Online Journalism Youtube Carrie Cheng ( )

Background Type: video-sharing website Founded on: Feb 2005 Founders: Steve Chen (CEO) Chad Hurley (CFO) Jawed Karim (advisor) Headquarters: California U.S. Owner: acquired by Google in 2006

Background 2006: > new videos being uploaded every day receiving 100 million video views a day 2010: serving > 2 billion videos a day “nearly double the prime-time audience of all three major US television networks combined” (Glenn Chapman, AFP)

Financial Situation Youtube is famously unprofitable Its bandwidth costs US$1 million a day Developing ways to get $ from who are attracted Through advertising Partnership with TV stations

Why became popular Right timing: The growth in fibre lines & broadband access Easy to use site Easier just put it on Youtube Take really long to stick videos in s Wait so long to get that video (The Youtube Reader,Patricia G. Lange, P.76)

Choose different content based on your own preferences ! News & Politics Top Favourited Entertainment How to & Style

How we choose important info? Youtube’s editors determine what makes it onto the homepage But not know their criteria Maybe according to the statistics automatically tracked by Youtube So contributors will promote their videos proactively

How contributors promote your video? Related: YouTube shows video as “related video” after being watched Embedded Player: Provide link on other websites (Facebook, Twitter)

Advantages Slogan:“Broadcast Yourself” You can be a producer: make your own video Not just connected to a video, also a person who shares mutual interests Ongoing social relationship: Maintain connections between individuals and groups of people in a social network

Advantages Easily embedded in another medium: , text msg, blog, facebook page Historical, archival database Black-and-white images Magazine  Youtube as an idea search

Influences Change the forms and practices of TV Not just windowed interface, but also in its connection with the WorldWideWeb Partnership with Youtube In Nov 2008, MGM, Lions Gate Entertainment and CBS, allowing the companies to post full-length films and television episodes on the site accompanied by advertisements in a section:"Shows" Hypermediacy of its multiple networks of Youtube users, bloggers, news media, social networkers

Blocked access In Mar 2008, Chinese authorities barring access to it show police beating to death a pro- Tibet demonstrator last year politically unacceptable or offensive (YouTube confirms website blocked in China(AFP) – Mar 24, 2009) Turkey, Thailand, Iran, Pakistan

Key Issues The Bus Uncle 巴士呀叔 (2006) Video clip of a quarrel between two men aboard a bus Became YouTube's most viewed video in May 2006, received 3 million hits HK people were stressful in that period cultural sensation in HK, inspiring vigorous debate on lifestyle, etiquette, civic awareness and media ethics Attracted the media around the world M M

Key Issues Sri Lanka Tsunami another example of Vlogger’s power clips are short, grainy and jumpy, and the sound is marginal "In this case, it seems that we could not do without the amateur images and amateur accounts,“ Prof Vaidhyanathan says. qieIl3xw

Documentary – The Iraq War Footage of the November 2004 siege of Fallujah by Corporal Jan M. Bender, a ‘combat correspondent’ with the U.S. Marine Corps showing US soldiers firing upon and blowing up a variety of buildings

Documentary – The Iraq War Message: “To those who lived the good life, fought the good fight and made the ultimate sacrifice. May we never forget”. show a side of warfare that is often hidden from civilians back in the U.S

Does Youtube prioritize news content ? In 2008, Youtube denied John McCain’s request to prioritize the review of political videos are deleted from the website because of copyright

No Content Prioritization YouTube Chief Counsel Zahavah Levine: no one category could take priority at YouTube “There is a lot of other content on our global site that our users around the world find to be equally important”

Criticism “Textualization” of images Young people tend to use Youtube as a search engine Watch more videos then read newspapers View the context of the web only from the video angle Words not important anymore?

Criticism Copyright Failing to comply with the law of copyright "Do not upload any TV shows, music videos, music concerts or advertisements without permission, unless they consist entirely of content that you created yourself" still many unauthorized clips on YouTube Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Competition China-based “youtube” Pretty much the same layout But less choices: no news content

References Brad & Schepp, D. (2009). How to make money with YouTube: Earn cash, market yourself, reach your customers, and grow your business on the world's most popular video-sharing site. New York: McGraw- Hill Professional. Snickars, P. & Vonderau, P. (2009), The YouTube reader. Stockholm: National Library of Sweden.

Q & A

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