#1 How Youtube Has Affected Communication

    I was trying to find a topic this weekend, to no avail. Some of the best ideas come out of strange places. I've had a YouTube channel since 2009, and a hobby of mine is making videos. So far, my channel has been able to amass over a million views, and over seven-hundred subscribers from all around the world. I was talking to a friend about starting his own YouTube channel, and was giving him a lot of pointers. It really hit me that after all these years of making YouTube videos; I've really learned a lot about the site and how it works. What a great idea, a topic about something I have a lot of experience in; YouTube, and how it has changed the world and communication.

    YouTube has really affected general communication in the last eight years. Yes, even though it feels like its been around forever, YouTube only started in 2005. The effect its had on social media has been monumental, the only site that compares is Facebook. YouTube has put a library of millions of hours of videos, and information, at the fingertips of anyone with a computer and internet connection (2012, everyone). It has a video for every song, every topic, and every documentary. It gave a voice to the people, something, never before has any random person been able to turn on a camera and speak to the world. It exposed talent to the world, and turned random nobodies into stars (and unfortunately created Justin Bieber). It gave under dogs like Ron Paul a chance at the 2012 US election. It changed everything about the way we live in today's society.

    Looking back on the world pre-YouTube, it’s amazing how much things have changed. My research paper will document the way that YouTube has changed social media forever, and how far it has come today.

- Justin Mercer