Videocracy: How YouTube Is Changing the World…with Double Rainbows, Singing Foxes, and Other Trends We Can't Stop Watching

Allocca (head of culture & trends, YouTube) examines the role of the user in this analysis of the internationally popular video-sharing site. Behaviors of uploading content, liking, commenting, and sharing are the biggest contributors to what is popular and what goes viral (not necessarily the same thing) online. Beyond simple metrics of likes and shares, Allocca also delves into how we form and reinforce community identities around the content, as well as how online video-sharing has changed several industries, including popular music and advertising. Cultural phenomena such as remixing and memes, political implications of wide distribution of cell phone citizen journalism, and the surfacing of previously isolated subpopulations are explored in light of a global, grass-roots, interconnected technology platform. What is missing is much insider information about the business side of YouTube, or how its own practices affect user behavior, whether through placement, site design, algorithms, advertising revenue, or censorship. Readers will likely enjoy revisiting their favorite quirky, emotional, or viral videos used as examples.