Diversity and Cultural Citizenship
YouTube has made a platform in which digital media can be participated on in a widespread scale. It trades on the social and cultural diversity of the voices that it supports. So, cultural participation entails cultural citizenship and can apply to the creation, display, and discussion of the video content within communities of interest on YouTube. It also provokes thoughts about the relationships between people themselves and the ideas of a culturally diverse community that share experiences and encounters with difference. It is able to provoke those thoughts because YouTube exists within everybody’s life and represents a site of worldwide culture.
The practices of the cultural citizenship have always been an important part for many of its participants. The people who participate with it are able to build communities and enhance the forms of media that the communities use to promote media representation and activism. An example of this media representation could be seen with ‘coming-out; videos found on social media of people announcing that they are LGBTQ. Another practice is constructing meaning through redaction can work to serve similar purposes. Overall, YouTube serves as a constant reminder that it is an enabler and amplifier of cultural citizenship.
Globalization and Localization
The competing dynamics between globalization and localization help to tell whether or not YouTube offers a more widespread media environment. YouTube is global in the sense that anyone can access it anywhere. It is also global in the sense that it allows online border crossings between producers, distributors, and consumers. It is also local in the sense that a person can set their YouTube to a specific location or version depending on where you are. This sparks the problem that some countries or areas might not have or be included in a specific location or version and want one for them.
With this competing dynamic, it was thought over whether or not this localization was a good idea. It was kept after all, but this also leaves Western, English-speaking people to not know much about the cultural differences across the globe. Even though YouTube does have localization, some places still do not have YouTube. Some examples are China and Turkey. Overall, YouTube has shaped the global cultural public sphere by gradually evolving and filtering content.
YouTube as Cultural Archive
YouTube can be used as a cultural archive when thinking of old videos, memories, commercials, etc. These have been made available thanks to YouTube. They can be received from major music labels that have searched for them as well. So, YouTube tagged them and arranged the videos into playlists. As a result, YouTube has increased their status as an archive.
They have been on par with other archives that were meant solely for the remembrance of the old videos. They have been able to do this even though that is not their primary objective. They have offered their service based on commercial interests, not on public ones. Although, some material could still be taken down manually if it is too violent or inappropriate. An example is foot-age of the Syrian conflict that was taken down because it was too violent. Overall, whether or not it was meant to be, YouTube has now become a cultural archive.