The world has been transformed by the use of the internet.  In a relatively short time, infrastructure went from experimental to global and the sharing of information from one side of the planet has had far reaching effects on the social, economic, and political landscape.  Social media especially has transformed the way we interact with the world. Sharing every aspect of daily life with potentially millions of people creates fads and trends faster and faster each day.  Online marketplaces like Amazon and eBay have changed the economy drastically by bringing low overhead costs to consumers and users.  Many internet applications exist to connect users with businesses, platforms, and other users through the information super highway.

One of the most used applications in the world today is the video sharing platform, YouTube.  This web app was started to create a centralized sharing platform for videos accessible to all users of the internet.  The social media platforms that were in existence at the time of its creation were able to add videos but did not have and easily indexed and centralized location. Many disparate websites could hold video content for download, but they were difficult to find and not guaranteed to have relevant content.  When YouTube first opened, all content was free to post and stream, with users able to share multiple types and genres of amateur content. Businesses were also on board from the beginning with the first video to break a million views being a Nike ad. 

After the site was bought by Google, it became a platform where independent content creators could earn revenue via the Google hosted ads. The ads were placed on posted videos through the process of monetization.  This has led to YouTube becoming the largest video-hosting platform in history and allowed billions of users in multiple languages to gain access to information they would otherwise have difficulty locating.  A large portion of YouTube videos could be classified as tutorials, “how-tos” ranging from how to get perfectly blended eye shadow to how to change a tractor tred and beyond.  All of these have made an impact on the ability of users to learn how to complete tasks on their own. A story made its way onto the internet a few years ago of a woman building a house from the foundation up by watching YouTube tutorials (capatides, 2019).  Other categories include critical reviews of products and entertainment media, often leveraged for advertising to the followers of influencers.  A lot of these resources have opened up avenues of self-sufficiency never before seen in our society. 

YouTube has also been a major player in politics in America, the UK and several other countries. It has been referred to as the new town square and allowed independent commentators with multiple viewpoints to share and comment on current events, laws in congress, government policy, and the views and conduct of politicians.  These sources, being independent of traditional media sources, offer different viewpoints and details on topics which would usually be filtered through the pundits of cable news or the pen of a newspaper or magazine reporter.  Thus, YouTube has been the center of multiple controversies involving free speech versus “hate speech” and the limits of both.  Content creators with unpopular or controversial messages are subject to review and a great deal of debate has occurred over whether content that is controversial but not unlawful should be allowed to be posted to the platform, not to mention the debate around monetizing these topics.  This debate is especially prevalent in America where free speech laws contend with the desire to shelter vulnerable demographics such as children, and is unlikely to be settled any time soon.

In reality, YouTube is a prime example of the information age, where all users are able to post original content at any time and any user can access that content just as easily.  The freedom of this information has changed our society up to and including how laws are made and how the news is reported to the average consumer and it’s not going away.

            When the worldwide web was created, the first applications made available were for sharing information.  This original purpose has been expanded to an exponential degree with applications available to connect to and share information with friends, businesses, consumers, and the general public often in multiple countries.  These connections are able to reach an audience so wide, it could never be done by the means of traditional infrastructure such as brick and mortar shops and written correspondence.  Just about every internet application has been built for easier sharing of information to fulfill desired parameters.  In the case of the multiple means to facilitate online learning, teachers and experts are able to reach many more students than ever before and, depending on the platform, still be able to market their knowledge in compensatory way.  Overall society is transforming as we accept these new information sources. It’s been widely reported that American-established media blames the results of the 2016 presidential election on social media and the spread of independent information through the internet.  It’s not clear if everyone understands the implications of this assessment as it would mean that the sprawl of the internet has overtaken media institutions for control of both the dissemination of information and the stamp of authority in said information. 

            In conclusion, internet applications and the free sharing of information through the web have caused a major change in how each of us live our daily lives. Social media celebrating the sharing of everyday life and unusual experiences, online marketplaces revolutionizing business and commerce, and globally accessible databases for collaboration and creativity.  Every day the effects of the internet are farther reaching and more profound.  The structure of YouTube allows a video sharing platform to be a major player at the forefront of this change.

Sources

X, A. (2016, November 10). Public Access – The History of Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/10/the-history-of-youtube/

Solomon, E. (2016, March 8). Politics and YouTube: How Online Media is Making Political Waves. Retrieved from http://emertainmentmonthly.com/index.php/youtube-and-politics/

Nations, D. (2019, June 24). What Exactly Is What Exactly Is a Web Application? a Web Application? Retrieved from https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-web-application-3486637

capatides, c. (2019). Mother of four builds home from scratch after watching YouTube tutorials. [online] Cbsnews.com. Available at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mother-of-four-cara-brookins-builds-her-family-a-house-by-watching-youtube-tutorials/ [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].