YouTube and Prosumption

Now that Zeitgeist is over, I've been looped in to help at Google's largest event of the year - the Creative Sandbox and YouTube Zones at Cannes Lions Festival in France. It sounds like an amazing event and I'm still learning about each aspect. I'm currently working on some of the creative content for the YouTube Booth. Pictured to the left, the idea is for visitors to recreate a famous ad which will be uploaded to YouTube.

Working with the YouTube team has been really interesting and has got me thinking about the idea of prosumption and the produser. Theorists including Alvin Toeffler (1990), Mark Deuze (2002), Jan Van Dijk (2006) and Henry Jenkins (2006) have spoken extensively about convergence culture and the blurring lines between those who produce and those who consume. Deuze argues that the relationship between the media producer and consumer has changed along with the structure of firms and the content of communication. We can see this structural change in the very fact that Google has acquired YouTube. This represents the trend towards media convergence - the merging of two media giants has had a major impact in the industry.

Nowhere is this argument more evident than in the case of YouTube - the entire idea behind YouTube is to allow the consumer to become the producer. There is no hierarchy on YouTube. Anyone with the ability to hold a camera or use a laptop can post a video which can be seen by millions of people. However, I would argue that YouTube takes this a step further by allowing for video interaction and discussions - fostering creativity and open communication amongst consumers and creators. Although social networking sites allow this as well, YouTube is home to the videos that are discussed on places like Facebook and Twitter. No one is posting Facebook status updates onto YouTube - it is the other way around. I believe this is due to the great creativity that goes into these videos and the strength of visual aspects over written words.

Either way, we can see that the interactivity and freedom allowed for by YouTube is creating what Toeffler calls 'Prosumption' - production and consumption blurring into one entity - and I would argue that YouTube is one of the best platforms for producers to consume and consumers to produce.