YouTube Highlights Its More Professional Side
How the most popular video sharing site has begun to slowly mature
Jan 20, 2009
In the past year or so, the wildly popular video sharing website has seen the likes of Céline Dion, Barack Obama, and even the Pope tap into this communication tool to reach a wider audience. What does this mean for YouTube? Well, it means that the site will definitely have a future since political figures and cultural icons have solidified their presences on the site in order to garner a loyal fan base that is spending more and more time online.
The Associated Press has reported that Pope Benedict XVI will soon have his own video channel on Google. Speeches and other content from the Vatican’s radio and television programs would be broadcast on the new channel, the report said. With a dedicated YouTube channel, the pontiff would be able to reach an even wider audience than the Vatican’s official website ever could. YouTube is also accessible on several different platforms including computers, mp3 players, mobile phones, and even gaming consoles so this means an even greater reach than before.
YouTube traffic continues to grow
Creating your own video channel on YouTube is without a doubt a smart move given the amount of traffic it picks up on a regular basis. According to a comScore Press Release, more than five billion videos were viewed on YouTube in October 2008 – almost half of all the videos viewed on the World Wide Web during that month.
From the Pope to the President
Regular YouTube users will recall the Face The Candidates platform on the site where they were given an opportunity to participate in the CNN-YouTube political debates during the 2008 presidential campaign. A select few out of thousands of users’ videos were chosen to be presented to the candidates in order to give the public a voice in the historical debates. This was the first time that old and new media have been converged in such a high profile fashion as millions watched it unfold on live television. This is another example of the potential YouTube has to offer in light of recent accomplishments.
Tying in to the presidential debates, President Barack Obama has begun streaming his weekly video addresses on his video channel on YouTube. This is first time for a U.S. President to do so and marks a change in how the new administration will communicate with the public. Another well-known figure who has embraced YouTube is Canadian singing sensation, Céline Dion, who also has her own video channel loaded with clips of her music videos, interviews, and performances from around the world.
The current number of political figures and other role models who have flocked to YouTube to reach a global audience is very limited, however, the potential for Google to harness this service by fostering a new sense of professionalism is virtually unbounded. The maturing of YouTube has just begun and it seems that Google is heading in the right direction. If the Pope can have his own YouTube channel, it is only a matter of time before other icons and role models will soon broadcast themselves.
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