Although most of us have viewed more than our fair share of cat and baby videos, and although there might be other video sharing sites that might be considered better or more sophisticated than YouTube, its impact ought not to be underestimated. Below are three ways in which YouTube has changed the world.<\/p>\n

Individuals to become content creators<\/h3>\n

YouTube, like blogs and social networking sites, exist because of Web 2.0, which focusses on user-generated content, usability, and interoperability of websites. As a result, YouTube has become another avenue for individual self-expression. Each account holder can have his\/her own channel and can upload video clips, which can be made public and searchable by others, and similar to having followers, persons can subscribe to the channel thus creating a social network.<\/p>\n

Supports education, information sharing and capacity building<\/h3>\n

With over 300 hours of video being uploaded every minute, a broad range of content is available on YouTube. From a learning perspective, the videos range from material to support formal academic courses, to amateur how-to videos, reviews and discussions.<\/p>\n

Essentially, YouTube has become a powerful learning resource, which is being used increasingly in the classroom \u2013 from kindergarten through to high school. Further, recognising that today\u2019s children appear to learn more by visual stimulation; the growing emphasis on using ICT in the classroom; and school budgets are being cut, the learning experience is still being enhanced by schools accessing YouTube videos on a range of classroom-friendly subjects.<\/p>\n