Youtube’s Cultural Awareness

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Furthermore, aside from the logistics of YouTube, the videos themselves are what create the massive spread of cultural awareness and intelligence. The scope of content on YouTube can range from lip sync videos to unboxing videos. However, some of the most popular content includes gaming videos, music videos, and vlogs. Moreover, a solid argument can be made that vlogs provide a large part of that insight into other cultures.

People share their day-to-day lives in vlogs. The viewers basically get to know these YouTubers almost on a personal level. This further feeds into the idea that YouTube helps connect people, not only because users get to know people they otherwise would not know existed, but because they get to know people of all sorts of different background. With the most subscribed user being Swedish (Felix Kjellberg aka PewDiePie), millions of people now know that much more about Sweden than they would if the platform never existed. YouTube has people from nearly all backgrounds representing different cultures and communities. It is often said that on YouTube “there’s content for everyone out there”, for all demographics. For example, Tyler Oakley can be said to represent the LGBT community. Although some may feel that he is not a good representation because he may fit the stereotype of what a gay man looks like, but it is undeniable that consistently watching his content will provide a better representation of the LGBT community than watching mainstream media or reading an article. There’s also Lilly Singh or Superwoman from a Canadian and Indian background. JustKiddingFilms, WongFu Productions, NigaHiga, Timothy DeLaGhetto and many more represent the Asian American Community. There’s top creators from the Latino and European communities as well.

Overall, the original purpose of YouTube was to create a platform for the internet community to share their video content and interact with other users. Thankfully that still rings true, and thankfully that includes cultures from all over the planet.

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