Two doofuses lip-synch to bad cartoon music in front of a webcam, and Google drops $1.65 billion for the privilege to host it. To be fair, the evolution of YouTube has more to it, but that's the basic storyline. YouTube's success lies in its ability to give everyone a chance at sharing original and appropriated video content with the world, free of top-down control: You, too, can make a video, post it online and become an overnight star.
Of course, YouTube has grown way beyond its humble origins. From its very first video--a brief tour of a zoo, hosted by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim-- it's become a hotbed of narcissism, a library of obscure television, a natural home for short-form comedy, a propaganda tool, a front in the copyright wars, a microcosm of democracy (and its shortcomings) and the perfect way to waste away an afternoon. Whether you're into Richard Dawkins or Richard Simmons, YouTube promises endless hours of diversion, voyeurism or workplace productivity decline.
In Pictures: 10 Videos That Made YouTube Famous
When it first began hosting videos in November 2005, YouTube was primarily a venue for posting and viewing homemade clips, but as its popularity exploded, users started posting all kinds of old and new television shows, music videos, political ads, do-it-yourself documentaries, dramas, comedies and other ephemera.
It has been credited with helping facilitate the downfall of George Allen, the former Republican U.S. senator from Virginia, whose videotaped "macaca" slur gained nationwide attention through YouTube; the clip torpedoed his bid for re-election and contributed to the 2006 Democratic takeover of the U.S. Congress. It has forced network television executives to rethink their copyright maintenance tactics and to think of new ways to use the "viral video" capacity of YouTube to their financial advantage. It has been banned in countries including Iran, Turkey and Thailand. It is a powerful promotional tool for new and obscure bands such as OK Go. And it is no less powerful a promotional tool for the major record labels, for whom YouTube is like "Total Request Live" on steroids.
What former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim created when they founded YouTube wasn't just a video-sharing Web site--it was a portal, an addictive time-sink, a monumental marketing platform and a public commons, all rolled into one attention-deficit-disorder-friendly format.
What follows are 10 videos--in no particular order--that exemplify the YouTube phenomenon. Many are culled from the "Most Viewed" and "Top Favorites" lists that YouTube maintains. A few are less viewed but still notorious in their own right. Some of them are funny, underlining YouTube's comedic strengths. Others show impressive emotional depth and talent. But all of them have helped contribute to the site's success and changed the way we consume our media.
The best thing about this list is that it's ever-changing. Somewhere, down there in the bowels of YouTube, is an as-yet-undiscovered future greatest hit, and it's waiting for you to click on that small blue link.
In Pictures: 10 Videos That Made YouTube Famous
Of course, YouTube has grown way beyond its humble origins. From its very first video--a brief tour of a zoo, hosted by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim-- it's become a hotbed of narcissism, a library of obscure television, a natural home for short-form comedy, a propaganda tool, a front in the copyright wars, a microcosm of democracy (and its shortcomings) and the perfect way to waste away an afternoon. Whether you're into Richard Dawkins or Richard Simmons, YouTube promises endless hours of diversion, voyeurism or workplace productivity decline.
In Pictures: 10 Videos That Made YouTube Famous
When it first began hosting videos in November 2005, YouTube was primarily a venue for posting and viewing homemade clips, but as its popularity exploded, users started posting all kinds of old and new television shows, music videos, political ads, do-it-yourself documentaries, dramas, comedies and other ephemera.
It has been credited with helping facilitate the downfall of George Allen, the former Republican U.S. senator from Virginia, whose videotaped "macaca" slur gained nationwide attention through YouTube; the clip torpedoed his bid for re-election and contributed to the 2006 Democratic takeover of the U.S. Congress. It has forced network television executives to rethink their copyright maintenance tactics and to think of new ways to use the "viral video" capacity of YouTube to their financial advantage. It has been banned in countries including Iran, Turkey and Thailand. It is a powerful promotional tool for new and obscure bands such as OK Go. And it is no less powerful a promotional tool for the major record labels, for whom YouTube is like "Total Request Live" on steroids.
What former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim created when they founded YouTube wasn't just a video-sharing Web site--it was a portal, an addictive time-sink, a monumental marketing platform and a public commons, all rolled into one attention-deficit-disorder-friendly format.
What follows are 10 videos--in no particular order--that exemplify the YouTube phenomenon. Many are culled from the "Most Viewed" and "Top Favorites" lists that YouTube maintains. A few are less viewed but still notorious in their own right. Some of them are funny, underlining YouTube's comedic strengths. Others show impressive emotional depth and talent. But all of them have helped contribute to the site's success and changed the way we consume our media.
The best thing about this list is that it's ever-changing. Somewhere, down there in the bowels of YouTube, is an as-yet-undiscovered future greatest hit, and it's waiting for you to click on that small blue link.
In Pictures: 10 Videos That Made YouTube Famous
[ Saturday Night Live's "Lazy Sunday"
"Lazy Sunday," featuring Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell, is YouTube's first greatest hit, and it's an example of the sort of content--short-form comedy--that is ideal for the YouTube format. "Lazy Sunday" was posted the day after it aired and quickly became one of the most-viewed videos on the site. NBC's lawyers freaked and asked YouTube to remove the video after 5 million viewings, but it has been reposted and removed numerous times since. Its popularity led NBC to make the video available through Apple's iTunes and has driven the availability of online "snippet" content culled from broadcast television. ]
sumber : Forbes
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