YouTube

I get a lot of links to YouTube videos from various people, but today was the first time I received one from my father.

The video my daddy linked me is a real eyewitness account of a battle of beasts in Africa. Growing up, my brother and I often accompanied our dad when he watched various nature shows on the National Geographic specials, particularly the ones about Africa. My dad watched so many of them and so often to be able to notice that certain scenes were always reused and spliced in no matter what story they claimed to tell. That is not the case with this video. No tech feat here. Just a video I'm linking because my dad sent it to me and I feel like that's special.

But YouTube really has been more interesting of an innovation than I gave it credit for when it first appeared. It has really contributed to the Web 2.0 concept, relying on user input for the content and meat of the site, and allowing easy embedding into other sites. It also has a release API, allowing developers to create mashups.

Another thing YouTube has done is given a chance to budding artists, allowing them to put themselves in front of the world without having to find an agency or promoter. The best example of this is Lisa Nova, a comedian whose YouTube channel gained her so many fans that MadTV hired her last year.

However, Marie Digby was criticized for seeming like she was just a hometown hopeful in her popular YouTube videos though she was signed to Hollywood Records. I personally don't see what difference it makes. Whether or not she had signed with a company, she was still an unknown hopeful trying to become known. And it worked for the gorgeous Irish-American with a stunning voice. I don't feel gypped at all, having a chance to discover her music where I otherwise might not have.