7 Deadly Sins of Internet Video

Will Video Be the End of the Internet as We Know It?

It seems that every major media outlet online is scrambling to jump on the video bandwagon that YouTube built. YouTube, a video sharing site, landed a $1.65 billion deal with Google in 2006. Major media outlets are trying to catch up and keep up with the homemade video trend.

With video, everyone with access to a video camera can record news, and even be the news. When TV shows start covering Internet video, you know something big is going on. Rather than create their own content, news media are now making news out of homegrown videos and news.

The video movement has revealed a number of interesting cultural trends in the U.S.

Major Media Outlets Have Lost Their Monopoloy on the News: Envy and Greed

With the growth of video sharing online, major media outlets have lost their monopoly on the news.

The major media outlets are scrambling to keep up because this trend also shows a disregard for the former integrity and authority once reserved for major newspapers and TV news broadcasters as the sole reliable sources that disseminated information.

As major media outlets turned more and more toward Tabloid-type news and infotainment, they set themselves up. With the realization that "the news" was not giving them anymore than they could discover or create themselves, coupled with the affordability and availability of technology, people realized they too could make news.

Even the broadcasters see the trend. There are entire shows now dedicated to Internet videos, including VH1's "Web Junk."

Power to the People: Pride

What happens when the power to publish and broadcast is in the hands of the people? Are we seeing more and more news of significance? Using video on the Internet is a great way for the people to take back the airwaves, so to speak, from the commercial-minded and agenda-driven broadcasters.

Except, what are we using that "power" for?

Feeding Voyeurism with Vanity: Lust and Vanity