I learned it on YouTube!
February 10, 2012
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!
February 10th, 2012 at 8:57 pm
I could not agree with you more on how great YouTube is. I mean you can practically learn anything and everything from YouTube. But don’t you sometimes believe that some of these sites go to the extreme? With just the click of a mouse you can learn how to rob a bank, pick a lock, and hack into a computer.
Sometimes I truely believe that we are victims of our own intelligence because in so many ways, our amazing technological advancements are working against us.
February 13th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Oh yes! I definitely agree. Though it is great that we can learn practically anything and everything, there’s always a downside to it because people will always screw up the system! However, I think we should look at it in a more positive light and consider it an additional resource to learning something new!
February 14th, 2012 at 2:15 pm
Apparently, YouTube is teaching you how to be handy. Who knows, maybe you could become the Internets very first ‘Do It Yourself Cover Girl’. Or, how about ‘Runway Chef’. If you do, don’t forget about the little people you passed on your way up. By the way: need instructions on ways to look 10 pounds lighter!
February 14th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
HAHA! I can probably get a plumbing license or learn how to fly a plane! 🙂
February 14th, 2012 at 3:33 pm
As you noted, Christine, YouTube is a wonderful source of all kinds of information though of varying quality. And since you can embed YouTube videos, it would be pretty easy to set up an instructional site on any topic by finding a bunch of how-to videos and (assuming the content is either creative commons licensed or not copyrighted), you could create a how-to site with hours worth of content. There’s likely a way to automate it so that you can create a site on, say, how play the drums by entering just a couple of tags.
I believe all of the Khan Academy’s videos are hosted on YouTube. If you haven’t seen the Khan Academy, take a look. http://www.khanacademy.org/
February 15th, 2012 at 6:04 pm
+1. Youtube is definitely a good source of learning how to do things. I can’t count how many times I’ve refer to youtube to learn how to do something. I’m used to reading tutorials, but I believe you can grasp more of an understanding with video tutorials.