This title comes from a section in Pew's article. It goes on to say that boys are avid users of video-sharing websites such as YouTube. Girls are users too, of course, but boys are much more likely to upload and share videos.
Back to the title statement: Still and video images are a big part of teen life and are seemingly quite the hobby among teens today. The Pew article says that often the posting of videos on the internet leads to virtual conversations between the poster and various users who have viewed the video and have left feedback. There we go wanting feedback again. We've all been on YouTube and Yahoo videos watching various clips and have read long threads of comments left by numerous users. Have you ever come across a video on YouTube and the comments section was a long thread between the poster and a single user who viewed the video? Their conversations started out about one thing, typically, but have advanced into other areas. It's interesting to read the ones you come across and wonder what each person is getting from that conversation with a user that either have never met before. Isn't that the very reason for posting videos online in the first place? We get interaction with someone else, whether we know them or not, and that fulfills a need. It's the same concept in social networking sites where we become online friends with people and wait to receive textual comments from them providing feedback for whatever we just posted that they saw/read.
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i dont find anything wrong with postings of videos on the internet leading to people haveing conversations on the internet but for me to say people become friends from it is a little outrageous to me. I think yes you can obviously have an opinion on the posting but you dont know these people from Adam and why all the sudden would you just be friends with someone over the internet which is highly unsafe from a secruity of personal privacy aspect. I persoanlly dont want anything to do with the social networking on the ineternet with people and sharing of videos.
ReplyDeleteTrue. There is nothing wrong with posting anything on the internet, it's just that once it's out there, it's out there. It's accessible to any one. ANY one. Leaving a textual comment with feedback for the poster is a common practice and is expected. You're right, though. when two people (or more) come in contact with each other through a mutual forum such as a social networking site, or YouTube videos, it's still probably fine. But, it's true that there is danger in connecting with internet strangers ("cyber buddies") and disclosing information and thoughts and viewpoints to them. There are some strange people out there!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it can be a very good social networking tool to post/comment on videos online, as long as it is done within guidelines and limits. It can be a good way to get to know people with the same interests and have a good conversation, especially if you are spending a lot of time online. When people post the still photos, they are not really thinking about what they are doing. Like in high school you may have gone to a really cool party the night before and went crazy, so the next day you tag yourself in photos on Facebook and/or Myspace. These photos will be out there on the internet for a long time, and they could eventually come back to bite you in the butt. Like if a future employer were to come across them and not like what they see. So I think that it is OK to go posting videos and pictures, as long as they are tasteful, and is not something that could come back to embarrass you later.
ReplyDeleteIts true, the only reason I can think of for anyone to post pictures or videos on the internet is to get feedback from friends or strangers either one.
ReplyDeleteIf you think about it, what is our need to show our vacation pictures on Facebook but to have our friends look at them and tell us how good they are or laugh, whatever the reaction is that we're looking for. And why would anyone post a video on YouTube if they didn't want hundreds of people to watch it and give feedback.
Once again, it doesn't seem as though there is anything inherently wrong with this, but there is always the potential of putting too much emphasis on gathering feedback.
That's a really interesting point to bring to every body's attention, about the comment threads that become conversations. The long comment threads that are most fascinating, and most hilarious, are the comments that become far too long arguments.
ReplyDeleteAnd my observation of the video comment battles certainly supports the statistics about video commentators predominantly being boys. I am almost certain anyone who carries on a verbally abusive argument with a total stranger is a hot-headed adolescent male.
You can see it on YouTube on almost any given video. One party will be arguing how much that video sucks and the other will argue how much that person sucks for criticizing a video he likes and then the insults drag out for days beating the dead horse until both parties finally bore with it and then likely start commenting on the next video. The whole scenario is a product of the way social media has evolved. There is no shortage of terrible or angry thoughts a teenage boy could have that he would not have the courage to say to some one's face in person, either because he knows how rude and tasteless it is or at least that he is too afraid to have to face consequences (like that person beating the hell out of him for insluting them in person). But in a social medium where he can leave pseudomacho or insulting comments only leaving the trace of a YouTube user name to potentially incriminate him to those he offends, he suddenly becomes very vocal and boldly so while cowering behind his computer. That's the main problem I have with video comments/feedback is that people feel safe enough to say intentionally cruel or offensive things because they will never have to own up to them or be held responsible for them.
Somehow I ran across this video someone from Davidson posted of a Davidson player scoring a Touchdown against Harding Academy's star player Marlon Brown, which upset guys at Harding. It is a perfect example of lame high school aged boys dueling out an altercation via YouTube comments that probably would not occur in a face-to-face real life exchange. When I read it, I just pictured each boy getting home from school and going straight to the computer anxious to see if the other person had responded to their attack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfmyw7y0NNI