Social impact of YouTube
Encyclopedia
YouTube
, by providing a video hosting service
, has been involved with popularizing Internet trends in popular culture
. Its users represent of society and it is part of a set of social networking sites that people and organizations often maintain a presence on. YouTube has created some internet celebrities in its own right. It has been recognized and honored as a global archive and bulletin board of socially valuable video messages. Some aspects of how the site operates, such as its video ranking system, have sometimes been the subject of criticism as users vie to achieve a maximum number of views for their videos.
with over 3.9 million subscribers. On July 16, 2010, Justin Bieber
's video "Baby
" became the most viewed video of all time on YouTube, with over 245 million views. The previous video to hold this title was Lady GaGa
's video "Bad Romance
". For some users, fame has led to unexpected results and, in some cases, crossovers into traditional media or entertainment avenues. Former receptionist Brooke Brodack
(Brookers) from Connecticut
was signed by NBC
's Carson Daly
for an 18-month development contract in June 2006; Brodack was among the first individuals to transition into mainstream media through YouTube. Another discovery was the uncovered fictitious blog of lonelygirl15
, now known to be the creation of New Zealand
actress Jessica Rose and some film directors. In 2007, a Dutch vocalist and songwriter named Esmée Denters
(esmeedenters) was signed to a recording contract by Billy Mann based on her YouTube performances.
Another YouTube singer, 15 year-old Savannah Outen
, was signed to Levosia Entertainment after posting videos of herself singing on the site. Also, Canadian singer Justin Bieber
(Kidrauhl) was discovered through YouTube and signed a record deal with Usher
.
On January 31, 2007, Fox
announced that Lisa Donovan
(LisaNova) would appear as a cast member during the 12th season of its sketch comedy
show MADtv
. Terra Naomi
(terranaomi) has been signed with Island Records
, a division of the Universal Music Group
, one of the Big Four record labels. Brandon Hardesty
(ArtieTSMITW), known for a popular reenactment series among his work, appeared in a GEICO
television commercial running nationally in the U.S. and it consists mostly of a segment taken from his Strange Faces and Noises I Can Make III video. Brandon has also been contracted by an agent and was hired for a role in the independent film, Bart Got a Room.
Ysabella Brave
(ysabellabrave and ysabellabravetalk) announced in two videos on June 3, 2007, in connection with a Los Angeles Times
feature article about her on the same day, that she has been signed by Cordless Recordings
, a division of the Warner Music Group
, also one of the four major records labels. TheReceptionist announced in a video on July 9, 2007 that he will be providing content for Comedy Central
's website.
Cory Williams
(aka Mr. Safety of smpfilms) is the host of the first national television show to spawn from video bloggers. It's a "best of the net" type show called The FIZZ
on DirecTV channel 101 in the United States
. The show has been on air since September 2006 and features other popular YouTubers such as boh3m3, thewinekone, Kevin Nalty
, TheHill88, and many others. Williams has also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, MTV Scarred, as well as a few popular music videos (Bloodhound Gang and Against Me! being two of the bands).
Pat Condell
's videos attracted the attention of Richard Dawkins
, author of The God Delusion
. Subsequently, 35 of his videos were published to DVD
, which was sold on Dawkins' website and Amazon.com
.
Damien Rice
invited Amy Kuney
to perform with him at two shows in Iceland
after he saw her YouTube
cover of his song "The Blower's Daughter" in July 2008.
Before the launch of YouTube in 2005, there were few easy methods available for ordinary computer users who wanted to post videos online. With its simple interface, YouTube made it possible for anyone with an Internet connection to post a video that a worldwide audience could watch within a few minutes. The wide range of topics covered by YouTube has turned video sharing into one of the most important parts of Internet culture
.
An early example of the social impact of YouTube was the success of The Bus Uncle
video in 2006. It shows a heated conversation between a youth and an older man on a bus in Hong Kong, and was discussed widely in the mainstream media. Another YouTube video to receive extensive coverage is guitar, which features a performance of Pachelbel's Canon on an electric guitar
. The name of the performer is not given in the video. After it received millions of views The New York Times
revealed the identity of the guitarist as Lim Jeong-hyun, a 23-year-old from South Korea who had recorded the track in his bedroom.
Charlie Bit My Finger
is a viral video
and has received the most views of any user generated YouTube video. It had over 245 million hits as of November 2010. The clip features two English
brothers, with one-year-old Charlie biting the finger of his brother Harry, aged three.
In Time
's list of YouTube's 50 greatest viral videos of all time, "Charlie Bit My Finger" was ranked at number one.
(boh3m3), Paul Robinett
(renetto), Lisa Donovan
(LisaNova), Jessica Rose (lonelygirl15), Kevin Nalty
(Nalts), Tony Huynh (thewinekone), Brandon Hardesty
(ArtieTSMITW), Christine Gambito
(HappySlip), Cory Williams
(smpfilms), Charlie McDonnell
(charlieissocoollike), Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox (smosh) and Yousef Abu-Taleb
(Danielbeast) were among the first 100 partners. The partnership program has now been expanded to include over 10,000 YouTube channels.
YouTubers periodically hold public gatherings to celebrate the video sharing community. One of the earliest of such gatherings, the recurrent and international As One, was first held in January 2007 in Los Angeles
by Cory Williams
of smpfilms. The second As One, also hosted by Cory Williams
, was held on February 17, 2007 at Pier 39
in San Francisco, managed to attract many of YouTube's highest viewed individuals. Notable attendees included Caitlin Hill
, Ben Going
, and Yousef Abu-Taleb
, the actor who plays DanielBeast in the YouTube serial lonelygirl15
. A third gathering took place on July 7, 2007, at Washington Square Park
in New York City
. A singing invitation to the event, posted on YouTube by Christine Gambito
, YouTube's Happyslip, gained over 2.6 million views. Notable attendees included Brooke Brodack
, Caitlin Hill
, and
Kevin Nalty
. Yet another took place in Washington D.C. on September 8, 2007. An As One gathering was held in Melbourne, Australia on December 1, 2007 at Federation Square. Another two gatherings were planned by smpfilms at the beginning of 2008. The largest gathering in the United States is VidCon with the UK equivalent being Summer in The City. Both are held annually and feature thousands of YouTubers.
', where Internet users can upload, view and share clips, is an ever-expanding archive/bulletin board that both embodies and promotes democracy."
The current rankings are:
. In March 2008, an unofficial video of the song "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" by the Brazil
ian band Cansei De Ser Sexy briefly held the number one slot for the all-time most viewed video, with around 114 million views. It was temporarily removed from YouTube after allegations of automated viewing or hacking
, before being deleted by the uploader. The viewing figures for the video outnumbered the "most favorited" rating by around 21,000 to 1, compared to around 500 to 1 for other top rated YouTube videos. YouTube's terms of service state: "You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including without limitation, 'robots,' 'spiders,' or 'offline readers,' that accesses the Website in a manner that sends more request messages to the YouTube servers in a given period of time than a human can reasonably produce in the same period by using a conventional on-line web browser." A spokesperson for YouTube commented: "We are developing safeguards to secure the statistics on YouTube. Although it is somewhat difficult to track how often this happens, it is not rampant. As soon as it comes to our attention that someone has rigged their numbers to gain placement on the top pages we remove the video or channel from public view." Clarus Bartel from Italy, who had uploaded the video, denied attempting to boost its ranking, stating: "These gimmicks do not belong to me. I've got nothing to do with it. The accusations geared towards me have saddened me greatly."
The YouTube video of the Avril Lavigne
song "Girlfriend
" was also accused of having an exaggerated number of views due to the use of a web link posted by AvrilBandAids, a fansite
devoted to Avril Lavigne. Clicking on the link would automatically reload the YouTube video of "Girlfriend" every fifteen seconds. Fans of Avril Lavigne were encouraged to: "Keep this page open while you browse the internet, study for exams, or even sleep. For extra viewing power, open up two or more browser windows at this page!" The video of "Girlfriend" overtook "Evolution of Dance" by Judson Laipply
as the all-time most viewed video on YouTube in July 2008. "Evolution of Dance" later retook the top slot, currently having around 147 million views, but was overtaken again on mid-2009 by the video of "Charlie bit my finger, again!" which currently has around 260 million views. The video of "Girlfriend" was removed by its uploader RCA Music around December 2009, ending with over 129 million views. However, as mentioned above, both "Evolution of Dance" and "Charlie bit my finger, again!" have been surpassed by the video of "Baby
" by Justin Bieber
which has over 606 million views, and the video of "Bad Romance
" by Lady Gaga
, which has over 415 million views. "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)
" by Shakira
, which has over 404 million views and "On The Floor
" by Jennifer Lopez
, which has over 400 million views, are currently the third and fourth most viewed videos on YouTube, respectively.
YouTube user Cory Williams
has also admitted to artificially inflating the views of his videos.
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, by providing a video hosting service
Video hosting service
A video hosting service allows individuals to upload video clips to an Internet website. The video host will then store the video on its server, and show the individual different types of code to allow others to view this video...
, has been involved with popularizing Internet trends in popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
. Its users represent of society and it is part of a set of social networking sites that people and organizations often maintain a presence on. YouTube has created some internet celebrities in its own right. It has been recognized and honored as a global archive and bulletin board of socially valuable video messages. Some aspects of how the site operates, such as its video ranking system, have sometimes been the subject of criticism as users vie to achieve a maximum number of views for their videos.
Internet celebrities and breaking boundaries
YouTube's popularity has led to the creation of many YouTube Internet celebrities, popular individuals who have attracted much publicity in their home countries (and sometimes world renown) due to their videos. The most subscribed YouTube member, as of June 2011, is Ray William JohnsonRay William Johnson
Ray William Johnson is an American comedian best known for his YouTube series Equals Three, in which he provides commentary on viral videos. Many of the videos featured on Equals Three are noted to have received an additional boost of popularity...
with over 3.9 million subscribers. On July 16, 2010, Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...
's video "Baby
Baby (Justin Bieber song)
"Baby" is a song by Canadian recording artist Justin Bieber. It was released as the lead single from the latter half of Bieber's debut album, My World 2.0. The track was written by Bieber with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Terius "The-Dream" Nash, both of whom worked with Bieber on "One Time",...
" became the most viewed video of all time on YouTube, with over 245 million views. The previous video to hold this title was Lady GaGa
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
's video "Bad Romance
Bad Romance
"Bad Romance" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released as the lead single from her third extended play , and second major release The Fame Monster . Written by Lady Gaga and produced by RedOne, the track was inspired by Gaga's fear of negative love relationships and the...
". For some users, fame has led to unexpected results and, in some cases, crossovers into traditional media or entertainment avenues. Former receptionist Brooke Brodack
Brooke Brodack
Brooke Allison Brodack , aka Brookers, is an American viral video comedian mainly known for her short videos on YouTube, which have received 49 million views and led to a contract from the mainstream media. The New Yorker called her "the first real YouTube star."Brodack has been making videos since...
(Brookers) from Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
was signed by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Carson Daly
Carson Daly
Carson Jones Daly is an American television host. He is the host of NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, a late-night talk show that began airing on January 7, 2002. Before his role as host of that program, Daly was a VJ on MTV's TRL, and a DJ for the Southern California based radio station KROQ-FM...
for an 18-month development contract in June 2006; Brodack was among the first individuals to transition into mainstream media through YouTube. Another discovery was the uncovered fictitious blog of lonelygirl15
Lonelygirl15
lonelygirl15 was an interactive web-based video series which began in June 2006 and ran through to August 1, 2008. Developed under the working title The Children of Anchor Cove, the show gained worldwide media attention when it was outed as fictional in September 2006.-Overview:lonelygirl15...
, now known to be the creation of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
actress Jessica Rose and some film directors. In 2007, a Dutch vocalist and songwriter named Esmée Denters
Esmée Denters
Esmée Denters is a Dutch singer-songwriter. She was a regular cover-artist on video-sharing website YouTube on which she covered songs by contemporary musicians like Justin Timberlake and Natasha Bedingfield....
(esmeedenters) was signed to a recording contract by Billy Mann based on her YouTube performances.
Another YouTube singer, 15 year-old Savannah Outen
Savannah Outen
Savannah Outen is an American singer who gained popularity on YouTube. Outen began posting videos of herself singing on YouTube in March 2007 along with Angelika Vee and Esmee Denters. In 2010 she collaborated with Boyce Avenue on their sixth acoustic album, New Acoustic Sessions...
, was signed to Levosia Entertainment after posting videos of herself singing on the site. Also, Canadian singer Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...
(Kidrauhl) was discovered through YouTube and signed a record deal with Usher
Usher (entertainer)
Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...
.
On January 31, 2007, Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
announced that Lisa Donovan
Lisa Donovan
Lisa Donovan is an American actress. As of September 2011 her YouTube channel has 712,000 subscribers and 200 million video views, putting it in the top 100 channels on YouTube. Lisa is one of the co-founders of Maker Studios, which helps develop YouTube personalities.She is also a founder of...
(LisaNova) would appear as a cast member during the 12th season of its sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
show MADtv
MADtv
MADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...
. Terra Naomi
Terra Naomi
Terra Naomi is an alternative, rock, and pop artist, who rose to fame through a performance of her song "Say It's Possible" on the video sharing site YouTube...
(terranaomi) has been signed with Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
, a division of the Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
, one of the Big Four record labels. Brandon Hardesty
Brandon Hardesty
Brandon Allan Hardesty is an American comedic performer and actor. Hardesty posts original comedy videos as well as "uncanny" recreations of scenes from movies, playing every part himself, excluding a few of his projects, such as his Little Rascals and the original Batman movie...
(ArtieTSMITW), known for a popular reenactment series among his work, appeared in a GEICO
GEICO
The Government Employees Insurance Company is an auto insurance company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that as of 2007 provided coverage for more than 10 million motor vehicles owned by more than 9 million policy holders. GEICO writes private passenger automobile insurance...
television commercial running nationally in the U.S. and it consists mostly of a segment taken from his Strange Faces and Noises I Can Make III video. Brandon has also been contracted by an agent and was hired for a role in the independent film, Bart Got a Room.
Ysabella Brave
Ysabella Brave
Ysabella Brave is an American vocalist signed by Cordless Recordings, a division of the Warner Music Group. She was discovered through the popularity of her YouTube channels, ysabellabrave and ysabellabravetalk.-Videos:Ysabella Brave posted the first videos of herself singing on YouTube on July...
(ysabellabrave and ysabellabravetalk) announced in two videos on June 3, 2007, in connection with a Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
feature article about her on the same day, that she has been signed by Cordless Recordings
Cordless Recordings
Cordless Recordings is a netlabel owned by Warner Music Group. The label was founded in 2005 by Jac Holzman, who also founded Elektra Records and Nonesuch Records.-Affiliation with Rykodisc - Present:...
, a division of the Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
, also one of the four major records labels. TheReceptionist announced in a video on July 9, 2007 that he will be providing content for Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's website.
Cory Williams
Cory Williams
Cory Williams , also known as "Mr. Safety" from SMP Films, is an actor and YouTube personality who lives in Thousand Oaks, California.-Biography:...
(aka Mr. Safety of smpfilms) is the host of the first national television show to spawn from video bloggers. It's a "best of the net" type show called The FIZZ
The FIZZ
The FIZZ was a half-hour weekly television program hosted by Cory "Mr. Safety" Williams and Jessica "JP" Payne. It was created by Andrew Kobliska for DirecTV Original Entertainment. The show features video bloggers, aspiring hosts, online videos and indie music videos.The program premiered in...
on DirecTV channel 101 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The show has been on air since September 2006 and features other popular YouTubers such as boh3m3, thewinekone, Kevin Nalty
Kevin Nalty
Kevin Nalty is a YouTube comedian and partner based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania better known under his YouTube username Nalts. His YouTube Channel is one of the top-20 most-viewed comedy channels. He has more than 1,000 videos which, as of September 18, 2011, have been viewed more than 236 million...
, TheHill88, and many others. Williams has also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, MTV Scarred, as well as a few popular music videos (Bloodhound Gang and Against Me! being two of the bands).
Pat Condell
Pat Condell
Patrick Condell is an Irish-English writer, political commentator, comedian, UKIP patron and atheist internet personality. He performed alternative comedy shows during the 1980s and 1990s in the United Kingdom, and won a Time Out Comedy Award in 1991...
's videos attracted the attention of Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
, author of The God Delusion
The God Delusion
The God Delusion is a 2006 bestselling non-fiction book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, professorial fellow of New College, Oxford, and inaugural holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that...
. Subsequently, 35 of his videos were published to DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
, which was sold on Dawkins' website and Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
.
Damien Rice
Damien Rice
Damien Rice is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who plays guitar, piano, clarinet and percussion....
invited Amy Kuney
Amy Kuney
Amy Kathryn Kuney is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist from Tulsa, Oklahoma.-Early life:At the age of 13, Kuney's dad moved the family from their home in Oklahoma to Honduras to live as missionaries after he saw a video highlighting the destruction of Hurricane Mitch.In March 2003,...
to perform with him at two shows in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
after he saw her YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
cover of his song "The Blower's Daughter" in July 2008.
Before the launch of YouTube in 2005, there were few easy methods available for ordinary computer users who wanted to post videos online. With its simple interface, YouTube made it possible for anyone with an Internet connection to post a video that a worldwide audience could watch within a few minutes. The wide range of topics covered by YouTube has turned video sharing into one of the most important parts of Internet culture
Cyberculture
Cyberculture is the culture that has emerged, or is emerging, from the use of computer networks for communication, entertainment and business. It is also the study of various social phenomena associated with the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities,...
.
An early example of the social impact of YouTube was the success of The Bus Uncle
The Bus Uncle
The Bus Uncle is a Cantonese YouTube viral video clip of a quarrel between two men aboard a bus in Hong Kong on 27 April 2006. While the older man, who came to be nicknamed the Bus Uncle, scolded the man seated behind him, a nearby passenger used his camera phone to record the entire incident...
video in 2006. It shows a heated conversation between a youth and an older man on a bus in Hong Kong, and was discussed widely in the mainstream media. Another YouTube video to receive extensive coverage is guitar, which features a performance of Pachelbel's Canon on an electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
. The name of the performer is not given in the video. After it received millions of views The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
revealed the identity of the guitarist as Lim Jeong-hyun, a 23-year-old from South Korea who had recorded the track in his bedroom.
Charlie Bit My Finger
Charlie Bit My Finger
"Charlie Bit My Finger – Again!", more simply known as Charlie Bit My Finger or Charlie Bit Me , is an 2007 Internet viral video famous for formerly being the most viewed YouTube video of all time. As of November 2011 it has more than 389 million views, and remains the most viewed YouTube video...
is a viral video
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
and has received the most views of any user generated YouTube video. It had over 245 million hits as of November 2010. The clip features two English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
brothers, with one-year-old Charlie biting the finger of his brother Harry, aged three.
In Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
's list of YouTube's 50 greatest viral videos of all time, "Charlie Bit My Finger" was ranked at number one.
Sharing revenue with popular users
In May 2007, YouTube invited some of its most viewed users to become "YouTube Partners." This exclusive status, previously only offered to commercial content providers, allows users to earn revenue from advertisements placed next to videos. Ben GoingBen Going
Ben Going , username boh3m3 on YouTube, is a video blog personality based in Torrance, California. According to the Associated Press in 2007, Going is "one of the best-known members of the YouTube community."...
(boh3m3), Paul Robinett
Paul Robinett
Paul Robinett, better known by his screen name Renetto, is an American vlogger and entrepreneur. Robinett's videos have attracted over 30 million views, and his YouTube channel has over 40,000 subscribers. His channel has been viewed over 3.9 million times.-How the Channel started:Robinett began...
(renetto), Lisa Donovan
Lisa Donovan
Lisa Donovan is an American actress. As of September 2011 her YouTube channel has 712,000 subscribers and 200 million video views, putting it in the top 100 channels on YouTube. Lisa is one of the co-founders of Maker Studios, which helps develop YouTube personalities.She is also a founder of...
(LisaNova), Jessica Rose (lonelygirl15), Kevin Nalty
Kevin Nalty
Kevin Nalty is a YouTube comedian and partner based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania better known under his YouTube username Nalts. His YouTube Channel is one of the top-20 most-viewed comedy channels. He has more than 1,000 videos which, as of September 18, 2011, have been viewed more than 236 million...
(Nalts), Tony Huynh (thewinekone), Brandon Hardesty
Brandon Hardesty
Brandon Allan Hardesty is an American comedic performer and actor. Hardesty posts original comedy videos as well as "uncanny" recreations of scenes from movies, playing every part himself, excluding a few of his projects, such as his Little Rascals and the original Batman movie...
(ArtieTSMITW), Christine Gambito
Christine Gambito
Christine Gambito, better known by her screen name HappySlip, is an American Internet personality, actress, and comedian. She maintains one of the most-subscribed-to channels on YouTube, a popular video sharing website...
(HappySlip), Cory Williams
Cory Williams
Cory Williams , also known as "Mr. Safety" from SMP Films, is an actor and YouTube personality who lives in Thousand Oaks, California.-Biography:...
(smpfilms), Charlie McDonnell
Charlie McDonnell
Charles Joseph "Charlie" McDonnell is a British vlogger and musician from Bath, Somerset, England. , his YouTube channel, charlieissocoollike, is the most subscribed in the UK...
(charlieissocoollike), Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox (smosh) and Yousef Abu-Taleb
Yousef Abu-Taleb
Yousef Abu-Taleb is an American actor and producer of half-Arab, one-quarter English, and one-quarter white American heritage...
(Danielbeast) were among the first 100 partners. The partnership program has now been expanded to include over 10,000 YouTube channels.
YouTube gatherings
YouTubers periodically hold public gatherings to celebrate the video sharing community. One of the earliest of such gatherings, the recurrent and international As One, was first held in January 2007 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
by Cory Williams
Cory Williams
Cory Williams , also known as "Mr. Safety" from SMP Films, is an actor and YouTube personality who lives in Thousand Oaks, California.-Biography:...
of smpfilms. The second As One, also hosted by Cory Williams
Cory Williams
Cory Williams , also known as "Mr. Safety" from SMP Films, is an actor and YouTube personality who lives in Thousand Oaks, California.-Biography:...
, was held on February 17, 2007 at Pier 39
Pier 39
Pier 39 is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction built on a pier in San Francisco, California. At Pier 39, there are shops, restaurants, a video arcade, street performances, an interpretive center for the Marine Mammal Center, the Aquarium of the Bay, virtual 3D rides, and views of...
in San Francisco, managed to attract many of YouTube's highest viewed individuals. Notable attendees included Caitlin Hill
Caitlin Hill
Caitlin Alexandra Hill is an Australian YouTube personality under the name TheHill88. She produces, edits and uploads her videos from her home in New York City....
, Ben Going
Ben Going
Ben Going , username boh3m3 on YouTube, is a video blog personality based in Torrance, California. According to the Associated Press in 2007, Going is "one of the best-known members of the YouTube community."...
, and Yousef Abu-Taleb
Yousef Abu-Taleb
Yousef Abu-Taleb is an American actor and producer of half-Arab, one-quarter English, and one-quarter white American heritage...
, the actor who plays DanielBeast in the YouTube serial lonelygirl15
Lonelygirl15
lonelygirl15 was an interactive web-based video series which began in June 2006 and ran through to August 1, 2008. Developed under the working title The Children of Anchor Cove, the show gained worldwide media attention when it was outed as fictional in September 2006.-Overview:lonelygirl15...
. A third gathering took place on July 7, 2007, at Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park is one of the best-known of New York City's 1,900 public parks. At 9.75 acres , it is a landmark in the Manhattan neighborhood of Greenwich Village, as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. A singing invitation to the event, posted on YouTube by Christine Gambito
Christine Gambito
Christine Gambito, better known by her screen name HappySlip, is an American Internet personality, actress, and comedian. She maintains one of the most-subscribed-to channels on YouTube, a popular video sharing website...
, YouTube's Happyslip, gained over 2.6 million views. Notable attendees included Brooke Brodack
Brooke Brodack
Brooke Allison Brodack , aka Brookers, is an American viral video comedian mainly known for her short videos on YouTube, which have received 49 million views and led to a contract from the mainstream media. The New Yorker called her "the first real YouTube star."Brodack has been making videos since...
, Caitlin Hill
Caitlin Hill
Caitlin Alexandra Hill is an Australian YouTube personality under the name TheHill88. She produces, edits and uploads her videos from her home in New York City....
, and
Kevin Nalty
Kevin Nalty
Kevin Nalty is a YouTube comedian and partner based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania better known under his YouTube username Nalts. His YouTube Channel is one of the top-20 most-viewed comedy channels. He has more than 1,000 videos which, as of September 18, 2011, have been viewed more than 236 million...
. Yet another took place in Washington D.C. on September 8, 2007. An As One gathering was held in Melbourne, Australia on December 1, 2007 at Federation Square. Another two gatherings were planned by smpfilms at the beginning of 2008. The largest gathering in the United States is VidCon with the UK equivalent being Summer in The City. Both are held annually and feature thousands of YouTubers.
George Foster Peabody Award
YouTube was awarded a 2008 George Foster Peabody Award and cited for being "a 'Speakers' CornerSpeakers' Corner
A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate and discussion are allowed. The original and most noted is in the north-east corner of Hyde Park in London, United Kingdom. Speakers there may speak on any subject, as long as the police consider their speeches lawful, although...
', where Internet users can upload, view and share clips, is an ever-expanding archive/bulletin board that both embodies and promotes democracy."
Video rankings
YouTube has a number of ways of ranking its videos, the most popular of which is "most viewed", which is divided into four categories: today, this week, this month, and all time.The current rankings are:
- Spotlight Videos
- Most Discussed
- Most Viewed
- Top Favorited
- Popular
- Most Responded
- Top Rated
Controversies over video rankings
The viewing figures of some YouTube videos have been the subject of controversy, since there have been claims that automated systems have been used to inflate the number of views received, which is forbidden by YouTube's terms of serviceTerms of service
Terms of service are rules which one must agree to abide by in order to use a service. Unless in violation of consumer protection laws, such terms are usually legally binding...
. In March 2008, an unofficial video of the song "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" by the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian band Cansei De Ser Sexy briefly held the number one slot for the all-time most viewed video, with around 114 million views. It was temporarily removed from YouTube after allegations of automated viewing or hacking
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
, before being deleted by the uploader. The viewing figures for the video outnumbered the "most favorited" rating by around 21,000 to 1, compared to around 500 to 1 for other top rated YouTube videos. YouTube's terms of service state: "You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including without limitation, 'robots,' 'spiders,' or 'offline readers,' that accesses the Website in a manner that sends more request messages to the YouTube servers in a given period of time than a human can reasonably produce in the same period by using a conventional on-line web browser." A spokesperson for YouTube commented: "We are developing safeguards to secure the statistics on YouTube. Although it is somewhat difficult to track how often this happens, it is not rampant. As soon as it comes to our attention that someone has rigged their numbers to gain placement on the top pages we remove the video or channel from public view." Clarus Bartel from Italy, who had uploaded the video, denied attempting to boost its ranking, stating: "These gimmicks do not belong to me. I've got nothing to do with it. The accusations geared towards me have saddened me greatly."
The YouTube video of the Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more...
song "Girlfriend
Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne song)
"Girlfriend" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne. The song was written by Lavigne with her producer Dr. Luke for Lavigne's third studio album, The Best Damn Thing . "Girlfriend" was released as the lead single from The Best Damn Thing on 27 February 2007...
" was also accused of having an exaggerated number of views due to the use of a web link posted by AvrilBandAids, a fansite
Fansite
A fansite, fan site, or fanpage is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee interested in a celebrity, thing, or a particular cultural phenomenon...
devoted to Avril Lavigne. Clicking on the link would automatically reload the YouTube video of "Girlfriend" every fifteen seconds. Fans of Avril Lavigne were encouraged to: "Keep this page open while you browse the internet, study for exams, or even sleep. For extra viewing power, open up two or more browser windows at this page!" The video of "Girlfriend" overtook "Evolution of Dance" by Judson Laipply
Judson Laipply
Judson Laipply is an American motivational speaker and dancer from Bucyrus, Ohio. He is best known for his performance in the Evolution of Dance viral video clip. He has worked as a public speaker since 2000.-The Evolution of Dance:...
as the all-time most viewed video on YouTube in July 2008. "Evolution of Dance" later retook the top slot, currently having around 147 million views, but was overtaken again on mid-2009 by the video of "Charlie bit my finger, again!" which currently has around 260 million views. The video of "Girlfriend" was removed by its uploader RCA Music around December 2009, ending with over 129 million views. However, as mentioned above, both "Evolution of Dance" and "Charlie bit my finger, again!" have been surpassed by the video of "Baby
Baby (Justin Bieber song)
"Baby" is a song by Canadian recording artist Justin Bieber. It was released as the lead single from the latter half of Bieber's debut album, My World 2.0. The track was written by Bieber with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and Terius "The-Dream" Nash, both of whom worked with Bieber on "One Time",...
" by Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...
which has over 606 million views, and the video of "Bad Romance
Bad Romance
"Bad Romance" is a song by American recording artist Lady Gaga. It was released as the lead single from her third extended play , and second major release The Fame Monster . Written by Lady Gaga and produced by RedOne, the track was inspired by Gaga's fear of negative love relationships and the...
" by Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, which has over 415 million views. "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)
Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)
"Waka Waka " is a song by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira, featuring South African band Freshlyground. It was the official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, along with its Spanish language version, entitled "Waka Waka "...
" by Shakira
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...
, which has over 404 million views and "On The Floor
On the Floor
"On the Floor" is a song by American recording artist and actress Jennifer Lopez, featuring Latin American rapper Pitbull. It was released by Island Records on February 11, 2011, as the lead single from Lopez's seventh studio album, Love?...
" by Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
, which has over 400 million views, are currently the third and fourth most viewed videos on YouTube, respectively.
YouTube user Cory Williams
Cory Williams
Cory Williams , also known as "Mr. Safety" from SMP Films, is an actor and YouTube personality who lives in Thousand Oaks, California.-Biography:...
has also admitted to artificially inflating the views of his videos.