social connection. They don’t get shared like immediately acceptable viral videos but they form self-sufficient communities within Youtube and more anonymous social media like Reddit.

Maybe it’s that lone user-to-Internet connection that creates a stronger personal bond than a professionally-made movie among these types. Watching movies is a social sharing experience but not a social exchange, and that element in partaking in something greater could lead to more reliance on that medium or creator.

chrisgal8 says:

April 5, 2016 at 6:05 am

I hadn’t thought much about this until just reading this right now, but I would be hard pressed to pick keeping my subscription to netflix over having access to things like podcasts or other forms of internet entertainment. While I love netflix and the great content that it gives me access to and is also now producing, I think podcasts might be up there at the top of my media consumption pie chart (do pie charts have tops? sorry I’m tired). One of my favourite things to watch/listen to is stand-up comedy, and while netflix has recently stepped up its efforts immensely in respect to producing stand-up specials, over the last few years podcasting as a medium has becoming increasingly intertwined with stand-up, not only as a way for comedians to promote themselves but also as a way for them to provide stand-up and other great content. A great example of this is the podcast Kill Tony which consists of the hosts Tony Hinchcliffe and Brian Redban, two stand-up comics who are joined every monday by a panel of guest co-hosts who are also stand-ups and then watch as comedians who are in the audience are randomly drawn out of a hat to perform a minute of comedy, after which they are either roasted, interviewed, or critiqued/roasted depending on how well they do. If a comic does particularly well (which is very difficult to do with only a minute to to set up a joke or jokes and get a crowd on your side and laughing) then they could be offered a full spot on a show that friday night sharing the line-up with some really legit comics. A few weeks ago the guests were comedy legends Dom Irrera and Bill Burr and it was as good as you would expect. The thing is as much as I love the professional content put out by studios that is featured on netflix, the type of hilarious insanity that can happen while listening to or watching a podcast like kill tony for me is something that that kind of professionally produced content simply can’t provide. And because of that I hope that nobody ever makes me choose between the two and I can just keep filling (or wasting depending on who you ask) my time with as much media content as humanly possible until they upload all of our consciousnesses to the cloud and I can just be fully immersed in it.