As The World Watches...Online

On Youtube's homepage there is the usual Videos being watched now, their promoted videos and youtube's featured videos. The featured videos are usually the most popular or relevant videos at the time. On this special day there is no surprise that the featured video is of Obama's Inauguration, a 20 minute video that takes you through the main event of occasion. The owners of Youtube felt this day should not just be a look at our future in Barack Obama, but it should be a day to remember the history that has been made on this day in years past. Along with Obama's inauguration, youtube has added inaugurations dating back to Franklin D. Roosevelt's inauguration in 1933 to the list of featured videos. (Video from C-SPAN) This is a good idea by youTube to show the past inaugurations because it allows us all to compare and see how this country has indeed changed throughout the past century. You get to all the promises made by former presidents and by watching the video of the following president you will gain an understanding of that president had accomplished. YouTube is probably the only place you would find these videos today. Most places will only carry today's inauguration and related videos. It provides some diversity for the viewer. The one problem is that the old inauguration videos take up most of the homepage, making it a bit more unclear where to find videos related to today's inauguration.

Also on the homepage of YouTube there is a video advertisement called Refesh Everything. This advertisement contains celebrities (Eva Longoria, Will.I.Am, Jeff Gordon, Kenan Thompson and more) and they congratulate Obama on his victory and wish him luck. The purpose of the advertisement is to give people to post videos of what they want changed or not changed during Obama's Presidency. It is called an Open Letter where people can talk about what they want. This is a great idea by the creaters of Refresh Everything, which is pepsi. It takes advantage of our advancing technology and resources in the world. These videos can be created and upload by anyone and can be viewed by anyone in the world, including our government. The major factor on how successful this will be is how the public will use this opportunity, which many haven't had in the past. After watching a couple of them it doesn't seem this opportunity hasn't reached its full potential. There were a couple where people talked about what they wanted changed in the government, but then there were a lot that were about personal ideas that would provide no important change in our nation. There was one where a guy asked Obama to bring back A-tracks. I feel thats sort of a waste of time having to watch that when you are expecting to see someone talk about how to make our lives better.

At the top of the homepage contains the Videos being watched now section. As the list of 5 videos cycle through different videos I noticed that about 1 out of the 5 videos shown at a time is related to the inauguration. I know this probably doesn't truly portray the percentage watching the inauguration coverage, but 20% is still a fairly small number. This percentage just goes to show that the world does not revolve around the United States. The majority of the populations around the world don't find our inauguration that important. Or they watch it on television, but the time difference would lead us to believe that the would watch it in person. The rest of the people just follow their usual lives and watch their usual videos: music videos, spoofs, comedies, etc.

After looking through tens of videos I noticed that almost all the videos were only of Obama taking the oath and/or making his speech. There was not much about anyone else introduced or even our new Vice-President Joe Biden. If you wanted to see Biden sworn in you would have to search it yourself. You would think he would have at least one video on the homepage, but he did not. Instead you had videos of now Ex-President Bush getting booed practically off stage. Some may say he deserves that, but still it was a bit harsh and probably embarrassing for him. From being there the crowd really wasn't too happy with him and felt no remorse. Some of the titles I saw on some of the videos also imply that they didnt have much remorse either. Other videos appearing were videos of Obama campaigning and the AP's coverage of the inauguration ceremonies. There were even some videos that had nothing to do with the inauguration, and were kind of random. There is this town in Japan called Obama. Rightfully so, they used that to their advantage and stocked up on Obama merchandise. There are other videos that show you around D.C. and pretty much sell the place and show what the city is like other and the government. This Inauguration has allowed others to use it to build up their own publicity all around the world.

The most diverse and informative part of youtube would be the comments left on videos. They show what the public thinks and how they respond to others. The main Inauguration video has been up for almost twelve and there is already 900,000 views and over 18,000 comments. Clearly people have something to say. The discussions varied through several topics and came from various people. There were several comments by international viewers. They wished Obama the best of luck and are glad he won. Not only are Americans looking for change but others that watch us from the outside see that we need one. It is always helpful to know what others think about us, it can only make us better. There were many arguments about how Bush was treated at the event. Some defended the Ex-President and believe he didn't do terrible with the circumstances he had to deal with. Some were respectful of these people and thought it good that they stand behind their beliefs. However, others didn't feel the same way and completely based them and Bush. Another major argument was over whether Obama should be considered 'black'. People said if you're half you're black, thats the American belief. Others argued that his Presidency is not so important because he is half Caucasian. It became some war of a racial war where people were calling others racist. More importantly, people congratulated Obama with his win and are hoping for a change. Now that the dream has come true, the world will change.

YouTube has become a prime way to communicate thoughts throughout not only this inauguration but in everything. The comments from that one video show how diverse people are and how they think. The was a war of words. YouTube can't control what people say or do, they just allow them to do what they like. That is a good thing because we can now see clearly everything. YouTube isn't responsible for the communication between two people. YouTube tries to broadcast as much footage and from different aspects. In this Inauguration they were up and accessible for everyone to catch a glimpse of history. For those who couldn't be there in person they rely on these sources to keep them up to date on the important events during the ceremony.