Social Impact of You Tube - Internet Celebrities and The Breaking of Boundaries

Internet Celebrities and The Breaking of Boundaries

YouTube's popularity has led to the creation of many YouTube Internet celebrities, popular individuals who have attracted much publicity in their home countries (and sometimes world renown) due to their videos. The most subscribed YouTube member, as of January 2013, is Smosh with over 6.773 million subscribers. On November 24, 2012, Psy's video "Gangnam Style" became the most viewed video of all time on YouTube, with over one billion views. The previous video to hold this title was Justin Bieber's video "Baby". For some users, fame has led to unexpected results and, in some cases, crossovers into traditional media or entertainment avenues. Former receptionist Brooke Brodack (Brookers) from Connecticut was signed by NBC's Carson Daly for an 18-month development contract in June 2006; Brodack was among the first individuals to transition into mainstream media through YouTube. Another discovery was the uncovered fictitious blog of lonelygirl15, now known to be the creation of New Zealand actress Jessica Rose and some film directors. In 2007, a Dutch vocalist and songwriter named Esmée Denters (esmeedenters) was signed to a recording contract by Billy Mann based on her YouTube performances. Another YouTube singer, 15 year-old Savannah Outen, was signed to Levosia Entertainment after posting videos of herself singing on the site. Also, Canadian singer Justin Bieber (Kidrauhl) was discovered through YouTube and signed a record deal with Usher.

On January 31, 2007, Fox announced that Lisa Donovan (LisaNova) would appear as a cast member during the 12th season of its sketch comedy show MADtv. Terra Naomi (terranaomi) has been signed with Island Records, a division of the Universal Music Group, one of the Big Four record labels. Brandon Hardesty (ArtieTSMITW), known for a popular reenactment series among his work, appeared in a GEICO television commercial running nationally in the U.S. and it consists mostly of a segment taken from his Strange Faces and Noises I Can Make III video. Brandon has also been contracted by an agent and was hired for a role in the independent film, Bart Got a Room.

Ysabella Brave (ysabellabrave and ysabellabravetalk) announced in two videos on June 3, 2007, in connection with a Los Angeles Times feature article about her on the same day, that she has been signed by Cordless Recordings, a division of the Warner Music Group, also one of the four major records labels. TheReceptionist announced in a video on July 9, 2007 that he will be providing content for Comedy Central's website.

Cory Williams (aka Mr. Safety of smpfilms) is the host of the first national television show to spawn from video bloggers. It's a "best of the net" type show called The FIZZ on DirecTV channel 101 in the United States. The show has been on air since September 2006 and features other popular YouTubers such as boh3m3, TheWineKone, Kevin Nalty, TheHill88, and many others. Williams has also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, MTV Scarred, as well as a few popular music videos (Bloodhound Gang and Against Me! being two of the bands).

Pat Condell's videos attracted the attention of Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion. Subsequently, 35 of his videos were published to DVD, which was sold on Dawkins' website and Amazon.com.

Damien Rice invited Amy Kuney to perform with him at two shows in Iceland after he saw her YouTube cover of his song "The Blower's Daughter" in July 2008.

Before the launch of YouTube in 2005, there were few easy methods available for ordinary computer users who wanted to post videos online. With its simple interface, YouTube made it possible for anyone with an Internet connection to post a video that a worldwide audience could watch within a few minutes. The wide range of topics covered by YouTube has turned video sharing into one of the most important parts of Internet culture.

An early example of the social impact of YouTube was the success of The Bus Uncle video in 2006. It shows a heated conversation between a youth and an older man on a bus in Hong Kong, and was discussed widely in the mainstream media. Another YouTube video to receive extensive coverage is guitar, which features a performance of Pachelbel's Canon on an electric guitar. The name of the performer is not given in the video. After it received millions of views The New York Times revealed the identity of the guitarist as Lim Jeong-hyun, a 23-year-old from South Korea who had recorded the track in his bedroom.

Charlie Bit My Finger is a viral video and has received the most views of any user generated YouTube video. It has over 485 million hits as of October 2012. The clip features two English brothers, with one-year-old Charlie biting the finger of his brother Harry, aged three. In Time's list of YouTube's 50 greatest viral videos of all time, "Charlie Bit My Finger" was ranked at number one. A speech by Zach Wahls in support of gay marriage went viral, and ended up as the most watched political video in 2011.

On July 15, 2012, a Korean rapper, PSY (officialpsy) uploaded a video called Gangnam Style. It soon hit the charts on YouTube and now has over 1 billion views as of December 2012.