YouTube has a Culture?

Michael Wesch’s presentation at the Library of Congress on June 23rd, 2008 called An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube was very profound, detailed and inspiring. To get a glimpse of what Michael Wesch* calls “a celebration of new forms of empowerment…community…global connections and a celebration of new and unimaginable possibilities” (Wesch, 4:40) watch his presentation on YouTube below.





It appears that a webcam, computer screen, website and internet connection have formulated a new culture that has changed the world. But it is more than just the hardware and software capabilities. As Clay Shirky would agree, the YouTube culture revolution wasn’t formed because of technological advances, but because of the new behaviors and expressions of human society. Human actions and reactions create movements and changes that in turn affect human culture and society.

Although technology did not formulate this new culture, it does play a key role in the YouTube culture revolution that is effecting and changing our global culture. The web allows people to be linked all over the world, turning ones computer screen into a global hotspot. YouTube and software innovations have created “user-generated alternatives that are able to move videos around the web” (Wesch, 9:40) The integrated and interconnected mediascape of Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Digg, MySpace, YouTube and other sites have given people a platform for self-expression and creativity. But even “at the center of this mediascape is us” (Wesch, 11:45). As Wesch states, “media mediates human relationships” (Wesch, 12:00).

This online culture that is forming on YouTube is taking on many different characteristics and values. There is a hyper self-awareness that is felt as one vlogs and experiences the “context collapse” (Wesch, 22:35) of speaking into a webcam. There is a felt anonymity plus physical distance plus rare and ephemeral dialogue when watching videos that allow a freedom to experience humanity without social anxiety yet also enables hatred as public performance (Wesch 29:03). There are deep connections being felt without constraints. People have used the YouTube culture as an avenue for coping and escaping the everyday pressures of life. Ultimately, this online culture has allowed for the self-production of oneself in whatever fashion, form or image that one views oneself, or at minimal how one wants others to view oneself.

So what does all this mean? “This is really a story about new forms of expression and new forms of community and new forms of identity emerging” (Wesch, 1:46). YouTube and the online mediascape has become a platform for you and me. A platform that we have utilized to create a global revolution of how we express ourselves, how we interact and how we view ourselves and the community we are involved with.

*Michael Wesch. Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology. Kansas State University. http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/