2012年8月6日
By Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen Conference Chair, 流媒体 and CMO, id3as
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VidCon Brings Together the Stars, Fans, and Passion of YouTube

我第一次参加 VidCon 今年. It's not exactly in the 流媒体 wheelhouse, but it seemed like it was time to check out what the buzz was all about. 毕竟，作为Tay Zonday的 “巧克力雨” fame said during the third annual gathering of YouTubers, it's pretty clear that within another year or two, VidCon may very well be as big as Comic-Con.

What makes VidCon so fascinating -- beyond its endless parade of YouTube stars, from Smosh to EpicMealTime to iJustine to 《莉齐·班纳特日记甚至是最初的视频博主，泽弗兰克 -- is that everything about it exists inside an inescapable, fundamental paradox.

VlogBrothers Hank and John Green founded VidCon as a haven for video creators who work outside the constraints of traditional media, casting those creators as revolutionaries and rebels who were nothing if not independent. But none of them could do what they do without a single, centralized distribution point: YouTube. YouTube is the primary sponsor of the event, and the company's keynote was the biggest and best-attended speech of the conference. It was chock full of announcements about new features and programs, all of which were met by thunderous applause from the mostly young audience.

事实上，奥莱利媒体公司. founder Tim O'Reilly posted during the YouTube keynote, "Lovely to see how much affection the #vidcon crowd has for YouTube management team. 这是一个伟大品牌的标志!“也许我太愤世嫉俗了, 也许我是守旧的, or maybe it's just because I was reading David Foster Wallace's 《百家乐软件app最新版下载》 -- a post-modern vision of a dystopian future in which, 除此之外, 在美国所有的娱乐活动.S. 来自一个单一的来源, even though consumers have the illusion of complete control over what they watch and are so obsessed with being entertained that people are dying because of a video so entertaining that, 一旦他们开始看, they're incapable of turning it off -- but the VidCon crowd exhibited a bit 太 much completely passive adoration for my tastes.

In 《百家乐软件app最新版下载》, even something as fundamental as time is branded. Years are no longer numbered but are rather subsidized, 所以事件发生在, 例如, the Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad or the Year of Dairy Products from the American Heartland (sign of a great brand!). And entertainment is so ubiquitous that citizens have long ago stopped questioning or even thinking critically about it. “这样说不好,华莱士写道。, 就像说交通很糟糕一样, 或者医疗附加税, or the hazards of annular fusion: nobody but Ludditic granola-crunching freaks would call bad what no one can imagine being without."

I'm not ascribing evil motives to Google/ YouTube (after all, Google can't be evil -- it's forbidden in the company motto!), nor am I suggesting that thousands of YouTubers are willing sheep or even simply naive. There's so much to be admired and appreciated in the VidCon crowd -- their appreciation for each other, their devotion to entertainment that breaks free of the constraints of the TV sitcom or blockbuster movie, and their enthusiasm and positive attitude. 我甚至对我妻子说, 公立学校教师, "These are the kind of kids you wish you had in all your classes." But I can't help but wonder if they really understand that, as responsive as YouTube might be to their needs, neither YouTube nor any other multinational corporation will ever put their -- our -- interests first.

VidCon and the new generation of YouTubers have a lesson for the rest of the video industry, 太, as it seeks out the most profitable monetization and distribution models. Thousands of content creators are not just making money, 但是要谋生, 有在线视频, without worrying for a minute about the technological and business issues that are the bailiwick of this 杂志 and its readers. There's an alternate video economy developing, one that we fail to address at our peril. 那你打算怎么做呢?

[This article appears as "Future Shock" in the August/September issue of 流媒体 杂志, which will reach subscribers' mailboxes and go online as a full digital issue soon.]