YouTube

YouTube has become a convenient source of information for many, whether is it for work or leisure. In case you still do not know what YouTube is, it is actually a website where people post videos, or watch the videos people post. Each day an estimated 100 million videos are watched by people who visit YouTube, which was launched in February 2005. In my opinion, YouTube has the good and bad sides to it. We can only count on the audience to make the good out of it. However, I agree to a large extent that YouTube has no ethics, that it has been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money.


Ethics are ‘the rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession’. The reason why I think YouTube has no ethics is because it has limited control over the contributors of the videos. Although there are cases whereby videos deemed extremely inappropriate are removed promptly, it is very difficult for YouTube to remove each and every such videos before they spread like wildfire among netizens.


It would be unfair to Youtube if we say it has been created for only two major purposes--for entertainment and money. Although it is true to a large extent that Youtube is a great form of entertainment to many, and an excellent source of revenue from advertisers due to the high viewership, it also serves as a convenient source for users to share useful information from all fields. For instance, a doctor in UK has posted videos on YouTube with nurses demonstrating how to sample blood sugar levels and use an inhaler. This is a case whereby educational and handy knowledge is conveyed to the audience.


However, there is one incident that strongly imposes upon us a very bad impression of YouTube. YouTube’s owner, Google had declined to remove a 44-second film showing graffiti over the Thai king's face. This film also shows a feet being placed over the Thai king's face - an offensive act to the Thais, who consider feet dirty. This issue led me into deep thoughts. Why does Google allow such a disrespectful video to be aired? Is it out to create something out of nothing? May I know of what use is the video to viewers?

The wide variety of funny, interesting, unique and unbelievable videos posted on Youtube provides a cheap source of entertainment (people only need to pay for internet and electricity charges) which in turn attracts millions of viewers daily. The founders of Youtube in turn get to earn lucrative incomes from advertisers that flock to them. Thus ,I agree to a large extent that “YouTube has no ethics, it's been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money.”