For a list of memes on You Tube, see YouTube Memes.For recommendations, see YouTube Recommendations.YouTube is a video sharing site that has achieved worldwide popularity since it first launched in 2005. While the official purpose of the site is to host homemade videos and clips, it is unofficially the place where you can watch copyrighted materials from all types of mediums, search for random/odd clips and/or check out the latest blog entries and videos from notable users.Prior to Google's purchase of the company in late 2006, YouTube was a much smaller, yet arguably more interesting place. It hosted communication between individuals, who used it visually in otherwise the same manner as they had previously used Usenet or IRC. YouTube was also once the host of a number of people who had alternative news and media shows, but the opinions of such people were often extreme, or otherwise politically incorrect, and most of them have now been banned.As of 2013, most of YouTube's formative in crowd are still present, but at this point they have long since become partners, and their content primarily revolves around maximising view count and revenue, more than anything else. Some of these people were originally relatively innocent, and simply saw making videos as a form of artistic expression before being lured to The Dark Side, while others were pathological narcissists all along.Users can upload their videos on whatever subject they want (unless it violates the broad and vague "Community Guidelines"or someone files a copyright claim because they didn't like the video). The quality often ranges from below Ed Wood-type works to studio quality materials, depending on what it is. Surprisingly, a lot of the personal videos of individuals often do have something to say that are actually worth watching and listening to. Some of the material is actually supplied by studios, including music videos which were uploaded by authorized agents of the record company (alongside dozens of nearly identical copies uploaded by delirious users.) It should be noted that You Tube is also a place to watch some of the movies and shows that have never officially been released, or are downright unavailable anywhere else. Same goes for rare music.Speaking of said rare music, if while browsing YouTube, you come across something you like, it's generally a good idea to download a permanent copy of it. Regardless of what the Community Guidelines may or may not say in theory, Google's administration of the site is capricious and unrepentantly fascist in practice, and deletion of videos for various reasons is a common occurrence. As described above, YouTube also now has probably the most rabid copyright enforcement on the Internet, which greatly exacerbates the fleeting nature of its' content.Several online sources (including the BBC World Service) claim that anywhere from 6 to 36 hours of video is uploaded to the site — every minute. Everyone probably has a favorite video(s) or their favorite videographer with his own channel.There's been a serious and somewhat harsh crackdown on copyright infringement over the past couple of years; expect to click to see a video, such as an Abridged Series, only to find there is no audio, but the video is still intact (for the moment) along with a large amount of cursing in the comments section, and maybe a Samaritan posting a link to some foreign site unaffected by American law (or it's another site forcing you to take a survey to 'watch' a video that's impossible to see anywhere else). You Tube can't be blamed for this, though; they're facing multi-billion dollar lawsuits from entertainment companies, which leads to videos being taken down under the DMCA unless someone contests they are to be Fair Use (or not even infringing copyright), even if this includes in mistakingly removing videos from official music channels (on at least two occasions) in the process. This has led to the phrase "Watch it before it gets taken down" for any rarely seen copyright show or movie. The end result is that many people who rely on parodying or reviewing copyrighted works (which has been long-recognised as fair use) have largely jumped ship to more creator-friendly sites such as Revver or blip.tv. This has been mollified of late with entertainment companies embracing the internet model more and uploading their shows and music videos on an ad-supported on-demand basis, although there remain angry comments on these videos bemoaning the fact their authors can't willingly and knowingly infringe copyright anymore.You Tube has basically held to the standard that they are not liable for user-supplied content, and because they do promptly remove clips when a copyright infringement notice is received, the courts have agreed with them. Viacom's lawsuit for over a billion dollars against You Tube was tossed out because of the DMCA safe-harbor provisions that exempt a website from being liable for infringement caused by content supplied by users as long as it promptly removes it when a copyright holder complains. You Tube, however, has made some changes including obtaining a compulsory license *
Yes, we do mean "compulsory license." There are three ways to get a license from ASCAP. (1) If you fit one of the general license classes and you're a small licensee, you pay the general set fee; (2) You don't fit the general classes or you're big enough you think you can negotiate a better license on a special-case basis directly with them, you contact ASCAP and negotiate with them; (3) You can't get a negotiated license or don't like the terms, then you use the Antitrust Settlement terms the U.S. Justice Department got from ASCAP back in the 1940s, you file a petition with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and a master from the court will make a determination. The third one is the compulsory license that YouTube obtained.
from ASCAP which covers all ASCAP-licensed music that appear in any clip posted on You Tube.On any given day, you will find:
Epic Fail videos, which mainly consist of some lousy teenager trying and failing to pull off a stunt.
A spam filter for the comments section that has vague standards.
A video that has been marked as age-restricted despite the content being similiar to non-restricted videos.
A video that had its audio removed due to one of its music tracks not being authorized by a major record label. (Usually Warner Music Group.)
A video removed for terms of use violation (most times for obvious reasons, though other times, it's anyone's guess why).
A video removed for copyright infringement (often times, the user would get a warning strike for that).
A video removed because the YouTube account associated with that video is deleted. (If the user violated their Community Guidelines or Copyright Policy).
A video removed by the user of his or her own accord for reasons unknown.
A video set to private for inexplicable reasons (though it was public when you added it to your playlist).
Videos of people doing everyday, ordinary things, or just playing around.
Reading comments before watching the video may help people to avoid nasty surprises (therefore, a video with disabled comments is a further reason to get suspicious); additionally, as of March 2012, an update allows to see thumbnails for any given moment in the video by moving the cursor, thus helping further with spotting a screamer in advance
Tens of thousands of fake emergency alert tests. Many real EAS and EBS videos (mainly tests and tornado warnings) have been uploaded over the years.
Episodes of still-running or forgotten TV shows. Some users will trick people into viewing their video by uploading a spoof image of an expected episode and filling it with spam, a still image, or a link to their own site instead. However, a portion of the site is dedicated to officially uploaded full seasons/series for shows ranging in age from the 60's to the late 00's. Not outside the US (and sometimes Canada and/or the UK).
Fanimes/fanvids (which can be and have been removed for copyright infringement).
A song, particularly a music videos, played backwards (or, if the lyrics don't match the video's visuals, a "literal music video").
Video game cutscenes (which can be and have been removed for copyright infringement).
Videos of alleged ghost, Bigfoot and UFO sightings (that usually end up being screamers). A helpful tip: turn your volume off and read the comments before watching these videos.
Videos of amateur performances of everything from covers of popular songs, to performances of original songs written by whoever is singing them, pre-taped videos of everything from school plays to dance recitals, etc.
Videos of animals being cute.
Videos of people making stunts with skateboards, snowboards, parkour or other extreeme sports.
Instruction videos of everyting from making push ups to sewing Victorian era ball gowns.
Videos with the Mondegreensinvoked of what the words sound like to an English (or any other language) speaker.
Videos wherein the author self-righteously soapboxes on some topic of religion, evolution vs. creationism, or politics, and explains why everybody who disagrees with him/her is a complete idiot, usually with cringeworthy use of strawmen.
Videos of songs being performed in music-composing programs, including Mario Paint Composer.
Videos of tourists driving or walking through foreign cities. Alternately, people conducting drives or walkthroughs of their hometown.
Videos ultimately complaining about You Tube's copyright policy, or how to bypass it.
Videos labeled "Bloopers" that turn out to be fanmade bloopers.
Videos redirecting you to a website saying that you can watch the video there - that will force you to take a survey, never allow you to watch the video, and send you spam
Videos that have virus links. There's always one up. Most notably the spam you've been seeing on your Facebook profile, disguised as a link to something "shocking!".
Videos of kids throwing temper tantrums when asked to go off the computer and leave their online games, usually World Of Warcraft.
Videos of adults throwing temper tantrums when someone goes around and starts sabotaging games.
Haul videos, wherein somebody displays and discusses the items that she/he bought during a recent shopping trip. These items can be anything from designer shoes to dental floss.
Unboxing videos, similar to haul videos, but frequently filmed from a first-person perspective and centering on a single item of brand-new technology, like a sought-after video game or the newest e-reader / cell phone / Apple device.
"X does Y for Z minutes", basically a particular scene looped around for a few minutes.
A cell-phone shot video (of usually a fight) that will more than likely attract all sorts of racist comments.
10 hour loops of memetic songs such as Rick Roll and Trololo.
Music that is extended to insane lengths.
For better or worse, the site attracts a large amount of discussion and cringe-worthy comments from users. A very popular trend is to insult everyone who clicked the "dislike" button for a video. The usual format is "(number of people who clicked the dislike) (insult)." (Note, though, that the positioning of the "Like" button just below the Play button makes it ridiculously easy to fill your "videos liked" bin with stuff you didn't necessarily want there, and "disliking" a video you just accidentally liked is easier than editing your preferences) Another popular trend is blaming anyone who dislikes a video on fans of another popular artist or work or the more ridiculous claim that a single person, usually said artist, created multiple accounts to lay multiple dislikes on a single video. Also, if you look really hard, you'll find a few Only Sane Men (or women) who think that such trends and comments are stupid.On websites (like this) where you can directly link to the video, you can also append a few functions to the end of the web address. For example, you can append "&t=[time]" to any Youtube link to move the video to that predefined position, e.g., "&t=1m20s" will take the video to the 1:20 position in the video automatically when the user clicks on it.
Very notable videos
Several massively influential web series began on and were hosted by Youtube. These include:
Ray William Johnson, Who reviews the latest Viral Videos in his show called =3. He also made music videos under Your Favorite Martian until the project was retired. Ray can be considered a classic example of the type of material that Google will expect you to produce, if you wish to become a YouTube partner. Ray's material has also been known to cause a decrease in the viewer's level of faith in humanity.
Maffew's Botchamania is a long-running (and quite amusing) look at professional wrestling's least professional moments. After Maffew got his first two YouTube accounts suspended, he eventually started up his own site (which features many classic Botchamanias alongside brand new ones), and is still uploading brand new videos to YouTube via his third account.
Hey! It's Fred!, created as a short series, and was eventually adapted into at least two Nickelodeon original movies and an official Nickelodeon TV show.
lonelygirl15, which gained massive media recognition for being one of the (if not the) first scripted web series to have an ongoing plot and real, professional actors. It initially being mistaken for an actual, non-fiction vlog also earned it publicity early on.
Tales of Mere Existence, a webseries that was popular enough to get noticed by the Showtime Channel, who commissioned a series of the shorts to play during interstitial breaks.
Brotherhood2.0/Vlogbrothers/Nerdfighters: Hank Green and John Green started a vlogging project. Now they're bigger than Oprah (on the internet). Their fans are known as Nerdfighters, and they fight for all things nerdy and strive not to forget to be awesome. If you like Star Trek, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Harry Potter, John'syoungadultnovels, or anyone with an odd sense of humor, you are probably a Nerdfighter. Hank also writes and performs original songs for the vlog. Go watch.
Due to their phenomenal success, they now both own studios where they produce related shows in which they may or may not appear.
Crash Course: The brothers' take on Edutainment shows; currently doing short videos on history and biology
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a modern re-interpretation of Pride and Prejudice in vlog form. Has since reached its conclusion, but many other similar projects are likely to follow.
Hank's Channel: Hank's own personal channel where he posts anything that doesn't fit anywhere else.
Charlie TheUnicorn (which actually originates from New Grounds). It has more than 40 million views. Say "Candy Mountain" to any girl between the ages of 10 and 30 and they'll know what you're talking about.
Daily Grace: A four-to-five days a week comedy show hosted and edited by Grace Helbig. Grace Helbig also appears on My Music as Idol, and also shoots You Deserve a Drink for Mamrie Hart. Appears often in the background of My Drunk Kitchen. Her show is well loved throughout the YouTube community, and is nearing a million subscribers.
The Darth Vader Sessions, which oh so hilariously blends footage of Vader with overdubbed lines James Earl Jones had from other roles in other films.
The propaganda and music of the great Doctor Steel, who has been namechecked by several media outlets and shows, including Jay Leno and MTV.
Edward Current, an atheist vlogger and humorist who plays a rather extreme Christian character.
Evan Erwin, aka "mrorangeguy", hosts The Magic Show, which is purported to be the most popular video on Magic: The Gathering culture and highlights from someone not employed by Wizards of the Coast. The channel proved so popular that Wizards now gives him plenty of scoops and designer interviews.
The Game Station and most of its affiliates call You Tube home, including several notable gaming media producers:
Geriatric1927, a senior citizen living in the United Kingdom, blogs about his life, his experiences, and his random thoughts. He is one of the of the few YouTube users to gain national media coverage, having been covered by CNN, the BBC and many other national news organizations.
ItsJustSomeRandomGuy, who makes a clever, funny and occasionally moving meta- series mostly involving action figures of popular Marvel Comics and DCU superheroes comparing notes on their respective movie franchises, and usually degenerating in to snarky bickering in the process. Although starting off as parodies of Apple's 'I'm a Mac / I'm a PC' adverts, more recent postings have followed an ongoing narrative focusing on heroes and villains chilling out, with even their downtime leading to chaos and attempts to destroy the universe. See also Green Goblin's blog. Showing impressive vocal range, ItsJustSomeRandomGuy does all the voices (except the female characters, which are provided by ItsJustSomeRandomGal).
The Joker Blogs are an imaginative, post-Dark Knight series that chronicle the Joker's time in Arkham Asylum. Not only is it well-written, but the actors are amazing (especially the person who does the Joker) and the sheer amount of clever nods to the Batman continuity alone make it worth watching. You can see it here.
Hannah Hart, host of My Drunk Kitchen, in which much is drunk and little is cooked, and the occasional comedy short.
Jenna Marbles: Former pinup model with a master's degree does comedy and rants, frequently at the same time. note After trading tribute videos, Jenna became IRL friends with Hannah Hart, and as a result their fanbases have a disturbingly large number of Jenna/Hannah shippers.
Karen Alloy: Smoking hot redhead does hyperactive stream-of-consciousness comedy.
Katers17 and TheHill88, both stars from the "original" YouTube days and one of the first Youtubers noticed by the mainstream media.
A nice young lady named Kicesie (username) does non-graphic sex education videos. One video where she talks about oral sex (and just talks - there's nothing in this video you couldn't show in a public library) has upwards of 80 million views.
Laci Green, host of the show Sex+ and a popular sex educator. She's become something like Dan Savage for teenagers, except with less viewer questions and more one-woman sketch comedy.
The Miley And Mandy Show, a series of (usually) random and silly videos posted and starring Disney Channel star Miley Cyrus and her friend, then-current backup singer Mandy Jiroux. The videos were posted some time between 2008-2009, and at the peak of popularity included a series of Extreme Dance-Offs between Miley, Mandy, and their dancer-friends and member of other dance troupes; one dance-off made its way into a Teen Choice Awards show. Also notable for a small controversy in which M+M playfully mocked a video from a similar Disney-related pair making videos on You Tube, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez, which was misinterpreted as being a product of a Real Life Selena/Miley rivalry.
The Muppet Viral Videos, made by the actual Muppet Studios. Of particular note is their cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody", which got 13 million views in three months. Getting the Muppets back in the limelight this way may have very well helped them get back on the big screen.
OMG! This girl is sooo hot!, a parody of any video posted to the site that fools users into thinking actual sexual content is contained in the video. Currently has more than 45 million views.
The Philip Defranco Show, probably the most popular daily irreverent pseudo-"news" show on You Tube, posted with a thumbnail of an intentionally attention-grabbing and misleading hot girl and and equally misleading title.
Red Letter Media started out doing reviews/critiques of the later films in the Star Trek franchise (among other things) on Youtube, but it wasn't until they put up a brutal, all-encompassing seven-part evisceration of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace in December 2009 that they got noticed by the Internet at large. You can start watching the Phantom Menace review here. Eviscerations of the secondand third movies are also available.
A Very Potter Musical, a musical parody based off the Harry Potter series written and performed by students from the University of Michigan. In the same vein, Potter Puppet Pals, which coined an entirely new genre in "animutation".
Yu Gi Oh The Abridged Series. The creator, LittleKuriboh, has a Youtube account where he uploads new episodes and other miscellaneous stuff related to the series. Was likely the first fandubbed series to have episodes pulled off the site for copyright infringement. You can find it here. It can also be found on its own website.
Community Channel by Australian woman Natalie Tran, who actually got her own TV spot as a result of her internet popularity.
The "Shit [insert racial/social/gender group here] says" videos. It all started with "Shit Girls Say", and now every subculture is giving it their own spin.
Song mixes of the song Space Jam and some other popular (usually anime/game) song, often with a photoshopped image of a character from the game or anime where the character's face is replaced by that of Charles Barkley*
Why Barkley and not Michael Jordan, who starred in Space Jam? Because many of these are inspired by the theme song to Barkley Shut Up And Jam Gaiden
.
"Gangnam Style", a very strange and highly memetic South Korean music video with iconic dance moves (which are just as memetic as the song) that reached the spot of Youtube's most-watched video of all time after only four and a half months.
Harlem Shake videos. In fact, The whole page can do it note It requires a modern up-to-date browser (such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox) to work. Other browsers work, but it just plays the music
is a video sharing site that has achieved worldwide popularity since it first launched in 2005. While the official purpose of the site is to host homemade videos and clips, it is unofficially the place where you can watch copyrighted materials from all types of mediums, search for random/odd clips and/or check out the latest blog entries and videos from notable users.Prior to Google's purchase of the company in late 2006, YouTube was a much smaller, yet arguably more interesting place. It hosted communication between individuals, who used it visually in otherwise the same manner as they had previously used Usenet or IRC. YouTube was also once the host of a number of people who had alternative news and media shows, but the opinions of such people were often extreme, or otherwise politically incorrect, and most of them have now been banned.As of 2013, most of YouTube's formative in crowd are still present, but at this point they have long since become partners, and their content primarily revolves around maximising view count and revenue, more than anything else. Some of these people were originally relatively innocent, and simply saw making videos as a form of artistic expression before being lured to The Dark Side, while others were pathological narcissists all along.Users can upload their videos on whatever subject they want (unless it violates the broad and vague "Community Guidelines" or someone files a copyright claim because they didn't like the video). The quality often ranges from below Ed Wood-type works to studio quality materials, depending on what it is. Surprisingly, a lot of the personal videos of individuals often do have something to say that are actually worth watching and listening to. Some of the material is actually supplied by studios, including music videos which were uploaded by authorized agents of the record company (alongside dozens of nearly identical copies uploaded by delirious users.) It should be noted that You Tube is also a place to watch some of the movies and shows that have never officially been released, or are downright unavailable anywhere else. Same goes for rare music.Speaking of said rare music, if while browsing YouTube, you come across something you like, it's generally a good idea to download a permanent copy of it. Regardless of what the Community Guidelines may or may not say in theory, Google's administration of the site is capricious and unrepentantly fascist in practice, and deletion of videos for various reasons is a common occurrence. As described above, YouTube also now has probably the most rabid copyright enforcement on the Internet, which greatly exacerbates the fleeting nature of its' content.Several online
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