Users take full advantage of Video-sharing Website, YouTube, by using it as a platform for earning profit and having a social, political and cultural effect on society

Over the last few years, the use of social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Vine have become very popular. Now days, your average Joe can instantly become famous by doing something as simple as writing a controversial post or even uploading a funny video. Getting famous quickly is most commonly seen on the infamous site, YouTube. The video-sharing website known as YouTube was created in 2005, it instantly became very popular and now has a net worth of around 40 billion dollars. YouTube has over one billion users, with about 300 hours of videos being uploaded every minute. YouTube has so much popularity because the website is currently used in 75 countries and available in 65 languages worldwide. As long as one has access to a computer or a phone, a video can be uploaded and shared with friends, family and even strangers.

In the year 2015, Well-known and profitable “YouTubers” are becoming as popular as mainstream celebrities

                   

In most cases, YouTubers can make a profit from their uploads. When a particular video is uploaded on YouTube and gains a considerable about of views, the uploader's (also known as the YouTuber) content become very trendy. YouTubers have even become as famous and successful as mainstream celebrities because of their videos. Director of Media and Society at University of Maryland, Dr. Kalyani Chadha, states that YouTube democratizes celebrity and gives people a voice. A few examples include Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen. 

Before YouTube, people were either born into fame or had to sing,
dance or act to become famous. Now, anyone is able to get a little piece of fame. The most important way in which YouTubers make money is through the YouTube partner program. Some of the benefits of the partner program include expanding the user’s earning potential, gaining flexibility through a non-exclusive agreement, and tracking and managing their own performances. YouTubers can gain profit through advertisements, paid subscriptions and merchandise as long as they agree to uphold their contract with YouTube. Some of the requirements include  uploading a certain amount of videos and having a certain number of subscribers as well as views. Once the user holds up to their contract, they are able to become very successful.

Youtube, Vine, Twitter and Vlogs remain on going platforms due to their simplicity and ability of reaching a mass audience

University of Maryland Professor of Digital Media, Data Visualization and Computational Journalism,  Sean Mussenden, describes Youtube as a platform in a very dominant economic and audience reach position. On Youtube, as long as the content is follows the basic rules and it is original, anything can be uploaded.

Although it might be simple to just upload content, getting a fanbase is a bit more difficult. Being a YouTuber is very risky. The business aspect is harder because of how quick our society changes. In a matter of seconds, a hot topic can easily be forgotten because of newer and more interesting topics. On YouTube, the audience might be interested in someone’s particular video, but as time passes on, they can lose interest. The risk of becoming inconspicuous is the main reason why YouTubers broaden their horizons. Some of the ways they stay famous include working with talent agencies, using other platforms such as Vine and Twitter, and by making vlogs, which are video blogs of their daily lives and relationships. Last but not least, a true YouTuber has to be dedicated. They have to constantly please their viewers in order to maintain their popularity. The longer they stick to YouTube and remain loyal to their fan base, the more loyal their fan base will be to them. As Professor Musseden stated, even if YouTube as a platform is not around for a long time, the concept of having something like YouTube will continue. 

YouTube’s positive impact on Society by influencing voters, demonstrating skills and acting as a news source

YouTubers are not only known for their fame, but for their influence as well. Through the use of the their videos, YouTubers create social, cultural and economical capital. YouTube user and member of TrueVoice singing group, Glory Mgboji, states one of YouTube's positive effect on society is that it causes people to be self sufficient.

 There are many varieties of channels on YouTube, which include a "how-to" category. YouTube makes it easier for people to pick up techniques and share with their family and their friends. Once people watch these channels, they are able to master certain skills because of all the videos they have watched, and eventually they can decide whether or not they want to have a channel of their own. It all becomes a cycle. A second example of YouTube’s political influence can be observed when a particular candidate is running for officer. The videos can include content of the Youtuber's opinions of the candidate, which could be harmful or helpful to the candidates’ campaign. If the audience viewing the content did not have a
particular opinion prior to watching a video, the video can sway their thoughts one way. Also, YouTubers can have an effect on people to go out and vote. As long as they mention voting their videos, they are reminding their audience to go out and make a difference. Finally, since YouTube has a channel on virtually everything; it is nearly impossible to miss anything that happened. As soon as an event occurs, there is already a video of someone commenting on everything that has happened. In today’s society, one does not need a newspaper or even television to hear news. Everything is on our cellular devices, making it very simple to track everything that is going on, which is one of the many powers of YouTube. It is hard to predict whether or not YouTube will continue to be so popular in today's society, but as for now, the benefits that have come along with YouTube itself have been beneficial to the people living in today's generation.

Diversity in Television watched, Music listened to and Print read by younger and older adults in the United becomes nearly impossible due to media oligopolies dominating in the 21st century

Media Oligopolies occur when a few large companies buy out smaller companies so that they become more powerful in the media market. The emergence of media giants has especially become very popular in television media. Now days when viewers watch television, most likely, the networks are all under one big media giant. In The Journal of Economic Issues, AOL-time warner, Disney, Viacom, Newscorp, Bertelsmann, and genetic Electric are discussed as the big six media giants. Aol-time warner plays an even bigger role in music production, movie production, book and magazine publishing. The companies seem like competitors but they are actually partners. In the table shown below, Media concentration is displayed by listing the industries, number of top firms controlling the industry and how much control they have in the industry.

Comparison done on shows watched by two female college student show that Viacom and Disney control majority of the networks favorite by them

A comparison between a friend and I was done on the type of shows we watched. When comparing shows, she listed that her favorite shows were Boy meets World, Scandal, Grey’s anatomy, How to get away with Murder, Chasing life and Reba. The shows she listed were mainly found on the networks ABC, Abc Family and Nick. The shows I listed as my favorite were How to get away with murder, Grey’s anatomy, Scandal, Catfish and Bet talk shows, Wendy Williams and the real.  After listing the shows we watched, we saw that our lists contained majority of the same shows. For example, both of our favorite drama shows, Grey’s Anatomy, How to get away with Murder and Scandal, are all on ABC. Not only are these shows on the same channel, they are directed by the same person too, Shonda Rhimes. Abc is one of the broadcasting networks owned by Disney, so Disney is getting profit because of Thursday night’s popularity.  In addition to this, Disney owns Abc family as well so all of our favorite shows were owned by the same media-cooperation.  Disney is not the only cooperation that owns the networks we watched, Viacom Media networks owned the other networks I enjoyed which where MTV and bet.  Our lists of television shows made us realize that regardless of the networks we watched, they all originated from the same place

Media diversity in Television shows, music and reading genres is more likely to be absent if viewers, listeners and readers have similar preferences, cultures and backgrounds

Not only was media in television compared, Music we listened to and Prints we read was compared as well. The genres of music I listened to were mainly pop, hip hop and R&B, while the genres of music my friend listened to were mainly African, pop, Christian and Acoustic. We did have similar music genre preferences when it came to music. We then compared the artists we listened to in the categories we had in common. We both listened to Beyoncé and Ariana Grande; two stars whose music videos frequently shown Viacom’s MTV music channel.  Finally, we compared what we read; our commonality was that we both read a lot of magazines. Some of these magazines included People, US weekly and Essence and Life. After doing some research, I found out that Time Incorporated owns the US weekly, Essence and Life magazines meaning it is a media-publishing

giant as well.

After analyzing all of our lists, I noticed that my friend and I had a lot of things in common because we were had similar cultures. We are both African American young female adults who attend University of Maryland. Even though we had a few minor differences, majority of our shows were from the same channels because of our interest. If I had compared my list with someone who was an elderly Hispanic woman or a young white man or even my little sister, the list of shows, readings and music would have not been so similar. A study comparing Content Preferences between younger and older adults showed that older adults are more likely to watch news on the television while younger adults are more likely to watch sitcoms. Both Older and Younger adults have no preference when it comes to violence on television.
It is very important that viewers start to become more diverse with the shows they watch, music they listen to and prints they read. In the future, these oligopolies will continue to merge. It will probably get to the point where it becomes one media cooperation controls every print, television network and music company.  One solution to diffuse the oligopoly is for government intervention in order to stop these companies from getting larger. Until then, media diversity will continue to be limited.