Substance over presentation (expanded)

As stated in the video you've come from, I've been receiving recommendations from smaller YouTubers talking about their life experiences or giving advice on their expertise. This attracted me to revive the format I took part in 2014, which is talking about culture on the internet or mundane things in life.

It's a breath of fresh air to see this form of content being sent to my feed. YouTube has turned into a newer form of monetizable media. The content over the years have increased in production value as technology advanced. You can collect prosumer gear and start a new YouTube channel/social media page. The issue that most people have when acquiring this new gear is how to make it look professional. The people who aren't established will take this route of making everything look good and sinking cost into a crew. This will eventually lead to a burnout and equipment collecting dust.

Channels that are established and gained high traction will become complacent and lose soul in their content. YouTube has been a meritocracy ever since it launched, so channels that have the high production quality will overtop people who use the site other than a search engine. The tagline "Broadcast Yourself" has dropped for a very long time and the genuine YouTuber just filming themselves for fun is no longer rewarded. Nowadays, it's all about how to rank high on the search engine and participating in the game.

When I was growing up with YouTube in 2007, the channels I would watch never really beefed with each other or gossiped about one another. Don't get me wrong, it can be entertaining at times, but you eventually get tired of that kind of content. Channels that I would watch in 2007 are Ryan Higa and his buddy Sean with their skits and parkour content. Another one is this one music producer named Arsha Asteraki; his content would be ranging from how to make beats in FL Studio to early forms of vlogging. Ray William Johnson was also another channel I would watch where it would involve pushing genuine people on YouTube or one hit viral videos. Ray's videos definitely had community involvement. Even his NYC and Los Angeles Vlog Series (Breaking NYC/Los Angeles) would be a lot more entertaining and you would see his creative process.

Nostalgia glasses set aside, YouTube is going through a renaissance with Neal Mohan pushing smaller channels to the forefront (if the viewer is interested) and short form content. I have a belief that the "broadcast yourself" moniker is starting to come up on the horizon in 2024. I will remain optimistic for a newer generation of people to share wisdom during the hard times of the 21st century. The age of information is rapidly growing at an exponential rate; and catching up will take more effort than previously curated information in traditional media.

There was this pipe dream of mine where I used to say to my friends "In a perfect world, there would be a YouTube that feels like 2007 with 2020+ technology." If you had an internet connection before it became a necessity in today's age, you would remember how quality is very low and you couldn't upload over a certain file size/length. Even the maximum standard back in the day was 640x480p at 29.97 frames per second. HD would be implemented in the 2010s as digital cameras advance in quality and has become more accessible to people who have a passion for videography. What I mean by feeling like 2007; I mean the culture of the internet at the time. The culture was a little less restricted, but people did get along with each other. I wish I logged my old YouTube DMs (yes, they did have an inbox/friending system at the time), because even with me openly admitting to being a kid on the site, people would be cordial with me in contact. There was a form of mutual respect between myself and another person miles away. You felt more involved in the community. Heck, even the video responses were respectful (at least the ones that had any relevance) if there were some form of contentious topics going on in any YouTube community. I remember channels like therealweeklynews (who was known for fighting on the forefront for internet privacy, keeping personal information of YouTube users away from the Viacom lawsuit of 2008) who was very adamant of having his viewers more involved in the comments section and video responses.

I know I've steered away from talking about genuine content on YouTube, but that's where the passion comes from. Remembering how the site was in my heyday brings context to how I feel about modern day YouTube 17 years later, after first joining the website. But, that's just my thoughts.