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Did youtube revolutionize the internet?

Phediuk

Member
Although it had already been around for a few years, I knew Youtube had changed things when I was no longer bothering to download MP3s anymore because I could find literally anything on the 'Tube.

This would've been 2010 or so.



Also, I'm glad someone else already posted a Realplayer pic, because holy shit what a pain in the ass that was back around 2004.
 

Majine

Banned
When both Youtube and Stage6 where there, my old garbage-tier PC had issues running Youtube videos...

But stage6... was some kind of wizardry in optimisation. Always ran perfectly.
 

FyreWulff

Member
Ironically both the introduction of IE6 and the death of IE6 were both responsible for probably more than Youtube.

IE6 comes out, has a bunch of neat new features, the internet really starts taking off.


.... then IE6 languishes for what in the tech world felt like eons, every site was stagnating. Then Netscape gets rebranded as Firefox and basically reboots it's mindshare, then Chrome shows up and had the big Javascript reboot with V8, which relaunched JS as a major (and now required) component of the web. Even Microsoft at one point made a big website trying to kill off IE6. IE6 was still in contracts that I had to work in the early part of this decade. It's shadow was very, very long.
 

massoluk

Banned
Ironically both the introduction of IE6 and the death of IE6 were both responsible for probably more than Youtube.

IE6 comes out, has a bunch of neat new features, the internet really starts taking off.


.... then IE6 languishes for what in the tech world felt like eons, every site was stagnating. Then Netscape gets rebranded as Firefox and basically reboots it's mindshare and the rest is history. Even Microsoft at one point made a big website trying to kill off IE6. IE6 was still in contracts that I had to work in the early part of this decade. It's shadow was very, very long.

Man, the dark age in between where we pinned our hope on Opera
 
When both Youtube and Stage6 where there, my old garbage-tier PC had issues running Youtube videos...

But stage6... was some kind of wizardry in optimisation. Always ran perfectly.

Watching 480p anime episodes was amazing compared to the 360p wasteland that was youtube at the time
 
C

Contica

Unconfirmed Member
+ It lets me watch Pete Thorn demo guitar gear
+ Easy access to Kpop videos

- Every time I search for how to do something I end up with a page full of youtube videos. I don't want to watch 20 minutes to figure out one small thing, I want a wall of text so I can Ctrl+F that shit.
 

FyreWulff

Member
to add on, Youtube was basically the video website of all the ones that were out there to win the Google Buyout Lottery. There was no way the site survives out of Google buying it just due to bandwidth concerns.
 
It certainly killed the idea of the comments section being worth while.

Why the won't let people disable this shit on an account level is beyond me.

I find the constant shitting on comments from some people really annoying.
I can't count the number of times I've learnt extra information about the video in the comments, I laughed thanks to a joke, or I could exchange with the video uploader.

If you hate them so much don't scroll down, they're hidden by default on mobile anyway.
 
stage6 deserved to win

ky1NZ1Y.jpg

Damn, I was about to post stage6. They beat youtube to 60fps ages ago. ;__;
 
It's weird. Youtube was and is hardly the only platform of its nature around. But the way in which it's emerged as something of a digital landscape unto itself is staggering, and basically shapes how most of the internet is today.

Where do big production houses first launch trailers for their products? Unless it's a livestream, in which case maybe Twitch, then it's Youtube. Where does the 'Let's Play' industry centre itself? Again, other than Twitch which better suits livestreaming, Youtube. If a new startup wants to put out video content but cannot get itself into the good graces of a television network they will inevitably go to youtube. Even creators with their own websites and separate video players will still use youtube because it provides them the greatest amount of exposure and thus interest in their work. Youtube has developed in a way that few other platforms will ever be able to reach, and has become something of a first stop on the internet for the western world. It raises a hell of a lot of questions in doing so, given it's a company that thousands of people rely on without really working for, and there are few viable alternatives to it in case say, advertisers flee en masse because some of the bigger names turn out to be racists. But its sheer significance in the modern internet cannot be denied.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
I find the constant shitting on comments from some people really annoying.
I can't count the number of times I've learnt extra information about the video in the comments, I laughed thanks to a joke, or I could exchange with the video uploader.

If you hate them so much don't scroll down, they're hidden by default on mobile anyway.

This happens now and again but let's be real people joke to not read the comments for a reason. A lot of sites are dropping comment sections altogether because it's not worth the money to maintain just so people can vent, drop hot takes or say ugly shit.
 

Addi

Member
Wasn't there a lot of video sites at that time? I remember I used metacafe, dailymotion, youtube and google video. Ultimately it felt like youtube got the most videos and users so it "won". I actually think it was my least favourite video site at that time (the interface etc.).

I think more than youtube, it was that time in general. Facebook also came out around then, beating other social media sites.
 

massoluk

Banned
Wasn't there a lot of video sites at that time? I remember I used metacafe, dailymotion, youtube and google video. Ultimately it felt like youtube got the most videos and users so it "won". I actually think it was my least favourite video site at that time (the interface etc.).

I think more than youtube, it was that time in general. Facebook also came out around then, beating other social media sites.
Let us be honest, YouTube won because it is where most users decided to flood it with pirated videos :/
 
Wasn't there a lot of video sites at that time? I remember I used metacafe, dailymotion, youtube and google video. Ultimately it felt like youtube got the most videos and users so it "won". I actually think it was my least favourite video site at that time (the interface etc.).

I think more than youtube, it was that time in general. Facebook also came out around then, beating other social media sites.

It kinda astounds me how Veoh is still up and running after all these years. Creators also rather liked blip.tv which was apparently more generous with the ad revenue... until it couldn't afford to pay at all, and it died a harsh death.

Ultimately, youtube's had the benefit of being able to build on itself over time, even with various dumb decisions about its interface. Few startups would be able to match what it does right now, even if aiming for a particular niche that might feel it's harder to thrive there. Same reason Picarto isn't likely to take Twitch's crown as the place for art streams just yet, however much it tries.

Edit:
Let us be honest, YouTube won because it is where most users decided to flood it with pirated videos :/

And yeah, there's that factor. I mean, by the same token, that's why Crunchyroll took off as the anime streaming service of choice in the west - not only did it have some legal content, it also had a tonne of illegal content covered by a technically legit company. It drew in an audience on one hand and then could retain it through other means.
 

RangerX

Banned
It hasn't revolutionised the internet. It's influenced culture in developed countries to a degree but not the internet itself.
 
I find the constant shitting on comments from some people really annoying.
I can't count the number of times I've learnt extra information about the video in the comments, I laughed thanks to a joke, or I could exchange with the video uploader.

If you hate them so much don't scroll down, they're hidden by default on mobile anyway.

Depends on the subject. When watching videos on race/religion the trolling is constant. How does an option to disable comments on an account level bother you? It doesn't.
 

Lucumo

Member
man, I still remember this layout.

kmG0voe.jpg


looks like a cluttered mess by today's standards, but it was kinda typical of the late 90s/early 00s "EVERYTHING ALL OF THE TIME" approach to websites.

What? It trumps Youtube's layouts from the past...seven or so years. I would definitely take it.

I also don't think they revolutionized anything. It was just the video platform that eventually became the most popular in the West. Nothing more.
 
Google can barely even set up a network of reaching any sort of broad area within a given metro area let alone own the internet. Literally any cable broadband provider has google beat in that department.

Google owns the Internet figuratively.

Because of how integral they are to our relationship with information.

They are much more influential than some telecom who owns the cables that information goes through.
 

balohna

Member
I remember YouTube being this crude-looking site back in 2005, one of many video sites out there. It was clearly better than most, but it wasn't as slick and professional looking as Google Video. I thought Google Video was gonna be the big one.

I underestimated the "You" part.
 

LCGeek

formerly sane
This though, the creation of the world wide web (WWW) fundamentally changed the internet.

I think this and google search impacts the web more than YouTube as well. If the question what in the last decade has revolutionized the web without a doubt it should be YouTube which usage of it exceeds even facebook.
 

ZanDatsu

Member
I didn't want to start a new topic and it's somewhat related, but has anyone noticed how good speech recognition on YouTube has become recently? The auto-generated subtitles used to be a gimmick and a source of amusement in how wrong they were, yet now I'm watching and it'll be like 1 benign mistake every few minutes or so. It's seriously impressive.
 

chekhonte

Member
I think that when youtube was a form of social media it had more of an impact. Now it's little more of a way for brands to get people to advertise for them.
 

Tom Nook

Member
Pretty much all my fav gaming contents are on Youtube.

Before Youtube, I would visit sites like IGN boards, Gametrailers (RIP) and GameFAQs often.

Now GT is gone and I rarely visit GameFAQs and IGN.
 

Cromat

Member
Yes it did. And it is also one of the best acquisitions of all times. Google buying it for $1b is a fucking steal.
 
I didn't want to start a new topic and it's somewhat related, but has anyone noticed how good speech recognition on YouTube has become recently? The auto-generated subtitles used to be a gimmick and a source of amusement in how wrong they were, yet now I'm watching and it'll be like 1 benign mistake every few minutes or so. It's seriously impressive.
are you talking about the captions or whatever? early on it was a joke how not-spot on it was. if it's improved dramatically i may be able to use it more.
 
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