YouTube
Me Media ramps up with video
(Jun 29, 2006)
Jason Shim's "Hey Ya Laurier" video -- a spoof of the popular 2003 Outkast song "Hey Ya" -- didn't make him a star.
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Hey Ya Laurier: Video ||
But posting it on YouTube, the free video-sharing site with the slogan Broadcast Yourself, won him fans around the Wilfrid Laurier University campus.
His video has been watched 1,700 times -- a pittance in YouTube terms -- but some of those viewers have since recognized him on the street as "the guy with the Hey Ya video," says the 23-year-old student.
"I liked being able to share with the world. I didn't expect to be a celebrity."
Shim's videos are a microcosm of YouTube itself, an interactive Internet juggernaut to which 60,000 new videos are uploaded each day.
They range from the ridiculous -- Laurier students doing their best evil laugh -- to downright impressive, such as Shim typing the alphabet in under two seconds.
|| Evil Laugh Laurier: Video ||
|| Lipsynch 2002: Video ||
Apart from YouTube, sites such as Blogger (which lets users set up their own blog), MySpace and Facebook (which give users their own web page), and Photobucket (which lets users share photos) command huge audiences.
They are all part of the same self-expression phenomenon -- Me Media, as it has been dubbed -- that encourages individuals to create and share content with a network of users.
It is a phenomenon that is growing.
In the past year, the top 10 Me Media sites have seen a 50 per cent growth in the number of visitors.
The top 10, led by MySpace, get a combined 70 million visitors a month.
Neil Randall, an English professor at the University of Waterloo, says it is a return to the old-school Internet of 1994.
That was when web pioneers were staking out their own space, before corporations turned the Net into a virtual shopping mall.
"People are just enjoying putting stuff together, putting it up, and showing any kind of interests and talents they have," he said.
"People take the technology and do with it what they want," he said. "We end up turning them all into entertainment."
California-based YouTube is the brainchild of Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, who met while working at PayPal, an online payment service. The two realized they shared a frustration with the difficulty of sharing videos from their digital camera.
Out of that frustration came YouTube, which is both a video-sharing site and a culture all its own.
"It's a court of public opinion," said Shim.
The most discussed videos can attract 1,000 comments a day. Reaching the highest echelons of YouTube fame can translate into success in other media.
One of YouTube's most popular comedic stars, Brookers, was recently signed to talk-show host Carson Daly's production company.
MySpace, which bands of all sizes use to promote their music, has its own success stories.
Panic! At The Disco, a MuchMusic favourite, is one of the lucky few. Group members were still in high school when they were discovered through MySpace, and are now on a nearly sold-out cross-country tour of the U.S.
The whole idea of instant -- if short-lived -- fame may be no surprise to a generation weaned on the Internet and reality television.
"My feeling is that if you're not self-obsessed you're probably boring," Dave Eggers wrote in his 2000 novel, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Eggers' book, like Jack Kerouac's On the Road, is largely believed to have defined his generation. He recognized its desire for fame through self-exploitation.
"These are people for whom the idea of anonymity is existentially irrational, indefensible," he writes. "If you don't want anyone to know about your existence, you might as well kill yourself."
There is no shortage of YouTube users (www.youtube.com) willing to share the most intimate details of their lives with strangers.
Take the video Love and Legend posted by Hing Chung Tam, a 24-year-old student at University of Waterloo.
|| Love and Legend: Video ||
The video, which took 20 hours to film and edit, was made the weekend before Valentine's Day.
While most of the video features ninjas (a common YouTube theme) and plays like a low-rent Kill Bill, it is meant as an extended valentine, complete with a sappy ending.
"Apparently she thought it was funny," said Tam. "I don't really know her all that well."
YouTube would never have become a phenomenon if it weren't so useful.
Robert Robson's videos include snippets from the recent Matt Dusk concert in Waterloo, and a video tour of the car Robson has for sale.
|| Matt Dusk: Video ||
When the Waterloo resident decided he wanted to learn more about the Caledonia land dispute, he turned to YouTube, where he found unedited interviews with both native elders and those who live near the disputed territory.
"It was really good insight into what's happening there," said the 27-year-old.
Jennifer Marshall went to UW, as did her sister Elysia, who graduated last spring.
"I had the video from my sister's graduation, and I kept trying to think of how I could give it to my parents to look at again. I couldn't e-mail it because it was too big," said the 27-year-old, who lives in Whitby. "Then I realized I could put it on YouTube."
She e-mailed the link to her parents, who can now watch their daughter receive her diploma anytime.
For Michael Le, a 23-year-old UW student, YouTube replaced television.
What it lacks in quality, it makes up for in flexibility -- Le can watch anytime, and anywhere there's an Internet connection.
He also uploads his own videos, including a choreographed lip-synching number that won his group first place in high school.
Pretty well anything goes, as long as it isn't obscene, defamatory, harassing, racially offensive, or copyrighted material.
As a real marker of its success, YouTube, like Google, has entered the popular lexicon as both a noun and a verb.
"If I think something's cool, chances are someone else will think it's cool," said Tam. "I'll YouTube it, and chances are it'll be there."
YouTube, like other sites with an active community, provides a built-in audience.
"Now you've got people you can share ideas with, possibly impress," said Randall. "You want to fit in -- I don't know how much of it is creative expression."
As for whether these Me Media sites are the start of a Web with as many producers as consumers, Randall is less sure.
He said that a "passive culture" has always been part of human society. For example, he said that people would rather watch 20 minutes of video than spend 20 hours creating their own masterpiece, just as people in the 19th century would attend an opera, but few would mount one.
"There's probably a higher percentage of creators to receivers," he said. "But there's still a whole lot of people who just want 20 minutes of entertainment."
What these sites have become are giant repositories of personal information -- sometimes too personal.
Many young people have heard horror stories -- future employers research a job applicant on the Internet and turn up embarrassing spring break photos or an offensive Facebook profile.
"I don't think young people realize how permanent the Internet can be," said Shim, who has had his own blog for years.
"It will be an issue in five to six years when it's disseminated all over the Internet," he said. "If I'm going to say something on the Internet, I want to make sure it's worth saying."
Shim says that writing a blog made him more comfortable with YouTube.
"I've tried to get some of my friends on (YouTube), but unless you already have part of your personal life online, like through a blog, you're not too comfortable with having your image online."
Marshall sees it the opposite way.
"I'm not into many people reading my thoughts on a daily basis," she said.
She laughs when she realizes the contradiction.
"I don't know why I think that is a little bizarre, but sharing videos is OK."
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