| We live in a world where social media has become | | | | to America's Funniest Home Videos but they wouldn't |
| the norm. More and more people get their news and | | | | show the full 6 minutes of the video, they would only |
| entertainment from regular people than any other time | | | | show a few funny parts. |
| in history. Since the dawn of television, networks have | | | | Or consider the video called Battle at Kruger which |
| largely decided what people watch and how that | | | | shows a baby buffalo get chased by a bunch of lions |
| material is presented. This left us at the mercy of what | | | | right into the mouth of an alligator before being |
| a few people thought was important or entertaining. | | | | rescued by its herd that subsequently chases the lions |
| Social media has changed all that: | | | | off. This is a very powerful video showing a scene |
| Viral videos. It's clear that the world has embraced | | | | from nature that would normally not be shared with |
| video as a killer app on the Internet. Thousands of | | | | the world. Clocking in at just over 50 million views it's |
| videos on YouTube have millions and millions of views. | | | | something that many people would not have gotten a |
| Many of these videos are not professionally made, | | | | chance to see if it weren't for social media. |
| they are just events that people captured with their | | | | News footage. More and more big news companies |
| personal cameras either at home or out and about. By | | | | are using footage from everyday people in their news |
| being able to share videos with a few clicks, they | | | | coverage. When the Virginia Tech school shooting |
| spread like a virus and become very popular very | | | | occurred most of the footage that was being used |
| quickly. | | | | was people sending in video and picture from their cell |
| One video on YouTube shows a man dancing to | | | | phones from inside the campus and buildings. This sort |
| different styles from the different eras. It's called the | | | | of thing wasn't available just a decade ago, when |
| Evolution of Dance and has over 140 million views at | | | | there was no such thing as a camera phone, and |
| the time of this writing. Plus it's made something of a | | | | digital cameras and camcorders were either |
| celebrity out of the man in the video and you can even | | | | nonexistent or big and bulky. |
| book him to perform at function. If there were know | | | | We can expect that any major news event from now |
| way to share this video online he would just be able to | | | | on will contain elements of social media. We can also |
| show it off to his friends and family, and it would have | | | | expect that more and more of our entertainment will |
| remained largely a secret. He could have submitted it | | | | come from each other rather than giant media outlets. |