Social impact of YouTube

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The video-sharing website YouTube has impacted society in various ways.

1 Internet celebrities and breaking boundaries
2 Band and music promotion
3 Sharing revenue with popular users
4 YouTube gatherings
5 The economics of YouTube
6 References

[edit] Internet celebrities and breaking boundaries

Main article: List of YouTube celebrities

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.^[1] The most subscribed YouTube member, as of April 20, 2008, is Smosh.^[2]

For some users, Internet fame has led to unexpected results and, in some cases, crossovers into traditional media or entertainment avenues. Former receptionist Brooke Brodack (Brookers) from Connecticut has been 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.^[3]^[4] 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.^[5]^[6]

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.^[7] 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^[8] 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.^[9]

Ysabella Brave (ysabellabrave and ysabellabravetalk) announced in two videos on June 3, 2007, in connection with a Los Angeles Times feature article^[10] 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.^[11]

Daniel Geduld (everyonesvoice) now works in the voice-over business and he credits his discovery to his popular Skeletor remixes, which change an originally serious animation series into comedy.^[12] SamProof appeared on November 18th, 2007on Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!^[13]

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^[14] on DirecTV channel 101 in the United States.^[15] The show has been on air since September of 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).

[edit] Band and music promotion

YouTube has also become a means of promoting bands and their music. One such example is OK Go which got a huge radio hit and an MTV Video Music Awards performance out of the treadmill video for Here It Goes Again.^[16]^[17] In the same light, a video broadcasting the Free Hugs Campaign with accompanying music by the Sick Puppies led to instant fame for both the band and the campaign, with more campaigns taking place in different parts of the world. The main character of the video, Juan Mann has also achieved fame, being interviewed on Australian news programs, even appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show.^[18] Singer-songwriter Tay Zonday's video of "Chocolate Rain" had such play that it led to a music video promoting a Dr Pepper product.^[19]

[edit] Sharing revenue with popular users

It has been suggested that YouTube Partnership Program be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

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.^[20] Participants include Ben Going (boh3m3), Paul Robinett (renetto), Lisa Donovan (LisaNova), Jessica Rose (lonelygirl15), Kevin Nalty (Nalts) Tony Huynh (thewinekone), Brandon Hardesty (ArtieTSMITW), Christine Gambito (HappySlip), Cory Williams (Cory "Mr. Safety"), Charlie McDonnell (charlieissocoollike), and Yousef Abu-Taleb (Danielbeast), among the 100 partners.^[21]

[edit] YouTube gatherings

YouTubers periodically hold public gatherings to celebrate the video sharing community.^[22] 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.^[23] 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.^[24] Notable attendees included: Brooke Brodack; Caitlin Hill; Philip DeFranco aka "sxephil"; Charles Trippy; wpgpeanut; and Kevin Nalty. Yet another took place in Washington D.C. on September 8, 2007. Another two gatherings are planned by smpfilms at the beginning of 2008.^[25]

A gathering is planned in Manchester, England on the, March 29, 2008 by YouTube community channel CheekyBoy19.^[26]

[edit] The economics of YouTube

Before being purchased by Google, YouTube declared that its business model was advertisement-based, making 15 million dollars per month. Some industry commentators have speculated that YouTube's running costs – specifically the bandwidth required – may be as high as 5 to 6 million USD per month,^[27] thereby fueling criticisms that the company, like many Internet startups, did not have a viably implemented business model. Advertisements were launched on the site beginning in March 2006. YouTube subsequently stopped using AdSense but has resumed in local regions.