YouTube: Outlet for the Truly Talented or Truly Terrible Outlet for the Talentless.

[Jester]

If this needs to be moved, go to town, but I have something that I want to bounce off of people. Is the YouTube craze bad for media? Has it helped discover true talent, giving them an outlet to let them shine, or has it just become another place for talentless hacks to self promote their own brand of "reality show" style garbage?
I mean for every:
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there's a:
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Thoughts?

[Katie]

There's some good shows on You Tube. But.......there's about a million untalented idiots for every good show or clip.

The internet: where people who think they are more important, talented, special, knowledgable, and amazing than they actually are. And here's this video of me doing whatever it is I am so clearly amazing at doing. And if you tell me the truth about how awful I am I will tell you that you CLEARLY have no idea about whatever business/art/talent that I have.

You Tube is mostly a repository for idiots who have no shame.

[BubblyShell22]

I think YouTube can be good to discover new talent. I know Ellen DeGeneres has discovered a lot of talented musicians via YouTube, and they have been amazing. However, you are right in the fact that there are more who use it for their own idiotic stunts that nobody seems to care about. Also, it's the place for cyberbullying and putting up videos of people beating up other people.

So, my vote is that it's good and bad to an extent.

[Jester]

@Katie So YouTube is just a symptom of the larger problem of the "Everyone Gets a Participation Trophy or They'll Feel Bad" Generation. Gotcha.

[Master Splinter]

If this needs to be moved, go to town, but I have something that I want to bounce off of people. Is the YouTube craze bad for media? Has it helped discover true talent, giving them an outlet to let them shine, or has it just become another place for talentless hacks to self promote their own brand of "reality show" style garbage?

Thoughts?

I do not think Youtube is bad for media. It provides millions of people a way to get their voices heard to millions of others. Some bad, some good, that is only a matter of opinion. Just over the weekend I found several new indie artists that I actually really like now just by watching one cover song by another band...

The answer to your question is based entirely on opinion. Something you might like I may despise and vice-versa. Overall I say the more ways people can express themselves the better, no matter if it's poor quality, complete junk, or high quality h2o. If there is a gem in the haystack people will find it and it will be shared and comments will follow.

-ms

[Leo656]

Yeah it's all really pretty subjective, some people are gonna absolutely love someone's song/music video/tribute film/wrestling clip/vacation videos etc., and some people are gonna think it's the sh*ts. It's just like anything else, look at what you like and avoid the rest of it.

I think a lotta what's on there is junk, but why let it bother me if some guy getting hit in the nuts has 80,000 views? Is it the downfall of civilization, or do some people just want a cheap laugh? And are the maker or the viewer bad people for providing content we have the right to view or ignore based on personal choice? I don't think it makes them self-important narcissists either.

90% of what's on there is fluff, but eh, so is 90% of what's on TV, the radio, etc. It's just another form of media, for every fat guy falling down there's some indie band struggling for attention who suddenly hits it big just because they were brave enough to use the only avenue availabale to them for exposure. That can only be a good thing.

It's like when I put matches of mine up, if you're not thrilled look away. Guys I know have blown up overnight and gone from working 3 shows a month to getting signed to TV because someone halfway across the country liked what they did, you never know what's gonna give someone a break, and if someone who was struggling to pay rent suddenly has money and some degree of notoriety, how is that bad? For others who just put up dumb crap like lighting their ass on fire, it's dumb but who are they hurtin'? The internet's full'a grandma porn too, that don't mean I gotta watch it or even think about it.:lol:

So in short, a little from Column A, a little from Column B. Complaining about all the stupid stuff out there is silly, might as well pull the plug on the whole damn internet, and TV and radio too. Just be willfully ignorant of things that don't make you happy, I say.:)

[rav4ge]

I find the majority of top channels on YouTube to be total shite (with the exception of just a few). I'm subscribed to a lot of people on youtube though, and it's great to see that everyone who puts out interesting and entertaining content regularly is successful to some degree.

I find it disturbing that the top channels get there by abusing the system though, with fake thumbnails and misleading titles. Even more disturbing is that this kind of behavior works so well, and is hardly ever criticized.

There's a guy on YouTube (http://youtube.com/thearchfiend) who does tons of videos on this subject, it's worth checking out this channel to see them, even if he is a little heavy-handed with his opinions at times.

[Katie]

@Katie So YouTube is just a symptom of the larger problem of the "Everyone Gets a Participation Trophy or They'll Feel Bad" Generation. Gotcha.

Pretty much. The internet is full of people whose lives are so mundane and meaningless. At least on the internet they have the ability to create an air of importance or belonging to make up for what is missing in their real lives.

You Tube posters....the ones who put up awful videos of singing or reviews or cooking or acting or whatever...fill in the blank...the vast majority of them have some desire for fame and fortune and recognition to the point that there is a "build it and they will come" mentality. However the reality is that almost all of those people do not have the real talent to become "famous". Their real abilities do not match their egos. They are no better or more talented or special than any of us.

It's kind of like "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". Creating an illusion of grandure in their heads when the reality is so sad and pathetic that if they accepted their actuality they might not be able to cope. Only with You Tube they can put it on video and people can look at it........too bad we can't see what they think in their heads.

[XERO]

I watch YouTube for wrestling, movie clips and LPs mostly.

I also have a channel where I do vlogs and post music I made, but it's all for fun and to entertain. I could care less if people like it or not. If you do, awesome. But I'm not expecting to be Ray William friggin' Johnson.

[Leo656]

Who?

When my niece was little (she's gonna be 13) she discovered Ninja Turtles all on her own through he 2K3 cartoon and youtube clips of the other shows like the old cartoon and even The Next Mutation. I was amazed that she was sharp enough not only to like TMNT, but like them enough to use YouTube to watch the shows I watched as a kid. Based on that alone, I'll forgive everything else on YouTube. :)

I definitely think some people get a little self-important; they honestly expect people are gonna look at their singing/dancing/chainsaw juggling/drill gun nipple piercing/ballroom dancing/midget-tossing act, declare it the New Greatest Thing Ever, put 'em on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, pay 'em a million dollars, and give 'em their own radio show. I *think* (and hope) most people on YouTube are smarter than that, and are mostly just entertaining their friends and themselves primarily, and anyone else being entertained is a happy side effect.

[BubblyShell22]

Wow. That's one smart niece you've got there, Leo. Does she still like TMNT?

[Leo656]

Indeed, quotes the first movie and everything. :)

[BubblyShell22]

That's awesome. Kudos to her.

[XERO]

Put that on YouTube, fool.

[BubblyShell22]

Heck, YouTube helped me view the Lost Season before it even aired on TV, and I was able to watch a BTTS episode I had to miss.

[pannoni1]

From my experience at Youtube, I've been a significant contributor to a site called "Youtube Time Machine", where I've submitted over 2,000 videos from several aspects of pop culture dating back to the 19th century.

http://www.yttm.tv/

Currently, there are around a dozen or so TMNT/Ninja Turtles results that have been included. The thing is the moderator is quite selective; any additional intros, on-screen graphics, fuzzy picture quality, not so good sound, or even historically irrelevant stuff doesn't get submitted there. I mostly view Youtube as a goldmine for some long-lost shows or movies that haven't aired on TV in decades. For instance, watching Grocho Marx's "You Bet Your Life" yesterday. It can be both fun and bitter at the same time with certain ads that try to "use you". But, I just uploaded the first movie and hopefully it will show people how special this project was.

Finally, my top Youtube Pet Peeve: all those "watch the full movie" promises by so many movies, only to click the link where you fill out some weird survey and then it requires to check your phone to enter a special code, which almost always requires a subscription plan to something.