The Role YouTube Plays in Promoting Creativity in Young People - Literature review Example

Running Head: THE ROLE YOUTUBE PLAYS IN PROMOTING CREATIVITY IN YOUNG PEOPLE The Role YouTube Plays in Promoting Creativity in Young People The advent of social networking sites and the availability of devices that support digital technologies have made more people to use the Internet for various purposes. Young people in particular use social networking sites to connect, share photos and videos and engage in various other activities that are enabled by different social media sites. YouTube is one of the social networking sites through which people can share videos and music. The fact that virtually any person can visit the YouTube site and upload a video or view videos of his or her choice means that young people can upload a wide array of video content for the whole world to see and at the same time view the content that they like. This provides a platform for young people to showcase their creativity since they can record videos of their songs, art skills and scientific work, sporting prowess or other types of innovations or events and upload them on the YouTube site to be accessed by the global audience. This not only promotes such people’s creativity in doing what they like and hence get a worldwide market for such activities, but also exposes them to the global audience, where they can get sponsorships or other kinds of support to enhance their creativity. As it has already been mentioned, it is also possible for young people to view YouTube videos uploaded by other users, including television programmes, on various topics and activities. They can then use these videos to get more knowledge about particular areas that are of interest to them and hence enhance their creativity and level of skills in these areas. The most important as aspect in regard to creativity is the view that social media networks enable young people to interact with each other and to come up with new ideas, which they use to create new things on the online networking sites. Through this, those who create new products get an opportunity for the products to be assessed, and those who are viewing others’ content also get a change to learn new things. This mutual interaction of young people on social media sites like YouTube can be said to be enhancing their creativity in different ways. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to discuss the role that YouTube plays in enhancing creativity in young people. The paper is divided into various sections, starting with the definitions of creativity, social media and a discussion on the various capabilities of YouTube as one of the social networking sites. This will be followed by a discussion on how young people’s creativity is enhanced through the use of YouTube. Definition of creativity Many attempts have been made to define the term creativity and since the definitions often vary from one author to another, it has been argued that there is no clear, explicit definition of the concept (Reddy & Rao, 2010, p. 53). The difficulty in defining the term “creativity” is occasioned by the fact that parallel terms have been used to imply its meaning, such as ingenuity, imagination, inventiveness, originality, spontaneity, intuition, divergent thinking, productivity, venturesomeness, giftedness and being explorative. In fact, a review of literature by Reddy and Rao (2010) suggests that only further researches on these concepts can reveal the difference or similarity between creativity and the other concepts that have been mentioned. Nonetheless, some definitions of creativity cited by Gigard, Baycan and Nijkamp (2011) are worth mentioning and adopting in this paper. The first one is derived from KEA (2006) and states that “creativity is a complex process of innovation mixing several dimensions such as technology, science, management and culture” (KEA is a Europe-based organisation that advises countries, people and organisations to unlock the potential of cultural and creative industries as indicated in its website, http://www.keanet.eu/). The second definition is that given by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD, 2008) and states that “creativity refers to the formulation of new ideas and to the application of these ideas to produce original works of art and cultural products, functional creations, scientific innovations and technological innovations” (both quotations are cited by Gigard et al., 2011, p. 17). From these two definitions, one thing is clear: that creativity involves coming up with new ideas that lead to the creation of something new, be it a new technology, art, scientific work, or any form. Gigard et al. (2011) also agree that creativity is a complex concept that is associated with imagination, originality, ingenuity, inspiration and inventiveness (p. 18). But a further analysis by the same authors indicates that creativity must be understood from different strands. The first one is suggested by Rhodes (1961, as cited by Gigard et al., 2011) and states that the definition of creativity comes from four strands: person, process, product and press. The person dimension implies identification of the attributes of a creative person; process denotes the components of creativity; product refers to the outcome of creativity; and press implies the qualities of the environment that nurture creativity. The second point of view of the four strands of creativity is that which was suggested by Torrance (1976, cited by Gigard et al., 2011), who argued that creativity is defined in terms of “process, product, personality and environment” (p. 18). The ideas from Torrance (1976) and Rhodes (1961) can be taken together with the definitions of creativity by KEA (2006) and UNCTAD (2008) (all cited by Gigard et al., 2011) and considered to be implying that for creativity to occur, there must be creative person, the person must come up with a new idea that leads to the creation of a new product, and there must be an enabling environment to facilitate the process. Based on the current understanding of the term creativity, the discussion will be followed by defining social media and how young people use such media in a way that promotes their creativity. That is, the argument will be based on how the use of social media and in particular, YouTube, helps young people to generate new ideas and actualise them in different ways. That is, the essay attempts to find out the various attributes of social media, in particular YouTube, which encourage young people to be more creative when they use such sites. Definition of social media and how the concept relates to creativity Social media is defined as a group of Internet-based applications that are premised on the ideological and technological principles of Web 2.0, and which allow users to create and exchange the content that they create (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2009, cited by Rothschild, 2011, p. 141). Web 2.0 refers to generally refers to web applications which allow interactive users to share information and experience interoperability, user-oriented design features, as well as collaboration (Rothschild, 2011, p. 141). This is to say that Web 2.0 is all about applications that are designed to use a two-way stream of communication between users, enabling them to interact online and to share the content that they create (user-generated content) (Dooley, Jones & Iverson, 2012, p. 209). User-generated content implies both the creation of both ‘original’ creative content and remodelled content that innovatively reworks or repackages existing content (Collin, Rahilly, Richardson & Third, 2011, p. 15). Social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and others enable connections between people based on shared values, interests, and membership. Because of the Web 2.0 functionality, it is possible for one user to create content and post it on the site for friends or the general public to see and give their comments regarding the same if need be based on the configuration of the various social networking sites. For instance, one can record a video of himself or herself doing a given activity and post it online for the social media audience. The audience can then watch and listen to the video, and give their comments, share it and so forth. This point is discussed further by Peppler (2013), who argues that today’s young people are avid consumers, as confirmed by usage trends of social networking sites such as YouTube and Facebook. Peppler goes on to note that the fact that new ways of creating and viewing user-generated content exist in such networks presents a substantial shift in the manner in which participants in youth culture utilise electronic media to interact and learn from each other. This turn creates a “creative turn” in as far as the use of new technologies is concerned and brings the often overlooked characteristics of creativity to the fore (p. 193). This is because social media sites can be leveraged for creativity through the different ways that young people generate, share, and consume different types of content on social networking sites. Csikszentmihalyi’s (1996, cited by Peppler 2013, p. 194) model of creativity argues that individuals build on culturally valued practices and designs to create new variations of a given domain, which, if deemed regarded valuable by the community, become part of what comprised the evolving domain. Further, Csikszentmihalyi argued that for creativity to occur, a given set of practices and rules must be conveyed from the domain to the person involved. The person must then produce a new variation in the content of the domain. This can be said of social media, where the trend among the young people is to share unique photos, videos and all manner of new ideas, which essentially embody creativity (Savage, & McGoun, 2012, p. 81). That is, young people learn new things from social networking sites, but they can also go a step further to generate their own new ideas and share them on the same platforms. YouTube is one of the social media sites dedicated to sharing of videos. The following sections discuss the main features and capabilities of the application, as well as how the use of this social networking site by young people enhances their creativity. Features and capabilities of YouTube YouTube is defined as a free video-hosting website that enables members to upload and serve video content (Rouse, 2012). Members of the site can also share YouTube videos on many other web platforms by embedding them using a hypertext markup language (HTML) code or by using a link. This makes it possible for developers of content to not only upload their content on the YouTube site but also ensure that as many people as possible have access to the content by sharing the same content through other social networking sites such as Facebook. At the same time, it is possible for users of other social networking sites such as Facebook to view content uploaded on YouTube and share it with their collaborators on the site. YouTube has a high appeal among users and especially the young people because it is easy to use as pointed out by Rowell (2011, p. 58). Notably, searching for videos is comparable to searching with Google. All that users need to do is type a small number of keywords in the search field and sort through the videos that are available for viewing based on the results of the search words. In addition, the site has many categories for browsing, comedy, music, entertainment, sports and many others. In order to watch a video, a user simply needs to click play. This means that users can seamlessly access videos uploaded by generators of the content. Uploading content on the YouTube website is equally easy. For YouTube users who want to upload their video content, the action is similar to attaching a file to an email. The only limitation is that YouTube restricts the sizes of files that can be uploaded on the site (Rowell, 2011, p. 58). Another point that makes YouTube appeal to many users is the fact that uploading or viewing content is free of charge. This means that users pay nothing to view or upload content. Additionally, no registration is required to view the content on the YouTube website. Furthermore, for users who want to post their videos, the process of registration is hassle free. A user creates an account by choosing a user name and providing the details of their location, (country), date of birth, zip code and their gender (Rowell, 2011, pp. 58–59). YouTube also has features which allow visitors to share videos with their friends, family and anyone collaborating with them across the world (Rowell, 2011, pp. 59–60). This is enabled by the fact that YouTube videos allow for linking to websites, blogs, discussion forums, as well as other online social networking services (Hendrick & Lindgren, 2010, p. 156).Visitors can also share their thoughts on the videos that they watch by adding comments such that other users or people watching the videos can read and also give their feedback regarding other comments. In addition to giving comments about the videos they have watched, users can also link and rate videos and indicate those that are their favourites (Hendrick & Lindgren, 2010, p. 160).These additional capabilities have made YouTube a quintessential site for forming communities of users who interest in watching particular content. The corollary of this is that more and more people can have access to young people’s videos if they upload them on the YouTube website. Another significant feature of YouTube is that the website is regularly upgraded to provide more capabilities. For instance, according to Johnson (2011), each week YouTube either introduces new features that will help enhance users’ videos or improves the features that are already in place (p. 15). This is great news for many young people who like trying new features that they can use on their computers and mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Some of these features include Hot Spots, Popularity Graph, Audio Swap and Quick Capture (Johnson, 2011, p. 15). The Hot Spots feature enables users who upload videos to see which parts of the video the audio is skipping and which section they might be pausing or watching again and again. Using this feature, young people can improve their videos by redoing or correcting any mistakes in those parts of the video which are skipped and perfecting their skills in those sections which are watched repeatedly. The Popularity Graph shows users who post videos how popular the video has been and how popular it is vis-à-vis other videos in the same category (Johnson, 2011, p. 15). Hence, young people can use these ratings to determine how popular what they upload is among viewers. Audio Swap enables users to add music to their video from their library (Johnson, 2011, p. 15). With this feature, young people can add music to the content of their video to make the video more appealing to users and also demonstrate their creativity in making their content more eye-catching. Last but not least, the Quick Capture feature enables users to record content to YouTube directly from their webcam (Johnson, 2011, p. 15). Using this feature, young people can record video to YouTube directly from their computers at any place that is convenient to them. More importantly, YouTube offers a forum where people share ideas about how to use the social networking site more effectively. On this platform, users can also share ideas on how to create better videos (Johnson, 2011, p. 15). This point is very significant to young people because one of the reasons why they visit social networking sites is to learn new ideas, and there is no doubt that this is critical for improving their creativity. The role YouTube plays in promoting young people’s creativity Social media sites like YouTube have been identified as valuable communication and engagement tools and as a means of positively enhancing the image of young people (Melvin, 2013, p. 191). In particular, more young people are likely to use YouTube because they can be termed as ‘digital lives’ that are highly skilled in using digital technologies by virtue of their all-time exposure to them (Bennett, Maton & Carrington, 2011, p. 62). Many young people can be said to be ‘literate’ with regard to YouTube in the sense that they are not only able to create and consume video content but they are also able to understand the way YouTube functions as a social network and as a set of technologies (Burgess & Green, 2013, p. 6). Writing about the relationship between YouTube and young people, Hendrick and Lindgren (2010) note that the video sharing website YouTube is used by a large number of young people who play the roles of producers and consumers of content as well as meaning. The fact that young people are both producers and consumers of content on social media is itself an embodiment of such people’s creativity because of the processes involved in producing and consuming videos on YouTube. This point is reiterated by Light, Griffiths and Lincoln (2012), who argue that creative processes are involved when people (especially the young people) who use social networking sites act as producers, consumers, distributors, critics and editors (p. 3). This is reflected when young people produce or edit their own videos, view others’ videos, share them, or give comments about the videos that they watch on websites like YouTube. Most importantly, using YouTube either as a consumer or as a producer is seen as a creative process because it involves many dimensions. To start with, the person involved must decide what she or he wants to view or produce. This involves divergent thinking or thinking “outside the box” as noted by (Savage & McGoun, 2012, p. 80). The user then emphasises unusual decisions that can lead to something extraordinary taking place, such as learning a new concept upon viewing a YouTube video or uploading a video that is informative to the audience and which leads them to learning something new. According to Hendrick and Lindgren (2010), YouTube hosts more than 120 million video clips, and its users come from a wide array of nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, religions, lifestyles and identities (p. 153). This implies that on YouTube, one is likely to find many videos on a wide range of issues and genres, and a good number of these are uploaded by young people or target the young population. The significance of this point is that YouTube creates an environment for interaction between different people, especially the young people who frequently use the site, thus emphasising the role of ‘process, product, personality and environment’ in fostering creativity. What happens is that YouTube offers a medium for interaction between the groups of people who generate ideas and another group of people who assess the achievement, and the site itself acts a domain containing symbolic rules as noted by Jahnke (2011, p. 98). The fact that YouTube creates a community of people with different interests reflects creativity as a cultural endeavour that is shaped and sustained through the values and actions of many people as pointed out by Peppler (2013, p. 196). For instance, one of the common ways through which young people have been depicting their creativity has been remixing videos and uploading them on the YouTube website. Peppler (2013) argues that the more creative a contribution is (such as remixing), the more widely the idea in it is adopted by others (p. 196). Along the same line, Androutsopoulos (2013) opines that YouTube is regarded as a site of vernacular creativity that is characterised by practices of remix and appropriation (p. 49). ‘Vernacular creativity’ was described by Jean Burgess (cited by Light et al., 2012, p. 2) as a way of explaining and bringing to the fore practices that emerge from non-elite, specific day to day contexts. This emanates from the definition of creativity, which involves thinking ‘outside the box’ and coming up with a concept that can be applied to produce a new product. Hence, as more young people think ‘outside the box’ to come up with a new idea and actualise it through a product that can be viewed by others on the YouTube website, they get an opportunity to develop more ideas because through YouTube, they not only get a chance for their products to be viewed but also have a space for them to be assessed. This is because as posited by Dezuanni (2010), digital media technologies offer a mechanism for making symbolic work more accessible to the public, more dispersed and more participatory (p. 127). This point is emphasised by the fact that YouTube is free to join, it has features that are easy to use and which are constantly upgraded to suit the changing user needs, it allows content to be shared between different users, and it allows content producers to see which of their videos are liked most or parts of their videos that users like most as discussed above. It has been argued that YouTube and other video social networking websites such as MySpace present young people an opportunity to exhibit their individual creativity (Ivey, 2010, p. 118). This is possibly because of the fact that young people can make their own videos and upload them on YouTube for the world to see. In deed, the quantity of material shared on YouTube is just impressive. According to Ivey (2010), in 2006 YouTube users were uploading 60,000 videos on the website each day (p. 118). In June 2006 along, 65,000 videos were uploaded on site each day and more than 2.5 billion videos were viewed globally (Rowell, 2011, p. 64). These two points are supported by Hendrick and Lindgren (2010), who argue that across the world, 13 hours of video content is uploaded by the 3.75 million users of YouTube, and approximately 25 per cent of the users are young people of ages between 12 and 17 years (p. 154). In sum, it is noted that YouTube has a large potential for offering an arena for networked participatory culture (Hendrick & Lindgren, 2010, p. 154), especially among the young people. The specific areas in which content sharing through a platform such as YouTube promotes creativity among the young people are discussed by (Collin et al. 2011, p. 15). The authors argue that through content sharing, young people’s communicative involvement plays a significant role in developing a sense of identity and community. Specifically, the production of user-generated content and sharing it empowers individual young people through the following benefits. First, it fosters the development of literacy as well as technical skills. Second, it develops a sense of ambition, self-worth and personal achievement and also fosters further creativeness and self-expression – all of which are critical factors determining wellness. Third, creative content production encourages exploration and carrying out tests with new or different aspects of young people’s identity. Finally, such involvement reinforces aspects of young people’s identity such as ethnicity or cultural background, for instance when young people display various aspects of their culture through the music videos that they upload on YouTube. One of the attributes that make YouTube very popular is that it acts as a platform where both amateur and commercial videos share the same space: documentaries, artful productions, powerful physical performances and video diaries (Hendrick & Lindgren, 2010, p. 154). The videos produced by young people who have some new idea in art, singing or science or any other area do not necessarily have to be of the high quality recorded in recording studios. According to Lange and Ito (2010), young people can start by modelling more easily available and amateur kinds of video production (p. 289). The authors argue that even if the young people do not go beyond producing these amateur videos by failing to turn toward professionalism they can all the same gain status, reputation and approval within the creative communities around them and smaller audiences. Gaining recognition implies that such young people still get support to hone their skills even if the support comes from small audiences. Further, gaining acknowledgment in niche and amateur groups implies validation of the creative work in there, meaning that the young people involved do not necessarily have to wait for rewards in a distant and uncertain future in creative production (Lange & Ito, 2010, p. 89). The argument by Lange and Ito (2010) above means that a user who wants information on a particular area can easily view a wide range of videos pertaining to that area. For instance, a young person who wants to get information on how to design a hydroponic farm will simply search the keywords on the YouTube site and compare the various videos that can be located in every search. Since most videos have show how particular activities are done practically, it is easier for the user to grasp the content better than would be the case if one just did general in online books, journals or blogs. Notably, if a young high school, college or university student gets to know how to design a hydroponic farm based on the content from YouTube, he or she will be able to learn make a small hydroponic farm at home and probably grow to invest in a large successful hydroponic venture in the future. In such a case, the young person has an idea and thinks outside the box to get more information from YouTube on how to implement it, which involves the creative process. Similarly, it is quite easy for a user to upload his or her own video on YouTube so that it can be viewed among those on the site. For instance, a young person can record a song at home without necessarily having to go through the complex process of recording the video in a music studio. When such a video is posted on YouTube, people will be able to view it and give their comments, which are vital in developing the young person as a musician. Conclusion In conclusion, YouTube promotes creativity in young people by providing a platform through which they can interact and create new ideas. Creativity implies that a person comes up with a new idea and uses it to create something new, be it an art, technology, scientific work or any other type of work. YouTube achieves this by affording young creative people an opportunity to go through the process of coming up with new products and sharing them as seen through the four stands of creativity suggested by Torrance (1976) and Rhodes (1961). YouTube also promotes creativity in young people by them space from which they can generate and share new ideas through video as suggested in the Csikszentmihalyi (1996) model. More importantly, YouTube provides a platform for young people to be producers and consumers of user-generated content in the form of video. To achieve this, the young people must know what they want and this enables them to think divergently or ‘outside the box’. 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