I like YouTube. I really do. I use it, and credit them with blowing the doors off the grassroots video revolution by making it brain-dead simple to upload and share videos. But when author David Weinberger cited YouTube as a public commodity — "it’s ours" — it was a bit too much. I cornered David afterward, explained my objections, and he came away persuaded with a better understanding (see his comment below).
So thought I’d list the reasons why I think YouTube is partly ours — and partly not. I mentioned these points quickly in my talk today at the NewComm Forum.
• YouTube doesn’t let you download videos. You can only stream them by watching videos on the YouTube site. (Every video on Ourmedia, and some other sites like Blip.tv, can be downloaded.)
• YouTube doesn’t allow Creative Commons-licensed videos. (Ourmedia does.)
• YouTube doesn’t let video producers create social groups or communities in any meaningful way.
• YouTube doesn’t let you watch videos in the (higher-quality) format chosen by the video producer. (Ourmedia does.)
And I didn’t even mention the hundreds of thousands or millions of copyright violations on the site.
The site’s appeal can’t be understated — 60 percent of video watched on the Web takes place on YouTube. All I’m saying is that YouTube isn’t the end of the story. Sites like Blip, Revver and Ourmedia deserve a look, too.
Related: The Digital TV Weblog: YouTube doesn’t get it.
JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
YouTube's 4 big failings
1) YouTube doesn't let you download videos, 2) YouTube doesn't allow Creative Commons-licensed videos, 3) YouTube doesn't let video producers create social groups, 4) YouTube doesn't let you watch videos in the format chosen by the video producer.read …
Great to see you there, JD. But I still think YouTube is ours…in the sense in which I mean “ours.” So, I agree with all you say about the way YouTube holds back from us, and that YouTube is far from the end of the story. Good points all. But, YouTube (which I used as the best known example of its kind, although not necessarily the best example) is something we’ve built and that provides an “experience” that is quite centered on providing us with what we need, as opposed to broadcast TV (which is what I was explicitly contrasting it with).
So, amazingly, I can both agree with you entirely and not be persuaded.
See you soon, I hope.
Social Media: YouTube's 4 big failings
I sure hope that nonprofits develop some skepticism about YouTube.