YouTube is an American online video sharing and social media platform. Owned by Google, it was launched in February 2005. More than one billion monthly users contribute to making it the second most visited website and the largest video search engine on the internet. Since its inception, the business model of YouTube has changed because of Google’s ownership. Apart from generating revenue from ads, it offers exclusive videos and movies that are paid content.
Google AdSense program has brought YouTube and creators together, making them beneficiaries. Evolution from small online video sharing to larger platforms, YouTube has bagged a revenue of $30.2 billion in 2022. As the subject is, advantages and disadvantages of YouTube, let us discuss the advantages first.
Advantages of YouTube
YouTube, as we know it, is growing day by day because of the way we are moving towards the visual form of content. It has been helping us in different ways for our entertainment needs. These are 5 advantages of YouTube –
1. YouTube is Free
YouTube gives you a platform to experiment or start without paying any fees. It is the video, that needs to be unique and creative, to make you stand out of the box. Startups also get a platform to advertise the product without adding to the initial investment. If one can invest some amount to market worldwide, YouTube has introduced YouTube premium-it is a paid subscription. Accessibility to YouTube Music Premium is an additional advantage of YouTube Premium.
2. Easy
A computer illiterate can also use YouTube because it is easy to use. Tutorials also help to develop a better understanding of this social media. Building a brand for startup businesses is feasible with YouTube. This platform allows us to connect to lots of people together and faster. Any kind of videos, music files, drawings, and animated clips can be uploaded. You can also interact with audiences by inviting their views. The good thing is, no special training or courses are to work with it. Other features include easy rating, privacy, quick feedback, and fast accessibility.
3. Earning
What can be expected if one can earn with entertainment or creativity or marketing. You can join hands with YouTube’s Google AdSense account and earn with uploaded videos. But before creating the account, you need to have your YouTube profile. The other ways of earning money through YouTube include selling digital products, sponsorships, merch and products, affiliate links, and many more.
4. Backlinks
Website owners having a YouTube profile page, on adding their website link, get backlinks from YouTube. That helps in boosting their SEO. While posting videos, you can add them to the description also. Thus, more and more people will come to know about your website as they visit it and this will give rise to your product. As good products or services on the internet can be marketed, so, are good videos. It is a stage of fame.
5. A diverse video platform
YouTube is probably the most diverse video platform in existence. With millions of creators working hard to deliver the best possible content to the viewers, you can find videos related to almost anything on YouTube. The types of YouTube channels you can consume is up to you. There is nothing preventing you from watching cooking channels, or a compilation of the goals from your favorite footballer. The sky is the limit. If you are into technology, you can check the best technology channels on YouTube. You can also livestream on YouTube if you want to.
Disadvantages of YouTube
Being one of the largest video hosting platforms doesn’t mean that YouTube is perfect. It still has a lot of flaws worth noticing. These are 5 of the disadvantages of YouTube –
1. Misinformation
Having said earlier, you can upload or watch videos without creating an account. In other words, it is an open public social media desk. Now, this creates a problem with copyright and privacy. YouTube has set many rules that should be followed while using it in a way, it tries to control in optimization terms. But still, there are chances of fake, misleading content that are uploaded, giving misinformation.
2. Copyright issues
A protection method that YouTube implements to protect exclusive content through various automated measures. These measures favor corporations for earning financial gains. In the case of content matching the already existing data, YouTube applies its matching policy as a warning. After four successful complaints, it deletes the content without informing.
3. Safety and well-being of children
Just throwing a warning that content is suitable for 18 years and above does not stop the children from watching explicit videos that are inappropriate for them. You might have seen teens posting and watching videos showing violence. Parent lock is the option to protect the children from such content. YouTube does not have any safeguard against such an act.
4. No said reasons for removal
YouTube exercises many rules for the starters. If any of it breaks, it disables your account. The reasons are many. This is one of the main reasons people go for a YouTube alternative. These are the reasons why YouTube bans your account –
- If your content is not as per the Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, that should be agreed upon while creating a YouTube channel.
- Repeated reports of a video, claiming copyright issues.
- If your behavior towards people is incorrect, that includes sexual harassment, unacceptable comments, or spam, your content can be disabled or deleted.
5. YouTube wastes your time
Creating a YouTube account itself is not a time-wasting thing, but the endless supply of entertainment could be. If you create a YouTube channel and start using it responsibly by spending enough time outside the platform, this is not an issue for you. However, if you are a viewer spending hours scrolling through the endless YouTube Shorts, it could be a problem both mentally and physically. So, set a limit to the time you are on YouTube.
Each one of us has our parameters for weighing the advantages and disadvantages of any subject. There are many ways to judge the social media platform. In my opinion, these points were important to be studied, before any inference. And if you are interested, you may create a YouTube account.