Week Nine Reading Reaction #1

This week's readings discussed a service that many of us use on a daily basis: YouTube. This form of new media has become the world's leading from of visual communication. Every individual has familiarity with the services provided by YouTube, but few of us really begin to think about the consequences of such a mode of communication. As the reading pointed out, this form of communication has spawned new forms of communication is a radically new manner. People are not simply posting videos or thoughts onto the internet; they are posting positions, theories and perspectives that inevitably travel to every individual with access, thus reaching and affecting people in numerous ways. However, what I find interesting is the idea that people are developing whole new forms of communication as responses to what is being posted on YouTube. People are offering commentary that influences further discussion and new ideas about how to view an incident. Everything that is becoming public is now offering new forms of media communication which create various reactions. Clearly the impact of such postings can have a positive or detrimental effect, but it nonetheless forces a reaction on the part of the viewer.