Is YouTube considered social media? What qualifies as a social networking site?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
YouTube is one of the most popular websites in the world. Launched in 2005, users can upload videos on their channel, including music videos, news clips, short films, vlogs, and more. Its other features such as stories, community posts, and YouTube Shorts make interactions between users much easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s figure out if YouTube is social media by first looking at what qualifies as social media and if YouTube shares any of these features. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
When answering if YouTube is considered social media, we need to understand what exactly qualifies as social media. We\u2019ll first look at the popular social media platforms as of 2022 and look at common features that they all share to determine if YouTube fits into these categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are just a few of the commonly used social media platforms, in no particular order:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The earliest social media websites<\/a> were LinkedIn, Friendster, and MySpace\u2014the latter two being eclipsed by Facebook when it became one of the most popular social websites in 2007. Initially, social media was used for connecting with friends and family\u2014or even people you had never met before\u2014through posts. Since Instagram\u2019s launch in 2010, sharing photos and videos have become popular ways of communicating with others and sharing your life online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of these social media platforms share similar features that make sharing and connecting easier than ever. Here are just a few:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under these criteria, YouTube is considered to be a social media platform\u2014even though it may appear to be more similar to a streaming service on the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why do some people question if YouTube is considered social media? YouTube is most known for being a video site where users can upload videos to their channels that everyone can see. On the surface, it seems like there is no connection or sharing involved with viewers. But YouTube has become much more than what creators Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim intended it to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many people\u2019s careers rely on uploading videos to the website\u2014those who upload regularly have been dubbed \u201cYouTubers.\u201d Some of these self-made entrepreneurs have even built empires by sharing videos and building audiences of millions, such as Rhett and Link (who own the entertainment company Mythical), MrBeast (a channel run by Jimmy Donaldson that has over 108 million subscribers as of October 2022), Smosh (a multi-million dollar channel turned company), and PewDiePie (a channel run by Felix Kjellberg that has over 110 million subscribers as of October 2022). All of these channels have one thing in common: their connections with their audiences, which is what social media is intended for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One way YouTubers show their gratitude for their subscribers is to give them a fanbase name, such as PewDiePie\u2019s \u201cBro Army\u201d and Rhett and Link\u2019s \u201cMythical Beasts.\u201d Being a part of this group, and being addressed as such in YouTube videos, gives fans a sense of belonging<\/a> and communal identity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is especially true for YouTubers who are \u201cvloggers,\u201d(video bloggers) who document their daily lives\u2014such as going to the grocery store or sitting at home. The concept of vlogging is very similar to uploading a picture on Instagram or Facebook. On Instagram, uploading a photo at a party tells followers what you\u2019ve been up to in your life. On YouTube, uploading a video of a party is doing the exact same thing. It\u2019s just a longer and more interactive form of doing so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Probably the most famous example of a vlogger is Casey Neistat, who vlogged his life for 534 days in a row, amassing a huge following. His vlogs sometimes show off extravagant adventures he\u2019s been on, such as taking a flight worth $21,000 in his most viewed video<\/a>. Other videos are much more personal, such as updating subscribers on his move from Los Angeles to New York City<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from uploading a video and talking to an audience on YouTube, there are other features that the video platform shares with the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Below, we\u2019ll look at the different features that YouTube has implemented on its website in the past few years to keep up with popular social media trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For years, YouTube was one of the only social websites that had a \u201cdislike\u201d button. The freedom of having a dislike button expressed how much audiences disliked certain videos\u2014mostly music videos. For instance, some of the most disliked videos on YouTube were music videos featuring Justin Bieber, a pop singer that has received criticism over the years for various reasons. Another historically disliked video is \u201cFriday\u201d by Rebecca Black, who was bullied on the platform for years following the song\u2019s release which was dubbed \u201cthe worst song ever.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This all changed when YouTube removed the ability to see how many dislikes a video has in 2021 (YouTube still has a dislike button, but the number of dislikes is hidden). The public dislike count encouraged negativity and even cyberbullying, which there is enough of on social media already. The idea is that if no one can see the number of dislikes, then they aren\u2019t encouraged to follow the trend of disliking something just because everyone else is. However, the decision to hide public dislikes has received backlash from smaller creators<\/a> who feel targeted by higher corporates at YouTube who favor bigger channels with important brand deals. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki responded<\/a> to the criticism saying the only intention behind removing public dislikes is to lessen the chance of creators receiving harmful \u201cattacks\u201d that are unwarranted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can still dislike videos, but it falls in line with how other social media platforms handle their \u201cliking\u201d feature. On Twitter and Instagram, you can only \u201cheart\u201d a post and it eliminates the choice of sharing your distaste for something on the website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Videos aren\u2019t the only way to engage with people on YouTube anymore. With community posts, YouTubers can write a text post to share their thoughts on certain events, direct subscribers to videos, or just say \u201cHi\u201d to subscribers. Community posts can also include polls, GIFs, images, and short videos<\/a>. Sound familiar? It\u2019s because tweets on Twitter can basically do the same thing. The only downside to YouTube\u2019s community posts is that a channel must have over 500 subscribers to gain access to the Community tab, which restricts smaller channels from engaging with their followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most recently, YouTube launched @handles<\/a> to drive traffic to users and easily identify channels. The handle is unique to your channel, unlike channel names which can be duplicated. This feature also makes it much easier to tag channels in comments and posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A feature used by creators more recently is \u201cShorts.\u201d Like TikTok videos and Instagram\u2019s \u201cReels,\u201d creators can upload videos to YouTube that are 60 seconds or less. The Shorts are often snippets from a creator\u2019s newest video. YouTube Shorts have their own dedicated section that viewers can easily click on if they\u2019re not in the mood for longer videos. Uploading clips from longer videos drives more traffic to the channel and to the longer videos, and are easier to share because they rarely need to be edited like a longer YouTube video would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n YouTube Shorts are undoubtedly influenced by TikTok\u2019s popularity, which thrives on short-form content. They get to the point<\/a> quickly and answer the questions, \u201cWhy should you watch my video?\u201d or \u201cWhy should you subscribe to my channel?\u201d It\u2019s a smart way of hopping on trends to stay relevant and connect to subscribers easily. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While many YouTubers today are still as popular as they were a decade ago, they have to keep up with other social media trends to stay relevant. Many YouTubers from the early-to-mid 2010s generation are also burnt out from making regular long-form content. With Shorts, they have a compromising solution that will help them stay relevant with the new generation of social network users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another form of entertainment on YouTube that\u2019s used to connect with audiences is YouTube Stories<\/a>. First appearing as \u201cYouTube Reels\u201d on the platform, Stories are shortened videos that only channels with over 10,000 subscribers can create. They expire after seven days, rather than the widely-used 24-hour span.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stories act as the most social media-friendly feature to date on YouTube. Viewers can directly comment on the video, to which the uploader can respond with a photo or video that anyone on the platform can see. Additionally, a thumbs up, thumbs down, and heart feature is available if viewers want to give a quick reaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do YouTube Stories compare to other popular social media stories? The biggest difference is that Instagram and Snapchat\u2019s stories disappear after 24 hours, versus YouTube Stories\u2019 span of seven days. But one way they are similar is that you can easily find a channel\u2019s story through your personal subscription feed, that way you won\u2019t miss what your favorite YouTuber is posting about. Instagram and Snapchat are also known for their fun filters and the ability to \u201ctag\u201d other creators\u2014which YouTube has adopted as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the biggest questions YouTubers often receive is how much money they earn making YouTube videos. In 2007, YouTube launched its Partner Program (YPP) which allows creators to earn revenue through advertising. In recent years, the restrictions of the program have been criticized for its monetization qualifications, but many people still rely on the program as their main source of income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That being said, does earning money on YouTube take away from the connection creators build with their audiences? If so, is YouTube just a company people make money off of, or is it still a social media site that focuses more on sharing than building financial partnerships? Many people question if YouTubers are really just in it for the money or if they truly care about sharing their lives and connecting with subscribers. But if we look at how other social media platforms deal with financial partnerships, we can see that having a profitable YouTube career doesn\u2019t change the fact that it\u2019s still considered social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n YouTube is arguably one of the first\u2014if not the<\/em> first\u2014platforms that allowed people to make money on social media. Over time, other social media platforms hopped on the trend and allowed their users to do the same. TikTok has a creator fund program<\/a> that allows users to receive funds based on their videos\u2019 performances and is the social media site with the most opportunities<\/a> to make money, according to many influencers. Instagram influencers don\u2019t directly receive money from Instagram but have built a reputation on the photo-sharing platform to become brand ambassadors for a company. LinkedIn is the go-to website for making business decisions that will ultimately land you more revenue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Essentially, social media isn\u2019t just about sharing for the fun of it these days. Many people use these platforms to share their personalities and businesses to make money. Just because YouTube was one of the first websites that formed partnerships for monetization purposes doesn\u2019t make it any less of a social media platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given everything we\u2019ve examined about YouTube\u2019s features, is YouTube considered social media? Yes, YouTube is considered to be a social media platform. Many websites that list the most popular social media platforms often list YouTube in their rankings, to which the video site appears as the second most popular behind Facebook. Additionally, YouTube shares many of the features that are common across other social media platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n YouTube is a platform that was created for people to engage with each other. It\u2019s the essence of what social networking is all about, and YouTube is one of the biggest representations of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\nConnecting With People on YouTube<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Other Social Media Features on YouTube<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Likes (and Dislikes)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Community Posts & Handles<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
YouTube Shorts<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
YouTube Stories<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Making Money on YouTube<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why YouTube Is Social Media<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n