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YouTube is the video star

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 03 Jun 2015
Internet sensation "Grumpy Cat" was one of the only two cats to feature in the video celebrating YouTube's tenth birthday. (Picture: Gage Skidmore)
Internet sensation "Grumpy Cat" was one of the only two cats to feature in the video celebrating YouTube's tenth birthday. (Picture: Gage Skidmore)

Popular video sharing site YouTube is 10 years old this year and celebrated the milestone by releasing The A-Z of YouTube.

The video compilation makes more than 75 references to popular videos shared on the site and wraps them together using 18 filmmaking styles, in a montage that lasts less than three minutes.

YouTube described its video as: "From the silly to the profound, from the personal to the political, we're celebrating a decade of your creativity and self-expression, and through the video, tried to capture some of the richness and variety of YouTube from the last decade."

The video starts off with A for animals, featuring only two cats (one of which is the famous Grumpy Cat). It then goes on to B for beauty, referencing the millions of make-up, hair and beauty-at-home tutorials spread across the platform. C is for covers: musical covers of famous songs that sometimes get more views than the original - as was the case with the cover of "Sail" by Awolnation. The list goes through the alphabet, and highlights include South Africa's very own YouTube star Casper Lee and the Old Spice advert.

G is given over solely to Korean rapper Psy and his music video, Gangnam Style, which is still the most viewed video on the site at more than two billion views. The next most viewed music video is "Baby" by Justin Bieber, with only 1.1 billion views, and then Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, each with just under a billion.

Mike Sharman, founder of digital agency Retroviral, says YouTube is a true democratic platform allowing remarkable content to rise to the top, no matter the video's quality or budget. So a short home video, like Charlie bit my finger, has the potential to go viral, he says.

"Like many other platforms, the potential was completely unknown in the beginning. For example, the first YouTube video was 'Me at the Zoo' posted by one of the founders; a mundane and basic self-broadcast. The platform has now evolved to such an extent that if most of our generation don't know how to do something, they will more than likely Google a how-to video on YouTube."

Last year, it was reported that more than 4.5 million South Africans visit YouTube every month, making it one of the most frequently visited Web sites among local Internet users.

According to YouTube statistics, there are more than a billion people worldwide who make use of the video platform, 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute, and the number of hours people spend on YouTube each month goes up by 50% every year.

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