Is YouTube a Social Network?

This morning Zoe Kleinman, Technology Editor for the BBC, decided to do the best she could in dealing with the assets and liabilities of social media. I have no idea whether or not she wrote her own headline. As headlines go, it was more than a bit on the long side; but it was still designed to draw attention, at least as far as I was concerned when I encountered it. The full text is as follows:

'A game-changing moment for social media' - what next for big tech after landmark addiction verdict?

The article involves the question of whether software classified as “social networks” does more harm than good. Kleinman wasted no time in citing a recent Los Angeles court decision that came down on the “harm” side in a seriously big way:

The tech giants in this case, Meta and Google, must now pay $6m (£4.5m) in damages to a young woman known as Kaley, the victim at the centre of this case.

She claimed the platforms left her with body dysmorphia, depression and suicidal thoughts.

Both companies intend to appeal, with Meta maintaining a single app cannot be solely responsible for a teen mental health crisis.

Google, meanwhile, says YouTube is not a social network.

At the very least, I think we need to consider the validity of that final sentence.

By way of disclaimer, I am not a particularly heavy user of YouTube; but it is still a major factor involving the writing that I do. Were it not for YouTube, I would not be able to follow those performances by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra that are live-streamed (and, yes, my thoughts about the San Francisco Symphony often involve reflecting on my experiences with similar ensembles). Basically, I watch YouTube content attentively (“live” or otherwise) when I wish to then write about the music being performed; and that is the only thing I do with the site.

Nevertheless, most (if not all) YouTube Web pages allow for comments. That service draws far more attention than attending a concert through cyberspace. Democracy Now! is a global news program that livestreams through YouTube. It is produced by Amy Goodman, who made the “great leap forward” from public radio to cyberspace. Since launching her site, she has accumulated about 3.27 million subscribers; and this morning’s broadcast already has 656 comments. As a student, I learned about how information was shared in the agora in ancient history. The scope of that agora has now grown to accommodate anyone with access to the World Wide Web.

Emma Lazarus (photograph by William Kurtz)

The British comedy group Beyond the Fringe had a joke about the danger of the Statue of Liberty. They singled out this sentence from Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus”: “Give me your tired, your poor,/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,/The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” The punch line in the joke was the problem that “people did” as a response! Those “people” are now “responding” to invitations to comment on Web pages; and sometimes the enthusiasm to respond runs way ahead of understanding the source for the response.

For better or worse, I have tended to pay more attention to getting my own thoughts in order than worrying about what other people think. Writing is an exercise to keep my cognitive capacities active. If an opinion is questioned, then answering it is just another facet of cognitive exercise. I appreciate the opportunity, even if it turns out that I was mistaken about something. Nevertheless, I am sure that I am in a minority category; but, if it continues to exercise cognition, I do not see any reason to complain.