YouTube: the space where anyone with a video camera and an internet connection can share their life, art and voice – with the world.
YouTube: the space where anyone with a video camera and an internet connection can share their life, art and voice – with the world.
The days of exclusive broadcasting privileges are over. In fact, with over two billion views a day, no traditional broadcaster can compete with such global audiences.
With 483 million global users, “if our user base was a country, it would be the third largest, after China and India,” laughed Andrew Bangs, from YouTube San Francisco, at his YouTube and Citizen Journalism presentation at the Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown this week.
Bangs believes YouTube is the ultimate form of freedom of expression because, “It’s free, and anyone can use it.” Every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to the site.
Bangs said that the major benefit of YouTube is that, unlike traditional broadcasting which is a one-way flow of communication YouTube allows for instant feedback, via comments, creating dialogue.
YouTube recently launched a South African domain www.youtube.co.za. They want content to be “by Africans, for Africans,” said Dr Julie Taylor, Communications and Public Affairs Manager of Google South Africa.
YouTube have also signed partnerships with a number of South African media companies including the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and etv.
Bangs says bandwidth is an issue on this continent. A trend they have identified, is that mobile media plays a big part with people recording footage on their cellphones and uploading it online immediately.
Africa, it seems, has skipped entire generations of technology, moving from no landline phones to cellphones and, from no internet to high-speed broadband.
One of YouTube’s key priorities is ensuring that videos load and play quickly, even in places like Africa where bandwidth is limited.
In addition to the standard YouTube experience, users have the option to watch videos with YouTube Feather youtube. com/feather_beta, a stripped-down version of the page.
It only shows the site’s most basic features to help ensure that those with low-speed internet connections are able to play videos faster.
Bangs cited June 2009 in Iran as an example of when YouTube was used to increase media transparency. The disputed re-election of President Ahmenijad resulted in several weeks of protest.
The Iranian government took the decision to expel foreign media. Footage of the protests, some of it quite violent and graphic, began to surface on YouTube, filmed by eyewitnesses using video cameras and cellphones.
YouTube became a citizen-fuelled news bureau of video reports filed, unfiltered, straight from the streets of Tehran. These citizengenerated videos provided an exclusive look at the developing violence.
Footage of Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman who was shot in the street, resulted in tribute videos and became a rallying point for international protests.
Not all of Bangs’ examples of YouTube being used in the news were of violent protest or of scenarios where professional journalists were not present.
They just provided a different perspective, sometimes humorous, that serves as a complement to traditional media and journalists.
YouTube has launched YouTube Direct, a dedicated channel for citizen journalism, in an attempt to better connect news organisations which have user generated content.
It aims to make the relationship, between media companies and citizen journalists easier. Rhodes University’s School of Journalism and Media Studies’ air their broadcasting work on RhodesTV, a YouTube channel.
The PowerPoint slides used during the presentation can be accessed at www.wjec.ru.ac.za.
