YouTube Is My Friend

   I love YouTube. I really do. Oh, it has its faults, but far more than any other social media, this is my favorite. But why? you say. I'll tell you.
   YouTube is the only social media that doesn't require you to be social.
   On YouTube, you can browse and search and watch to your hearts content, and though you will leave a trace if you watch, you can block your feed (the record of what you do) from everyone else. There are also only two options for your uploads and playlists: public or private. You can share your channel address with whom you like and they can watch the private uploads/playlists, but the public is closed to it.
   There is a lot of material available, from homemade to professional, webcams to complete theatrical releases. Of course, there are lots of copyright violations, too.
   Lots of people are uploading movies, TV shows, music videos and audio recordings that are illegal, but it is this material that I like to watch more than any other because it is a chance to watch stuff that has no official version in print or ever released at all in any format (videotape, Laserdisc, DVD). I've had a chance to finally see some things that I've been waiting a long time to see. The downside is that if you don't watch it quickly, it may be removed, either by the channel owner or YouTube itself including removing the entire channel, too.
   Of course, not all is under threat of copyright violation.
   Type in a subject and a list comes up of videos, sometimes hundreds, all homemade. The usual suspects are there: America's Funniest Home Videos-style humor, webcam video blogs, vacations and family documentation. But also movie, TV and game reviews, school projects and displays of talent, great and poor.
   Lots of professional videos are uploaded like the Funny or Die and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, an award-winning series of videos. News items are also uploaded and even live-streamed, such as the just-past presidential debates. Just about every broadcast and cable channel has a YouTube channel with often exclusive material available only online. Of course, that is only a supplement to their actual owned websites. Lots a companies do the same: Marvel has a weekly showcase for upcoming projects called the Watcher that has its own host. They also post trailers for projects and even older TV shows that you can compile for yourself.
   Even the movie companies are posting fee-based entries as movie rental downloads (haven't done one of those yet, still lots to see for free).
   There are browsing choices based on channels, topics and trends, such as popularity.
   There are all kinds of developer tools to help spread/advertise your videos.
   If you are video-oriented, this is the place to be.
   Are there negatives involving YouTube? Yes there are.
   The biggest, I feel, is in the playback itself. The controls are really old school. No speed control. No reverse control. No frame by frame. No ability to enter a specific time to jump ahead. Sure, you can arrow around on the timeline, but the control depends on your controller. I use a laptop with a built-in touch pad and I am still not its master 100%, so sometimes a short video will end before I can find my spot on the line.
   I don't like all of the ads that appear on screen. There is a telltale yellow to indicate when the popups will start, but others just start when the video connection is made. Luckily, mute is always an option when you can't skip it.
   The algorithms that make the side recommendations could really use some tweaking. If I just watched a video, there it is wasting valuable space that could be offering something else. And if I have a video already in a playlist, why does it not get knocked out of the recommends, too? Perhaps it is a function of protecting our privacy, but it sure is annoying to page down a list and find nothing but videos you previously compiled.
   Finally, this is one of the few social media sites that lets you hide your identity from the public. It's just that so many of the names are silly or nonsensical. I know, a quibble, really, but still too many that don't explain your channel or video choices. And sometimes the likes and favorites are at odds with what is uploaded. Keep with a theme, folks.
   In conclusion, YouTube is the best out there even if it could be better in some ways.