Is Youtube a social network?

Beverly Level X³

January 9, 2014, 12:05 pm

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On Youtube, you can view videos and have fun commenting on other videos. But you don't really get a traditional profile page in the same way you do on Google+ or Facebook. And, the profile page is traditional for a social network. Then again, you have a username and can upload videos and make comments on your videos and interact with other users. In that way, it has a video blogging type platform.
What do you think? Is Youtube really a social network?

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Sylvester

Sylvester

Even Google thinks Youtube might be a social network similar to Twitter.

http://research.google.com/pubs/pub37738.html

YouTube is the largest user-driven video content provider in the world; it has become a major platform for disseminating multimedia information. A major contribution to its success comes from the user-to-user social experience that differentiates it from traditional content broadcasters. This work examines the social network aspect of YouTube by measuring the fullscale YouTube subscription graph, comment graph, and video content corpus. We ?nd YouTube to deviate signi?cantly from network characteristics that mark traditional online social networks, such as homophily, reciprocative linking, and assortativity. However, comparing to reported characteristics of another content-driven online social network, Twitter, YouTube is remarkably similar. Examining the social and content facets of user popularity, we ?nd a stronger correlation between a user’s social popularity and his/her most popular content as opposed to typical content popularity.

13 years ago

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ralph101

ralph101

I agree that it is like a social network. I have always really seen it like this.

13 years ago

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Keith

Keith

The Youtube users which watch the videos and make content for the site are very much part of a community. You will see the same people on the site (in certain niches) commenting on each others videos. They are just as involved with Youtube as Facebook users are involved with Facebook.

13 years ago

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Forrest

Forrest

Youtube is a lot like Facebook. You might not post personal updates there, but you could easily video blog about your life, if you just wanted to do so. You can actually use the site in any way you want. There are no limitations.

13 years ago

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Riley

Riley

You can't add friends on Youtube as you can on Google+ or Facebook, so in that way it's not a very social site. Although you could subscribe to someone's channel which makes you a fan, same as on Twitter.

13 years ago

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Quinton

Quinton

You can't really make friends on Youtube but you can have very meaningful conversations via the comment section on videos. This could be useful for making a connection with your subscribers and fans.

13 years ago

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LizAnne

LizAnne

Youtube is just as much of a social network as Facebook which gives video content creators the chance to interact with their fans and build a community around those who like the content.

13 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

Youtube is not a social network, you cannot socialize on youtube.
Youtube is a video sharing platform, you can also use youtube as a vlogging platform, and respond to the comments on your videos and engage in meaningful dialogue, however, you there is no room to socialize on youtube.

9 years ago

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peachpurple

peachpurple

you can comment at Youtube but you don't interact well there because some people are bashing comments on videos.

9 years ago

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cmoneyspinner

cmoneyspinner

Perhaps YouTube was not created to be a social network but I can definitely see where it has the potential to be a social network. I am often very happy to leave comments on entertainment videos, a favorite music video, or a movie or movie trailer. Sometimes I may leave a comment on an educational video. Most of the time it's like I'm talking to myself. But every once in a while I get feedback from some random person who actually read my comments. I suppose that if I regularly commented on YouTube videos, it would become like socializing.

Look at it this way. You watched a great movie on TV. Your friends also saw that movie. Have you not spent hours discussing it with them? Everything from how you would have written the storyline differently TO picking different actors to play the parts TO the soundtrack for that movie. You can have these kinds of interactions with perfect strangers who also watched the movie.

For sure, YouTube could easily be a social network.

8 years ago

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Kakashi2020

Kakashi2020

YouTube is a social media platform that specializes on videos. But Facebook is now also integrating videos, so a faceoff between the two giants is inevitable. In my opinion, if YouTube doesn't evolve then Facebook would eventually win in the video sharing category and may ultimately cause the downfall of YouTube.

8 years ago

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