YouTube!

Everybody knows YouTube, but for those few that don’t: YouTube is a website where you can upload videos for free, enabling you to share them with anyone you want. YouTube’s motto is “YouTube, Broadcast Yourself!” Their website went live in February of 2005, created by three former employeers of PayPal, first as an unofficial project and later as a new business opportunity. In April of the following year 35.000 videos were uploaded every day and according to the site more than 40 million videos were being watched daily. YouTube is so popular that TIME’s Person of the Year for 2006 was “you,” referencing the rise of personal broadcasting.

YouTube has recieved a lot of criticism due to the low quality of the videos and the video- and audiostreams not always being in sync. Also, a lot of copyrighted material is uploaded to YouTube, angering organizations like the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). Only four employees check the uploaded videos for copyrighted content, so it can take a long time before these videos get taken down.

Being a proponent of free distribution of information, I’m big fan of YouTube. Everybody can let their voice be heard and there is always someone out there willing to listen. I love the website even though I don’t always agree with the changes they make. YouTube has regular updates to the site, changing the layout and user experience.

Now, this isn’t a problem if they would take it slow. But sadly, YouTube regularly changes their layout so drastically that people have to relearn how to navigate the site. People are creatures of habit, and the longer they are used to one thing, the harder it gets learn another. Because it’s such a popular site, navigation becomes almost second-nature to the visitors and changes to those habitual actions is best introduced gradually, giving everyone a chance to get used to it. If they don’t take it slow they risk bombarding and frustrating the visitor. When they fix this, they won’t need to worry about any competition from other sites like Vimeo.com which has been steadily rising in popularity.

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