Our generation views YouTube and internet use as nearly synonymous but over time youtube has changed. Though you may have not noticed he changes at the beginning, the youtube of today filled with vloggers and game commentaries is fundamentally different than the youtube of just a few years ago, leading to a site that will likely evolve into something completely different then it is now.

In terms of content, YouTube still remains explicitly user controlled, allowing for videos that can be uploaded by virtualy anyone and everyone with no guidelines beyond its terms of service.[1]  This  process of users generating and viewing  content is not likely to change; what has changed is those who are generating the content and what they are generating.

Think back to back to middle school, maybe even elementary school. The videos you were likely watching (at least the popular ones) consisted of the likes of Charlie the Unicorn series and “Shoes.” These are videos that certainly have a large amount of  enteretainment value (or at least 10-year-old-me thought so) but due to their style and quality could not have succeeded on any other platform. Perhaps even more importantly, these videos were created by people[2]. People who are authentically part of the youtube community.  The videos produced by these individuals tend to make up for what they lack in resources, skill, and experience with authenticity. These individuals produce content on YouTube as a means of expression, having a genuine love for the medium they are creating in.

Though the commercializing of YouTube will likely be a prolonged, gradual process, some of the creative minds of YouTube are losing footing. The videos of some of the boldest YouTube users have been deleted, such as maverick animator Cboyardee and silent food eater Fausto Levantesi, due to a YouTube climate that has become increasingly inhospitable to independent video-makers  who push boundaries. In the end, no matter home popular watching Tyler Oakley listen to his own voice becomes, I will always prefer the independently-made quality which YouTube was intitially founded on.

[1] Though YouTube videos can be taken down by the site, the erms of service ultimately limit this to videos of an excessively virulent, lurid and/or pornographic nature which relies on users flagging videos. Though this system seems flimsy especially considering the size and rate of uploads on YouTube. It works well enough that YouTube is able to maintain its reputation as a relativley safe entertainment sight. This is not to say YouTube doesn’t get any criticism from for some of its content but not enough per se that it is generally regarded as an unsuitable suit for children. Nor does youtube experience nearly as much controversy as sights like Reddit and their inability and unwillingness to effectively respond to the spread of celebrity nudes.

[2] I fully realize how loaded (and some may argue inaccurate) the following assessment seems. Sure, the Vevo channel  is run and coordinated by people but the ultimate final product is ultimately impersonal media production the same way you don’t thing of a Big Mac as the executivechef of McDonalds’ personal form of creative self-expression.