Machanator

Making YouTube videos are great... until your spouse wants to kill you!

Who needs to be a professional writer? Who needs formal training to edit a video? Who needs 10 years of experience to be the star of a radio show? We can do any of the three in the comfort of our own home. In this time of age, we are the creators of our own media… at least if we choose to be. Rosen pointed out that anyone can be a writer, video producer or even radio broadcaster. I bet in 20 years, more people will be working at home.

As you may know, I am a long time YouTube watcher. I like to watch video to learn new things or just to watch random videos to pass time. Many people that I’m subscribed to have already quit their day jobs to pursue a full time career on YouTube. At first, it was bizarre to me. I mean, who quits their job to make videos? However, if you look at it in different angle, making videos is actually their home business. I love the fact that none of these people received formal training and have no real experience, but yet they can somehow pursue a career in it!

This all ties back to what Rosen says in his article. We are now “formerly known as the audience.” We control what we want to see and we control what we want to put out there. We are now in equal power with those big bad companies.

I can see why people volunteer their time to make these silly images. Not only is it easy to make, but they are so much fun. It took me less than 5 minutes to come up with something witty (at least I think it’s witty!)

I decided to make a meme because it’s all over the web. I never knew where people go to make these and never really bothered to find out. At one point, I thought that you needed to use Photoshop! Well, I’m glad it only takes two clicks and some humor. I will definitely make a few more just for fun!

Mr. Shirky raised an interesting point about TV consumption and unhappy people. He makes the connection that people become more unhappy and lonely because of our “part time job” as a TV watcher.

I automatically thought back to my experiences and my studies. I’m a psychology major and the addiction to TV (games, internet, etc.) is always brought up. It’s quite obvious that it’s becoming a problem.

There’s proposed plans of adding the addiction to TV, video games, internet, etc. to the revised DSM (basically a book of all the mental illnesses.) So in other words, they want to make the addiction of technology a mental disorder. When I first heard about this, I was blown away. I thought people are only addicted to drugs and alcohol but we can also be addicted to technology?

The first person that comes to mind is the boy who went bizarre after his mother cancelled his WOW account. Have you seen this? It’s hilarious but if you think a bit deeper, you might realized what technology is turning many of us into.

Manovich makes an interesting point about automation. Specifically, he mentions that there are low level and high level of automation. An example of low level automation is Photoshop where the program can automatically adjust photos. An example of high level automation is a human computer where it can speak to a user and adjust its conversation according to the emotional state of the user.

I find low level automation to be interesting because of how important it is to the media business. When we flip through magazines and newspapers, perhaps 99% of all photos are retouched with programs like Photoshop. It is extremely crucial to the media business because a photo is worth a thousand words. Companies may take advantage of these programs to reframe news stories or make front cover models more attractive. For example, the newspaper can purposely make a celebrity look thinner and say that he/she is anorexic. A magazine publisher may want to attract more consumers by making the front cover model tanner and more toned. Though these business tactics may drive sales but it is also influencing teenagers to believe that skinny is beautiful. I think it is okay for magazine companies to photoshop photos as long as it makes a small note somewhere on the page that the photo has been retouched. This can help teenagers realize that what they see are not real. The bottom line, computers are probably the best and worst invention of our generation.

YouTube is a lifesaver!  Two nights ago I ran out of hot water.  My parents figured out that our hot water heater was leaking.  What to do?  It’s 12am in the morning and no one is picking up our phone calls! That’s when I turned to my learning resource… YOUTUBE!  I simply typed in “hot water heater is leaking” and I had pages of results. Within minutes, I learned how to turn off the gas and cold water to prevent flooding.

Who doesn’t love YouTube, you can find tutorials of everything and anything, personal home videos, music videos, and the list goes on.  I use this genius site to watch beauty related videos.  I learn about  products that work and suck, different types of makeup applications, ways to look 10 pounds lighter, DIY facial masks, etc.   I also learned how to cook different types of cuisines and cutting techniques.  I’m an active YouTube subscriber and is hoping to one day make my own videos.  I mean, why not, if you get noticed, you can be an internet star!

I bet some of you didn’t know that some of the YouTube stars are making thousands a year.   If the owner of the channel gets popular enough, he/she can make partner with YouTube.  From there, YouTube offers a share of the profit  it makes from generating ads.  If I am correct, it’s a 60%(partner)/40% (YouTube) ratio.   Not to mention that the partners may also get video sponsors from various companies to promote products.  For example, a beauty guru may be sponsored by Cover Girl to do a video on a new eye shadow.  Many of these companies send free products to the gurus to try out.   I can tell you from experience that when a product is hot on YouTube, it is also sold out immediately in stores.   It took 8 drugstores for me to find an eyeshadow.   If you ask me, YouTube is the best marketing tool!

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