Descriptive Essay on YouTube as a Video-sharing Site

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Introduction

YouTube is a video-sharing site in the United States that allows users to upload, share, watch and comment on videos. YouTube was founded in February 2005 and acquired by Google in November 2006. YouTube is the most popular website in the world and is used by many users every day. YouTube has users all over the world, so the site’s languages include English, Portuguese, German, and dozens of other sounds. There are many kinds of YouTube videos, including music, education, cartoons, sports, and so on, which are uploaded by individuals or companies. YouTube can not only upload videos, but also make money from them, and when your videos attract a lot of users to watch, your subscription volume will continue to rise.

User experience

YouTube creates a unique and complete viewing experience tailored to the way users watch videos. Videos on YouTube are easy for users to find, view, and share through social software or e-mail. YouTube has three major advantages: a clean design, a powerful search engine, and an intelligent recommendation system. Whether you watch a video or upload a video, this experience is always intuitive and smooth, facilitating the creation of more videos and recommending videos to users through smart systems, allowing users to spend more time on the platform.

Easy to use

When we talk about YouTube, everyone knows it’s an easy-to-use video site. The site does not require complex operations and is suitable for people of all ages. YouTube has a wide range of videos, including education, music, cartoons, games, and so on. Users can easily find the videos they want to watch without spending much time.

Clear

Clarity is the most important element of user interface design (Fadeyev, 2009). The clarity in the user interface is great, however, the home page has too much information, is dazzling, or is too simple, there is no information to convey to users, and this is not good for the site. YouTube’s home page not only keeps it simple but also conveys a lot of information to users. The home page includes a search bar, recommended videos, user subscriptions to videos, and hot videos, making it easy for users to find the videos they want to watch, rather than spending too much time learning to use and find videos, after all, time is money.

Theme

YouTube not only has a classic white theme, but it also has a dark theme. When you use a dark theme, it turns your background black to give a more cinematic look. I think this is a great and humanized design because the emergence of dark themes can allow users to browse the site, and reduce eye fatigue. This theme is useful for users with eye problems to browse YouTube because some medical conditions (e,g. photophobia) are less aggravated by dark backgrounds.

Search bar

Each site has its search bar, and YouTube is no exception. When you search YouTube for the videos you want to watch, it will give you a lot of related videos, which may not be what you want to see, and you can use the filter button in the search bar. In search filters, it has five options: upload data, type, duration, features, and sort by. User can filter their videos in more detail, which takes time, but the results may be more accurate. This feature is not often used because YouTube has many videos, most of which are uploaded by users, so it is easy for users to find the videos they need.

Function bar

Let’s look at the YouTube function bar, which users can see by clicking on their avatars. The design of the function bar is simple, including managing accounts, selecting languages, switching themes, and seeding feedback. The design of the function bar is as simple as the home page so that it doesn’t take users much time to understand.

This is probably the biggest worry for YouTube users. There are many ads on the site, and every time a user watches a video, they must watch an ad first or include an ad in the video. It’s a bad user experience, and if users want to not look at any ads, they must spend money to become YouTube Premium.

Usability

YouTube can be used not only on computers but also on mobile phones and tablets. In Apple stores or Google stores, search YouTube, and users can download its APP. Users can watch videos on YouTube, regardless of where they are and what devices they use. YouTube also supports video downloads, allowing users to watch downloaded videos when they do not have a network or wireless network. As one of the main users of YouTube, students browse and upload many videos. Most students learn through YouTube. They will improve their studies or complete their homework by searching for relevant subject videos. Or share your academic knowledge through YouTube. For students, YouTube is usable, but for some users, they only watch videos they are interested in on YouTube, ignoring other functions. Perhaps for them, YouTube is also usable.

Social

If the most popular social software is Twitter and Facebook, YouTube must be the most popular video website today and it has users from all over the world. While you are watching the video, you can leave a message in the comments section of the video and post your view. Users can also see comments from other users and leave messages to share their ideas. Users can also upload homemade videos, share their shopping experiences, or how to cook, and so on. When other users watch your video, they give you comments or share it with others, which is a kind of communication. But the comments are not all good. Some of them are full of racial discrimination or verbal attacks, which people do not want to see, but not necessarily every user is a good person. There are always some people who leave unhappy comments after watching the video. They just want to vent their dissatisfaction and completely ignore the feelings of others. Because users come from all over the world, there are cultural differences. It is cultural differences that make the world richer and more colorful. However, some users do not respect other cultures and verbally attack users in other places. None of this is what we want to see, but it is happing. Since most of YouTube’s videos are produced and uploaded by individuals, some videos may contain vulgar or unhealthy content that will be disseminated. YouTube users also include children and young people, and if these videos are discovered by them, it is not conducive to their growth. YouTube needs to protect minors. Of course, some videos are pirated, which is bad for production companies.

Emotional aspects

YouTube always drives people’s emotions. Because there are all kinds of videos that make users feel happy or sad when user watching the video. As the largest video site, it always keeps pace with the times. In popular videos, many videos are about current affairs, because these videos always affect the feelings of users. For example, when a great man dies, users will feel sad. There will be a lot of videos about this great man on the platform. When people watch the videos, it conveys a variety of emotions to people. People will be happy about his past deeds, but also sad about his death. Or if a football team wins the championship, its fans must be happy by watching the video, but as fans of another football team will be unhappy, they will also feel sorry for their team. A video can bring different emotions to the user. If you are a loyal user of YouTube, you must know the TED channel. TED is a media organization that posts talks online for free distribution under the slogan ‘ideas worth spreading'(Wikipedia).

TED shares global knowledge; TED’s video brings confidence and hope. It encourages people to be better themselves disseminates valuable information and brings positive emotions to users.

Cognition

“Simple is the best.” Simple and easy are keys to website design success, but they are two if the most important foundational factor underlying a great user experience. The YouTube page doesn’t have too much text, but pictures match the text so that users don’t worry about too much text when they are looking for a video. They are enjoying the process of browsing the video. Instead of getting tired of seeing too much content on the home page. One of the advantages of YouTube is that it makes users understand what they see and makes them feel relaxed. So, YouTube has a lot of users, because it lets all users understand the truth, watch videos and search for videos, just open YouTube. YouTube has a powerful video recommendation function. Every time a user watches a video, the system will remember the user’s watching records and recommend relevant videos to the user. This saves the user’s time to a certain extent. Users will not spend too much time looking for videos and feel tired and sad. Instead, they have a lot of time to watch videos.

Conclusion

YouTube is by far the most successful video site; its success is not accidental. The design and function of the website are all for users to use the website more conveniently. YouTube believes that user experience is very important, so the website constantly updates its technology to better serve users. YouTube meets the needs of different ages, and people can always find what they want. On a serious note, YouTube is purely video sharing platform unlike other social media platforms, it is more professional and thus helps the public in day-to-day lives. Users make money by uploading videos and relying on ads in videos, and companies advertise themselves before popular videos. This is a win-win result, which is one of the reasons why YouTube is popular. Technology is also one of the reasons for YouTube’s success. As one of Google’s subsidiaries, its technology is constantly innovating. Because of a large number of research funds and resources, and the rapid development of the website, users can quickly experience new technology on the website and keep pace with the times.

References

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En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). TED (conference). [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_(conference) [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019].
R Khan, P. (n.d.). The Youtube Redesign That Got Me Hired. [online] Muzli – Design Inspiration. Available at: https://medium.muz.li/the-youtube-redesign-that-got-me-hired-982b237f77 [Accessed 5 Apr. 2019].
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