YouTube's Popularity

Youtube is becoming extremely popular.  Everyone from corporate executives to middle school teenagers are navigating toward the video movement online.  Youtube leads the way with their new technologies.  This is extremely beneficial to online marketers for several reasons.  First of all, in the past, downloading, posting, or sharing videos was not as easy as it is now.  Say you've put a video on the internet for your steps to success.  In the past, perhaps John Moneymaker has heard about you and wants to check you out for himself.  So he types in 'steps for success.'  What he gets back has no relevance at all to what he wants.  'Step repair, 12 step programs, success in Asian cooking...'  So he shrugs and goes on with his life and you never get that potential customer.

 With Youtube's easy browser, John Moneymaker types in 'steps for success' and your video pops up.  He watches, loves it, and passes it on to several of his friends, making you triple or quadruple what you would have made on him alone.  This is a huge opportunity for marketers.  It's essentially a online word of mouth feature, and easy access to videos ensures more customers, views, and success.  Also, with Youtube, you don't have to download codecs or using questionable streaming formats.  It's easy to view, easy to download, easy to contribute videos.  Another definite plus is this...who wouldn't rather sit back and watch a video than read boring content on a webpage?  Almost everyone would.  This is great for those potential customers who would give up halfway through your webpage and click to exit.  Now they can watch your video easily and will have less of a chance of losing patience halfway through.

 Youtube is also becoming insanely popular in the 'American Idol' sort of way.  Wanna be stars file videos there, and have the potential of actually becoming famous.  They gather fans, audiences and popularity easily.  Fans love it because they have instant connection to the talented artists on Youtube.  This is a great opportunity to talented artists to get instantaneous publicity, and they don't have to pay for an agent or wait years to be able to get a targeted audience for their industry.  As a matter of fact, some reports say that 'Hollywood' is actually looking for talent on Youtube.  Anyone can make a cheap video and upload it, and with potential scouts out there watching, who wouldn't try?

 Another factor in all of this Youtube popularity is politicians.  Youtube has done something that's basically never been done before, and that is video showcases of politicians and their promises, their beliefs, and whatever else might help out their campaigns.  Voters can watch each of the online videos without ad slinging campaign commercials on television, and decide from there who they're going to vote for.  This is extremely important for these politicians, as they reach a far wider audience and gain popularity much quicker than the old, standard ways.

 Businesses seeking promotions for their products also find this hot new video craze beneficial.  Again, they have all the possibilities of gaining popularity, targeting a wider customer base, 'word of mouth' video popularity, and the ease of use. 

 The most commented on favorite of Youtube is how easy it is to use.  That's what the people want.  They enjoy being able to quickly browse for the videos or sort of video they want, watch it or download it quickly and without any needed 'know how,' and that is why Youtube is so popular, and quickly gaining in the ranks.  Searching for videos under a certain category, such as entertainment or educational is an excellent way to save time when you're looking for something in particular.  Not only that, but Youtube also tells you which videos are most popular.  This is a great way to showcase what videos people want to see the most and which ones are the best quality.  Most people don't believe this phenomenon will slow down any time soon, either.  Videos are the present, and most definitely the future.