Henry Jenkins, borrowed from his blog
Henry Jenkins is currently the Provost’s Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at USC. However, the article was written during the time he spent at MIT, where he was the director of the Comparative Media Studies Program. Some of the main focuses of his works include the intersection of real world and media cultures and how the media matters both from the consumers and producers points of view.
His article, “Nine Propositions Towards a Cultural Theory of YouTube” is basically an outline as to how he believes that YouTube will become more relevant in society and culture with each passing year. Granted, this article was written in 2007, so some, if not all of his predictions, have come true, but they still offer an interesting insight into how websites like YouTube become highly integrated into today’s internet culture. Some of his predictions include: YouTube becoming a meeting place where different segments of society can interact and co-exist, a starting point for grassroots movements, and a means of social networking.
One of his most interesting ideas that he presented was the idea that YouTube was a device where anyone could make something newsworthy; all that’s needed is access to a phone with video capabilities.
YouTube operates, alongside Flickr, as an important site for citizen journalists, taking advantage of a world where most people have cameras embedded in their cellphones which they carry with them everywhere they go. We can see many examples of stories or images in the past year which would not have gotten media attention if someone hadn’t thought to record them as they unfolded using readily accessible recording equipment.
In recent history, YouTube has actually evolved to the point where it helped spawn uprisings and major changes to governments. The adoption of YouTube as a main form of media to voice alternative points of view has become vital, and for certain movements, it was. Take, for example, the Arab Spring, which led to protests, some major some minor, and in some countries it actually led to the citizens overthrowing their government. Without the use of social media, especially YouTube and Twitter, this would not have been possible, especially given how repressive some of those governments were/are. Through these mediums, unhappy citizens were able to finally voice their opinions without their voices being quashed. These mediums also allowed for the convergence of people who held similar ideas, and the result was political revolution. However, it’s important to keep in mind that this example does not demonstrate one or two of Jenkins’ predictions, but rather it actualizes most of them. It’s use during the movement was not only grassroots in nature, but it also allowed for like-minded people to meet, to gain power over what they saw as culturally important, and were able to show and document what their struggles were and how determined they were to fight for what they believed in. And because of the spreadability that comes with social media, once their message was online, it was there forever.
While the Arab Spring is just one example among many as to how Jenkins’ ideas were actualized, it does help to hammer in the idea that social media is not going away. It’s a medium that is continually growing and evolving, constantly being integrated and reintegrated into our lives in new and revolutionary ways. It’s already been proven that it can help give power to those who were perceived as powerless, even having the power to reform or tear down governments. Given the drastic changes to the internet and the time at which this article was written, it’s interesting as to how Jenkins was correct in how social media would evolve to become much more fluid and accessible to a general public, but it would be even more fascinating to hear his ideas on where YouTube and websites like it will go from here.