Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Internet Killed the Video Star

The internet is undoubtedly making us less reliant on other media such as TV. Gone are the days when we would sit around and wait for reruns or for certain programs to be sold on DVD. Thanks to Youtube and similar websites, there’s no need to wait around for slower and costlier forms of media.

When I think of this phenomenon, what immediately comes to mind are popstars such as Souljaboy who go viral and beat their MTV counterparts in popularity. But this phenomenon also occurs in other fields. A good example is net tutorials. People offer a wide array of tutorials from applying make up to math and languange classes to cooking. I remember a time when one would have to pay or wait to get that sort of information—buy books, watch videos, enroll in classes. (Mathemagics, anyone?) But now, the average person can help another out for free. This is a win-win situation considering that the video maker could potentially get sponsors while the viewers get the information that they need.

The beauty of the internet is that it is not regulated, people are free to post and watch what they want when they want it. With the strength of the internet, I wonder how TV can compete. Maybe the internet is just meant to kill the video star.

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