Media Research Assignment

https://www.engadget.com/2016-11-10-the-history-of-youtube.html

 The history of YouTube is an interesting one, and its influence has effected us all the way up to this day. At first, YouTube was thought of by  Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three former employees of the American company known as PayPal. They thought the site would be a good way to share "home videos" that families made as an social media platform. YouTube first started with capital funding of 11.5 million dollars, and in April 2005 the first video ever uploaded to YouTube was made called "Me at the Zoo." After a short beta testing period the site launched in December of 2005 and the first video to get 1 million views was made shortly after, which was a Nike commercial. After a quick boom the next year Google quickly acquired the company for around 1.65 billion dollars in stock. In June of 2007 YouTube was launched in the UK as well as 6 other countries. After YouTube grew a little more, HD videos were introduced in December of the same year, and a lot more people were finding new uses of the quickly growing site. In 2009 multiple things occurred, YouTube was now able to reach 1080p, the website was reaching 1 billion views per day, and had a partnership with channel 4 meaning they had to catch up with TV for the first time. This was also around the time gaming and vlogging videos became of interest to the viewers of YouTube.  In 2010, the site views grew to 3 billion views per day, and people could start making their living off of posting things on YouTube. Since 2012 YouTube has grown to a multi-million dollar company and it is still going to grow stronger in the future. 

What  are the advantages and disadvantages to YouTube as a whole? Some advantages include being able to make, post, and receive content and info anywhere you are. It is a comforting system that is very easy to use. Finally, it reaches all across the globe and has a global audience. Disadvantages of YouTube are that their is violence on some of the videos. You are unable to control what content actually shows up in the que on the right side of your screen. The amount of marketing that uses things you like on the site to make specific ads for you to buy something. Finally, it is a huge distraction in your life and you can waste hours of your day watching videos instead of being productive.