The Double Function of YouTube

In YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture, Jean Burgess and Joshua Green highlight two distinct functions of the popular video hosting site.  On one hand, YouTube serves as a video repository, archiving and redistributing video from existing popular culture.  And on the other, it has become a forum for user created video, allowing anyone with a camera and an internet connection to upload and share whatever they desire--hence YouTube's mantra, "Broadcast Yourself."

Burgess and Green, seem to believe that these two functions work independently from one another, and dilute any singular definition of what YouTube really is.  However, I believe that there are many instances in which YouTube has been used to perform both functions simultaneously.  To explain, let's examine the YouTube phenomenon of Numa Numa.

This video became an internet sensation, and has now had millions upon millions of views.  It was a user uploaded video of said user lip-syncing to a song called, "Dragostea Din Tei" by the Moldovan pop band O-Zone, although most Americans know the song as simply the "Numa Numa Song."

The video became a sensation, not because of the song, but because of the way the song was used in the user's video.  However, in turn, O-Zone also gained popularity because of the viral success of the video.  Many American's are now familiar with their song, that would have otherwise never reached them.  The song has garnered so much popularity that it was even sampled in the popular hip-hop song "Live Your Life" by T.I. and Rihanna.

And so, the sensation surrounding the "Numa Numa Song" exemplifies not only the two distinct functions of YouTube, but also how these two functions can work together.  It is cyclical in a way--first, the song was created by professionals, and then further popularized by user generated content, which was, in turn, capitalized on by professional media creators.

While there is some distinction between the two major functions of YouTube explained by Burgess and Green, the line between the two isn't always clearly defined.  And the "Numa Numa Song" is not the only example of this.  So, let's not forget about the Tron Guy this winter when we are going to see Tron: Legacy in theaters.

- Dustin