OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Symbolic Frame Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the symbolic frame
2. Apply the symbolic frame to your personal case situation

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

YouTube is going through a drastic change in their operations due to poor policy
implementation, copyright law changes and how YouTube is handling these issues
specifically, and competition from other video hosting sites. Google has taken YouTube
from 1.8 billion users daily to an all time low of 1.2 billion user daily. Which is a revenue
loss of nearly 33%, just barely enough to keep YouTube operating as the dominating
force in the market. I am taking an analyst roll within this organization in order to
discover problems, mitigate those problems, and offer future solutions

2) Describe how the symbols of the organization influenced the situation.

YouTube is a giant. The service started as a way for people to host videos on the
website and transformed into a billion dollar industry based around the usage of ads to
generate revenue through volume. Google discovered that if they sold ad space per video,
they could charge companies to advertise on their platform and pay their creators pennies
on the dollar.

YouTube grants something called a play button to those creators that have earned
a certain amount of followers. There are multiple tiers, each of which denote a higher
number of followers to the channel. The silver Play Button is given to those creators who
surpass 100,000. Gold to 1,000,000. Diamond to 10,000,000. Then the ever exclusive red
Play Button for 100,000,000 subscribers. These buttons not only are a material value to
the achievement, but also come with other perks within the space such as better revenue
dollars per ad viewed, or per miniute watched on their accounts. However, this means
nothing in regards to the ongoing issues with copyright claims, algorithms, or the unfair
practices being used by companies to punish creators using their content under fair use
laws such as for reviews.

3) Recommend how you would use organizational symbols for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.

1
 YouTube is owned by Google, one of the most powerful and profitable companies
on the planet. YouTube itself is the most popular video hosting platform in world as well,
generating nearly ten billion dollars in ad revenue yearly.This does not include the
auxiliary services such as YouTube TV and YouTube Music. The Play Button awards are
a major aspect of the success of YouTube as it denotes which creators make the best
content and are worthy of watching, such as Good Mythical Morning, the most popular
“show” on YouTube.
These symbols of success should be rewarded as some of the most popular
creators generate more income for the platform than millions of other creators combined.
One of the most prominent issues since the change in copyright laws is the fact that
nearly anyone can claim copyright against a creator, usually over music usage or video
clips, even with fair use laws in full effect. YouTube owns the licenses of millions of
songs that they facilitate via the YouTube music business which is directly tied to
YouTube as a whole. Why can creators not utilize the music licencing rights owned by
YouTube already in their videos without being de-monetized? Movies and radios already
do this and this would be an easy solution to the ongoing problems.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.

Symbols are incredibly important in our society. Whether it be the American flag,
the McDonalds arches, or Mickey Mouse, we thrive off of symbols. When you go to the
grocery and see a knock-off brand of the Oreo cookie, you instantly know what they are
mimicking, but you also know it wont be nearly as good as the original. People need to
feel connected to these symbols as it brings people together and creates an arbitrary sense
of community and belonging.
I wouldn’t necessarily do anything differently. I understand how power symbols
can be when used in a positive way. When these methods are used for nefarious purposes
such as corporate greed, or out of plain spite, it punishes the people who are directly
involved, the consumer, the creator, and the business. It would benefit everyone involved
if we could come together under these symbols and not create rifts for the sake of
stroking the ego of a CEO of a record company.

2
 Reference or References

Published by L. Ceci, & 1, A. (2022, August 1). YouTube global advertising revenues per
quarter 2022. Statista. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from
https://www.statista.com/statistics/289657/youtube-global-quarterly-advertising-revenues/

Woodcock, M. (2022, September 13). YouTube play buttons - what are they and how do you get
them? Lickd. Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://lickd.co/blog/advice-for-content-
creators/youtube-play-button-levels#:~:text=Gold%20play%20buttons%20are
%20awarded,is%20for%20100%20million%20subscribers.