Essay topic: “YouTube and Viral Videos”

Kateřina Macourková, 1.G.

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1. Introduction

This essay is about a very successful online video-sharing platform called YouTube,

which was founded and created in February 2005, California. This platform was bought

by Google in 2006 and now operates as one of its subsidiaries. My first experience with

this platform was approximately ten years ago, following my favourite so called

celebrities.

2. Essay sentences

2.1. Topic sentence 1: How much time do you spend watching videos on YouTube?

Which types of videos do you watch? Which videos do you avoid? Why?

I’m not really a YouTube person actually, so I spend there about 2 hours a week. Usually

I look on videos, when I really need something. By that I mean recipes, tips and tricks,

“DIYs” and “HOW TO” videos. When I’m with my friends we also like to watch funny

videos, like pranks or fails. The videos I really try to avoid are sports (because I‘m not

really an athletic person) and clickbait videos. I found these quite annoying, because in

the name of the video is something interesting, so people would look at it, but it

doesn’t even have to be on the video and for me, these are just a waste of time.

2.2. Topic sentence 2: What do you think of the popularity of the videos presented in

the talk?

In the Talk video, that we watched in our class, we could see the way how videos from

the past can go viral. I think, that it‘s really cool that, when you upload a video, which

wasn’t really successful at first can go from the bottom to the top even after years of its

publishing. I also find that really awesome, that the fame of your video can come

anytime and not just right after you uploaded it.

 2.3. Topic sentence 3: Can you think of any other videos which have gone viral in your

country? How do you think they became popular?

In the previous question we mentioned the Ted talk video, which can be very beneficial

and educational for its watchers. Unfortunately this was not the case in Czech republic,

where one really stupid and funny song by an eight year old boy called „Misha“ with his

“MINECRAFT SONG” went viral. It was all around the world after just one day! Even the

most popular YouTuber “Pewdiepie” have listened to it on livestream, where it gained

the most of its fame. On the other and positive side I would like to mention another

video that went viral just a few days ago. The video called “How to significantly slow

Coronavirus” by Czech movement called “Masks4All” spreads worldwide and has

millions of views and counting. This video helps to spread a very important message all

around the world and many people from abroad share this video (governments,

celebrities, influencers and others).

2.4. Topic sentence 4: How easy do you think it is to become a YouTube star?

I think the key ingredient to become a YouTube famous is to create a CONTENT. It can

be funny, shocking, prank, educational, song, parody, pets or anything that attracts

attention. I mentioned the boy “Misha”. That’s actually one of the ways to get a video go

viral. By someone famous sharing it with their fans. The fame of this song have got

“Misha” really famous, so he created many other songs. He was kind of a YouTube star

for a while, which was really easy to accomplish with those videos. His tactics were just to

make people laugh, which he was really good at. And that’s the easiest way to get

famous I think, to be funny! People like to laugh, so they will watch it, right? So if you

would ever wanted to become famous on YouTube, you should be funny, interesting,

original and authentic. I think there is no other way a big amount of people will watch

you, if you bore them, or have a good connections to promote you. Another way to get

views is to promote your own videos through paid advertising. So these are my tip on

how to become a YouTube star.

3. Conclusion

YouTube provides many ways how to entertain, educate or giving away tips and “DIYs”.

You can also use this platform to start your business for future, you can become famous

or unforgettable (in many ways). The key is to search for good-quality content. Since the

fake news became phenomenon I try to use critical thinking while searching. It applies

not only on YouTube, but also for the whole Internet.

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