A review for July- Broadcast Yourself

If you’re old enough to type on a computer, you know that the motto of YouTube is (or was) Broadcast Yourself.

Now, I had confliction of the wording of this motto and it’s the central conflict that all YouTuber and YouTube face.

Broadcast feels very business to me. Broadcast implies an audience, a distribution method and marketing. You’re trying to sell something, like a idea or a thought. The word feels very commercial as to say record or show or speak. The little search of thesaurus confirms my leanings.

Contrast to Yourself. When people say myself instead of just me, I give the sense of ‘true’ me, rather just the outside husk of me. You are a collection of items,we seem to think, and Your-self seems to be part of you that is the self or the core of you. Your true feeling and personality, not what you show on strangers.

With the combined meaning, the sentiment is quite like slavery. Sell out! Let your true being be a commodity to be traded around. It’s quite distasteful when you think about it.

However, the two word gives the contrast of what YouTube is trying to do. Making money by making a platform. Now what to make of that platform... well there’s two ways.

During the Vsauce rundown, I commented Michael’s thought that the feed on your channel was akin to a curator of a museum. Museum is known to open to expression. In the 70’s and the 80’s, when artist became subversive, museum was open to the idea! They showcased plenty of exhibition to embarrass themselves. To me, museum is symbol of freedom and expression.

Compared to what people say nowadays. People talk about the corporatization of YouTube and they act like a company. I like to think as a marketing agency, selling ads and selling people as ads. They try to commercialize everything and tries to make things enticing, rather than evoking.

Eventually, we realize the duality. Sure, we have to make money but we want to express, too. It’s something all media has faced and YouTube is certainly not the exception. So, I want to know. Do you think YouTube should be a museum or a ‘marketing’? Leave your feelings down below and come back for tomorrow for more discussion! Thank you.