YouTube-A Double-Edged Sword

Youtube have come to stay. People have to accept that fact. Its influence is accelerating at an amazing rate, its users are many and its audience can be found in every corner of the earth where a computer and a mouse can be found. Any public relations officer or marketer who cares about staying in business or at least being competitive and getting his/ her organization out there better get on board.

Its followers are more like disciples-ardent supporters and users who sometimes leave their screens only to go to the bathroom. That sounds like an exaggeration but it is close to the truth. Young adults from the ages of 16-34 are its users. Because of its popularity and wide audience, Youtube has become the most inexpensive and widely view social network video, commanding millions in following. Its influence however, can be for good or ill. "Internet video is a powerful medium. It can make regular Joes and Janes into instant celebrities or at least drive headlines for a news cycle or two. Remember the high school student who called the school superintendent to ask why school hadn’t been cancelled on a snowy day and got a tongue lashing by the superintendent’s wife? The audio tape went viral on the Internet and the student’s story was covered by every morning news program the next day. Or take the music group OK Go, whose YouTube video in which they performed a song on treadmills led to a radio hit? And of course there’s the Obama Girl"(Kristen Fyfe, 2008 ), and if i may add the McCain Girl!

So, can public relations people use the medium to promote their organizations?. By the click of the mouse millions of people all over the world can flock to your website after they've watched an amazing video about who are you and what you do. In the same vein, a stupid or unintentional mistake can send the image of your organization into the gutter.

In conclusion, Youtube as a video sharing tool can be a double-edge sword, "While Internet videosharing clearly has the power to benefit society and inspire good, like Pausch’s “Last Lecture,” the flip side is also true. In the quest for celebrity some people will go to disgusting lengths, like beating someone senseless, to use YouTube to promote themselves." (Fyfe,2008)