Since its
release in 2005 YouTube has grown out to become the most popular video sharing
web site. Even though there are some companies and organizations that use
YouTube to promote their business, still the vast majorities of videos are
created and uploaded my common people. (Some media corporations offer some of
their material in the site as part of as a YouTube partnership program.) This
is the engine and the fuel that keeps YouTube going.
Because
YouTube has become so popular I believe it somehow reflects the modern society
and its users. There are various ways to communicate and interact with other
users in YouTube, however in this post I’m going to concentrate on music video
commenting. For every video in YouTube there is possibility to comment about it
(unless in some rare cases it has been forbidden) and people can also press
thumbs up or down depending whether they liked the video or not. Both of these
actions however require the user to create an account.
The most popular
videos collect thousands of comments and even more thumbs since that’s less
demanding to contribute into; only needs one click from icon when the user is
logged in. Usually the sphere and the topics of the discussion are somehow
related either to the video, artist behind it or to previous comments. Some
people comment to express how much they liked the video and some do the
contrary and comment just how bad the video was and what’s flawed in it. Apart
from these comments there are many users who simply want to comment something
about the video or music and seek attention. It would be interesting to study
if certain types of music videos usually contain more intellectual comments,
arguments and actual conversation.
Like every
medium also Youtube has its typical language and way to use comments. I must
admit than from my own personal viewpoint most of the comments aren’t that intelligent.
Many people don’t reason or argue properly and justify their opinions with
really false logic if none. It also seems quite common just to comment a video
to express and indicate disgust. This doesn’t mean studying commenting couldn’t
be intriguing. I think still as a medium YouTube represents quite well the
thoughts and idea world of the main user groups that are willing make a profile
and pay the effort for comment or other interaction. The comments can be seen
as reflected image of modern young stereotypical active internet user. The
cruelty of human mind is also clearly visible; there are many people who like
to mock peoples outlooks, flaws and basically anything that can be turned into
a insult. This applies both to amateur and professional videos. Fortunately
also genuine support and encouragement alongside with congratulation and praise
can be found. In fact the whole spectrum on human emotions can be identified.
Finally
noteworthy is that the language and commenting behavior in YouTube transforms
and changes constantly. It takes influence from current events, popular
phenomenon and also from other mediums. As a example when a famous video game
Elder Scrolls 5 Skyrim was released, few weeks after thousands of different
YouTube videos where filled with a funny comment from the game “.. took arrow
to the knee”. Other good example could be the huge number of Kony 2012
references on multiple YouTube videos earlier this spring. Also the different
tactics to earn thumbs up for comments and furthermore make them top comments
change rapidly. First there were jokes mocking Justin Bieber, but then they
went kind of out of fashion and people had to be more inventive. Some guys
tried to earn attention by telling their story as a starting artist and begging
for thumbs up to get people’s attention and perhaps even the necessary boost
for their career to launch off. These kinds of comments were also responded
with jokes. Basically every comment can get a response that’s tries to outsmart
and deplete the previous one.
Funny
YouTube comment quiz round in TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gQrjweCqE8
Ilari Huhtinen
