YouTube was invented in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It originally started out as a site used for sharing home videos; however, it quickly became more. "By the summer of 2006, YouTube was serving more than 100 million videos per day." People of all ages were posted videos to share with family, friends, and strangers.
The site spread like wildfire due to its easy access and fact that anyone could post anything with little restrictions. The wide plethora of videos to watch within different genres appealed to everyone because you could choose what to watch. People such as PewDiePie and the Smosh Brothers became celebrities through the website, simply because the audience liked what they were putting out into the world. Now, there are many famous YouTubers, but they are in somewhat of a different category than cinema celebrities. Anyone can become famous on YouTube if you have the dedication and drive. I think this is what makes the site so successful; people love ways to get fast cash, especially if you can film what you do an a daily basis, post it, and make a living doing that.
Another element of YouTube that I think makes it popular is the vanity of the posters. The so called "YouTubers," or at least some of them, for that matter, make their videos personal to their life and might even film vlogs. Vlogs are a video dairy of what you do in a day. This element of realism and genuineness makes viewers feel close to the person, like they are friends, and offers afresh take from cinema that is staged and rehearsed.
YouTube is still a huge phenomenon today, however, there are major downsides the the quick and easy access YouTube allows. There are not many restrictions on the site because it was never intended to be somewhat of a streaming service for all types of videos. For example, Netflix subscribers are able to change the settings for children. The "kids mode" only allows them to see shows and movies that are rated PG and they don't even have access to any other cinema. YouTube has some restrictions set in place, such as, if there is a video with explicit content of a certain level of nudity, it will lock the video until you log in with your google account proving you are of age to watch that content. Also, YouTube will demonetize a video if it has inappropriate content, a copyrighted song, or sensitive subjects. A demonetization just means the poster will not get paid for that video, but it is not taken down. However, there are easy ways to get around these restrictions and the videos are not very well monitored.
I am finding more and more kids watching YouTube as their main source of content, which concerns me. This site does not require the content creators to go through a screening process of any kind or make sure the information they are stating is correct. So, you never know if the information you are learning on YouTube is accurate. A possible solution could be to have different formats for different age groups. Also to screen the content and check for accuracy.
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