Henry Jenkins is a professor at USC, instructing Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts.  Jenkins often researches and discusses the intersection of media and pop culture.  He has also authored 12 books on this topic.  Jenkins also works on projects such as the New Media Literacies, which prepares students working with new media.

Henry Jenkins III, Author and Professor

In a blog from 2007, Nine Propositions Towards a Cultural Theory of YouTube, Jenkins discusses the place YouTube holds in the current culture.  He describes YouTube as a new way to capture and share things that might not have otherwise been spread.  He also finds YouTube as a place where amateurs can become newscasters.  He also discusses the voice behind these videos and ways of expression.  Jenkins mentioned the You in YouTube might not necessarily echo the ideas of a single person, but rather the collaborative cultural community.    Of the nine propositions set by Jenkins, his fourth point resonated with me:

YouTube’s value depends heavily upon its deployment via other social networking sites — with content gaining much greater visibility and circulation when promoted via blogs, Live Journal, MySpace, and the like. While some people come and surf YouTube, it’s real breakthrough came in making it easy for people to spread its content across the web. In that regard, YouTube represents a shift away from an era of stickiness (where the goal was to attract and hold spectators on your site, like a roach motel) and towards an era where the highest value is in spreadability (a term which emphasizes the active agency of consumers in creating value and heightening awareness through their circulation of media content.)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2yt1ooLQGo

This point that Jenkins discusses reminded me of the UPular remix created by Disney Pixar.  This video has spread across the web for years now and was part of the advertising for the movie Up.  The company put money into creating a video that doesn’t focus on the trailer or plot of the movie, but rather a video that has the power to go viral.  This kind of viral marketing has become popular by advertisers and is becoming a more and more important factor as a way to expose products in today’s world.