We’ve all been there. You go on YouTube to watch a video, but due to curiosity (and a little procrastination), you start clicking on the suggested videos, one after the other.
Before you know it, you’ve found yourself in the weird part of YouTube watching 10-minute video compilations of screaming goats.
When you’ve wound up in the addicting world that is YouTube, it’s easy to wonder: does it serve any real purpose other than to satisfy your boredom?
YouTube is one of the most versatile online communities on the web. It’s used as a tool for everything from education, to activism, to simply connecting with others.
Here are a few YouTubers who offer insight on their different uses of the social media platform.
Kevin Cheung
Associate math professor at Carleton University
YouTube channel: mathapptician
You’re working on your math homework, completely lost because your professor’s explanations made no sense to you, and you can’t remember most of what was said in that 8:30 a.m. lecture you were half asleep for.
With no math geniuses around to save you, where can you turn for help? Well, chances are, YouTube has your answers.
Carleton professor Kevin Cheung has provided just that, with his YouTube channel that puts out short two or three minute videos explaining his class material.
“I noticed that students want to be able to review the material,” Cheung said. “So, if I record lectures on video then they can do it any time.”
Students really benefit from the ability to hear something over again to make sense of it, he said. During a lecture, it’s easy to miss things.
But online educational videos don’t just help out students, Cheung said. They can also make life easier for professors.
“It allows me to improve my delivery, because you record once, you go over it once, and if there are things that you don’t like, you can try to make a better version,” he said.
According to Cheung, having video lectures that students can review also minimizes the questions professors get.
Nowadays, it’s hard to find a class in which YouTube hasn’t been used in one way or another. Professors will often include YouTube clips in their lectures as a means of reinforcing their points visually.
Many educational YouTube channels exist. The Vlog Brothers for example, consisting of John and Hank Green, upload “crash course” videos.
They cover everything from history to psychology, allowing those who seek knowledge an easy means of acquiring it.
Cheung said the great thing about using YouTube as a tool for learning is its accessibility.
“It’s free; all you need is Internet connection and a computer.”
Dave Carroll
Singer/Songwriter, former Carleton student
YouTube channel: sonsofmaxwell
Five years ago, Carleton graduate Dave Carroll uploaded a music video on YouTube that shook the world of customer service.
Today, his video “United Breaks Guitars” has over 14 million views.
The video is targeting United Airlines after Carroll said they mishandled his luggage, resulting in $1,200 worth of damage to his guitar.
After months of receiving negative responses from United Airlines saying they couldn’t help him, Carroll said he decided to put matters into his own hands.
“I had my computer, looked across the room and there was my guitar sitting there, and I thought ‘I have another option here’,” he said.
Carroll proceeded to write a song. Catchy with funny and clever lyrics, the video began to attract attention fast.
“My video was a real conversation-starter about bad customer service. Everywhere people would say ‘did you see that video?’ and then spent the next hour talking about their bad service experiences,” he said.
Many people today are using YouTube as a tool for activism.
“I chose YouTube because it was free and it was accessible. It was just starting to gain prominence as a place to go, put a video up for free, and share it with people,” he said.
Carroll said YouTube is such a great tool for activism due to its convenience and accessibility.
“You upload a video to YouTube so easily and you’re done. It’s accessible to everybody with just a little bit of time,” he said.
“You don’t need a big budget, and you don’t need a mass emailing list, or contact list, or sophisticated tools.”
All you need is a camera and an idea, and YouTube provides people the platform to share that idea with several others, he said.
“It was a great companion to the use of social media,” he added.
YouTube gives one person the power to reach millions, and even more when it’s paired with other forms of social media, Carroll said.
This collaborative relationship YouTube has with other social media outlets is what makes it so important. It allows information to spread like wildfire.
YouTube also provides an outlet for people to share important ideas in a large online community.
It opens up conversations and creates an environment where people can relate to one another, Carroll said.
“It’s the fact that we’re all connected and the fact that we all have a unique thing to say. YouTube is what allows us to express that.”
Michael Rizzi
YouTube vlogger, Carleton communications student
YouTube channel: Michael Rizzi
“Comment, subscribe, and most importantly, smile.”
This is third-year student Michael Rizzi’s signature cheery sign off in all of his YouTube videos, and one look at his subscriber count will tell you that over 40, 000 viewers are smiling with him.
Rizzi puts out everything from funny skit videos, to question-and-answer videos, to videos promoting charity organizations.
Is such a wide range of topics key to developing a large viewer pool?
Rizzi said it’s really all about understanding who you’re talking to.
“It’s tough because you can’t really gauge what will get a lot of views,” he said.
“There are so many different niches on YouTube, so you never know what kind of video is going to get attention at that moment . . . But just understanding what your audience wants to watch, and also connecting with them and asking them what they want to see really helps.”
The connectivity aspect of YouTube may be a huge factor in its popularity.
“I think that one-on-one connection with a YouTuber is really what attracts people to it,” Rizzi said.
“And the fact that they’re not behind this big screen like it is on TV or a movie. They’re just behind this community feel, and I think that’s really what attracts people to it. You get to know the personality.”
Rizzi said YouTube often feels like a community, since it’s a platform where you can connect with people who have the same views as you.
“Generally, people collab more on YouTube,” he said. “So if you have a similar style . . . you collab together and it just feeds into the community feel.”
YouTube brings together people with the same interests, and according to Rizzi, this allows for genuine friendships to flourish.
“I went to VidCon last year, and that was amazing. I just got to meet a lot of my Internet friends, all the people I connect with every single day. I’ve made so many friends around the world,” he said.
Rizzi said the term “Internet friends” is one that comes from separating “our real life friends from our Internet friends.”
“Because you have a very special bond with your Internet friends, you get to know them beyond superficial means,” he said.
“I feel like when you meet friends in person you’re always trying to impress them and dress nicely and act a certain way. On the Internet you can just be yourself, and people respect that. I think that’s why Internet friends are held in a separate category.”
What YouTube is really about for Rizzi is its give-and-take aspect, he said.
Being a part of the community is more than just posting a video—it involves connecting, responding, and commenting. Allowing others to see who you are, but also seeing others for who they are, and respecting that, he said.
“Hearing feedback from people and watching other YouTube videos and being inspired by their topics, you kind of find out what you’re passionate about,” Rizzi said.
YouTube is more than a place to escape responsibility and delve into the three-hour spiral that follows watching “Fail Compilation: Part One.”
It’s a place people can turn to and discover things about themselves.
“I think that you kind of find exactly what you want out of life. And I think that’s why YouTube is so great.”
