The buzz and business of Youtube and its tubies/tubers... with regard to the effect its having on society.
As far back as 2009, Foreign Policy media platform wrote ~
Welcome to the YouTube effect. It is the phenomenon whereby video clips, often produced by individuals acting on their own, are rapidly disseminated throughout the world thanks to video-sharing Web sites such as YouTube, Google Video, and others. Every month, YouTube receives 20 million visitors, who watch 100 million video clips a day. There are 65,000 new videos posted every day. Most of the videos are frivolous, produced by and for teenagers. But some are serious. YouTube includes videos posted by terrorists, human rights groups, and U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Some are clips of incidents that have political consequences or document important trends, such as global warming, illegal immigration, and corruption. Some videos reveal truths. Others spread disinformation, propaganda, and outright lies. All are part of the YouTube effect.
In case you don't know what YouTube is (that would be hard to believe since its the world’s second most popular site after Google)... well, its a stimulus machine. How? Just as you read above, its the phenomenon whereby video clips, often
produced by individuals acting on their own, are rapidly disseminated
throughout the world thanks to video-sharing Web sites such as YouTube,
Google Video, and others. Its stimulating for those who use it.
Recently, a film was made about how YouTube effects society. The film describes its design and how today Ai has been implemented to take over the operations of content analysis and its dissemination. Which has aroused concerns among users their stuff is being taken down, blocked and or shadowed... and how this has a violation of freedom of speech.
Whether or not that is 100% true is debatable but it certainly is arguably a problem for content creators and their audiences. Why? Because, Youtube is used by everyone and that means everyone... the good, the bad and the ugly as well as the ignorant, average Jane/Joe, the wealthy, the poor, the educated, the for whatever reason excluded, the cooperate world including big pharma as a means for marketing schemes and the elites and their powerful orgs. And, probably the government for gathering intelligence... even on its own citizens.
And, everyone of those groups/entities legal or not has an agenda whether its a scheme to draw attention to themselves as a trendsetter, as a virtue signaler, a voice for minorities, a flamboyant 'narcissist' means to get rich/recognized (reactors), to quell boredom, pass the time for the lonely (the aged or home-bound), to give prophecies (the religious), recap and shape local news (municipalities) or to spread disinformation and certainly control the kind of information they want society to have.
Some are actually entertaining... many or most are ridiculous and twisted, and a few are educational. And, some can be considered dangerous depending on the target audience. Its not for the innocent or weak of stomach or tender hearted with regard to some commenters. Yet, its an interesting phenomenon nonetheless born of man's desire to be heard, to control and to be famous.
In terms of its impact on the social imagination, we can observe how it creates agreement and disagreement through social interaction and that is evolving daily... in fact, becoming a sui generis (a Latin expression that translates 'of its own kind'. It refers to anything that is peculiar to itself of its own kind or class). I can almost bet that Durkheim would never have imagined such a beast.
*https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/10/14/the-youtube-effect/
