Meet the Internet stars (It could be you)

MULTIMEDIA: Meet the Internet Stars who are creating a new culture of conversation.

READ: The hours and hours of videos uploaded online impact what we consider as culture.

Nearly a day’s worth of video are uploaded every minute as more users watch, create and respond to content online, according to industry sources.

Numbers released on the official YouTube blog in May 2009 show that 20 hours of video are being uploaded every minute on the site. That’s the “equivalent of Hollywood releasing over 86,000 new full-length movies into cinemas each week.”

Over 90% of this content is believed to be user generated.

Dr. Paul Dwyer, professor of Media Management, University of Westminster, London, says, “As UGC becomes more prolific, people become used to different kinds of films and you get audiences for film making which changes and innovates.”

These new kinds of films are a medley of the amateur and the semi-professional.

From dogs on skateboards, sneezing pandas, potentially embarrassing air guitar solos and obscure Romanian pop lip syncing, to original music videos, current affairs shows and community projects – they’ve become an integral part of popular culture today.

Culture of conversation

According to the free culture theory, when you upload a video, share it with a friend or leave a response, you too are adding to the cultural value of these works.

Media theorists including Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School professor and lawyer, believe that technology and a free Internet have made it easy for users to record media, publish or broadcast it to an audience willing to participate in cultural and information exchange.

This communication is expected to encourage further creativity and thus, add to cultural expression.

Meanwhile, users themselves are benefiting from Do-It-Yourself media to extend their 15 minutes of fame and fortune. Not only do we have new media content now, but also the new media celebrity.

Dr. Dwyer sounds a cautionary note. “Most media careers are short anyway. But you will find some YouTube stars become conventional media stars,” he says.

Next: Fans of artists become talented and popular creators themselves. Or they just obsessive?

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