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YouTube was founded in 2005 by former PayPal employees Chad Hurly, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. Since launching, the website has become the largest video sharing website on the planet with more than 400 hours of content upload every second. In doing so, the site has made it a path for creative minds to share thoughts, daily lives, critiques and so much more to a wide variety of consumers that otherwise would have never reached such highs. But how did this exactly happen?


According to many different stories from the creators, YouTube was inspired off of either dating sites, such as Hot or Not or the Janet Jackson 2004 Super Bowl show where her accidental exposure spread like wildfire across the internet. 

Chad Hurly, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim: YouTube's founders. 


Due to the coding of YouTube, anyone with any type of video player could watch content from the site. Thus, the website shot up in popularity, gaining 14 million uploaded videos in less than a year. Back in 2006, all three founders saw a great deal of potential in the site as it continued to grow faster and faster. 


A remarkable note about YouTube is that no matter one’s interests, there is content on Youtube for you. Numerous history channels to educate people, comedy, video games, movies, toy reviews, technology, news, so forth, and so on. These videos are made for countless to enjoy and many more to learn from. Making YouTube a rare experiment in terms of returning to the site on a usual basis. 


However, since the golden years of YouTube, in the past five years, the platform has seen a steady shift into a more hostile and negative environment. Due to how rapid content appears on the site, YouTube has developed different algorithms to help judge content. While this is good, other times it drives creators to insanity. Take the most recent algorithm. This one encourages family-friendly content, rapid uploads, and videos in the lengths of 20 to 30 minutes. While points one and three are simple, two is the problem. 


A single soul cannot create massive videos daily in order to ensure a steady flow of income. As such, we see more content creators becoming more burned out, mentally unwell, and all-around unhappy. 


YouTubers: Pewdiepie, Casey Neistat, and AlishaMarie have all expressed creator burnout. 


Secondly, we have the issues with YouTube drama. Yes, video sharing can do a great many things in terms of communication. We can share thoughts, show off some fun comedic bits, video games, and movies. However, in the past four years, YouTube drama has been the main form of viewership gain and therefore earn more money off of ads and views. 


Lastly, the corporate side of YouTube has severally damaged the creator side of the site. While using copyrighted material can be troublesome, creators are continuing to be punished for using footage, music, humming the songs, and many more. Along with threats by the US Federal Government and protection of children on the site, YouTube continues to punish everyone for the failings of a few. As such, the platform continues to harm its own creators who are forced to keep coming back or to find a new line of employment for years to come. 


Still, despite all the major issues with the site, YouTube is still a place of relative joy and content creation. It stands as a way for people to get their start on editing, filming, lighting set up, and many others. All in all, like every major company, YouTube has both its ups and downs, and with COVID, it is time to prove if these faults will kill the site or the goodwill save the bad. 



https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/16/youtube-past-video-dating-website

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/18/tech/youtube-creator-burnout/index.html 

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pgkak9/youtube-drama-is-causing-more-youtube-drama-about-youtube-drama 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/25/18744246/youtube-demonetization-steven-crowder-patreon-advertising-merch

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/21/17879652/youtube-creator-youtuber-burnout-problem 

Comments

  1. Prof. SmithJuly 6, 2020 at 5:23 AM

    Great post! One thing you might consider as a media guy: Change the text font to a sans serif one — like verdana. It works better for reverse type (white on black). Also, kick up the point size a tick or two to make it easier to read. Great job!!!

    ReplyDelete

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