I’m not sure what my favourite statistic is about YouTube. It could be, as we learnt today, that two billion videos are viewed every day. Or maybe it is the fact that this means that every minute we collectively upload 24 hours worth of video content to the site. Or that these videos mean that every 60 days more content is created on YouTube than has been aired in 60 years of programming on the main three US TV networks.
Or maybe it’s the fact that 3 million people are sharing videos automatically through other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and that each time a video is shared seven new people see it.
All of these statistics tell us one thing clearly. In the five years since YouTube launched we have all become used to creating, sharing, viewing, commenting on and rating videos online. Video is a great way of conveying information, ideas and emotions and can be a very engaging medium. It can be the best way off expressing a complex idea and helps effective engagement, establishing a connection between the people on the video and the people viewing it. Production quality matters less than content and passion. And perhaps of most importance is the ability to share the content.
Video is one of the most versatile of all social media tools and enhances any online community. And with the increased penetration of handheld cameras that will easily upload content online we will see even more content created.
If these statistics are impressive (and they are) they will only get more so. As the video below shows, a lot has happened in the first five years of YouTube. The next five years promise to be just as exciting. And I suspect my favourite statistic is yet to come.
Image by Rego – twitter.com/w3bdesign via Flickr
http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2010/05/whats-your-favourite-youtube-statistic/
