The world is changing, and the Internet is playing a more-important role in our daily lives than ever before. That isn’t going to change, and the more forward-thinking websites are already looking to a future in which they can dominate.

YouTube Revenues

Up to this point YouTube has struggled to make ends meet. Google, which has owned YouTube since November 2006, has monetized the site with all kinds of different adverts, but the site has hefty costs associated with it which means it’s likely only breaking even. Despite racking up 4 billion views per day.

However, YouTube is now ubiquitous, to the point at which we all YouTube a video in the same way we Google a search term. And that gives YouTube incredible power as the world transitions from old media to Internet-powered new media.

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YouTube is growing stronger every day. Which just shows how the balance of power has shifted over the last few years. At some point we’re not actually going to need TV as we now know it.

YouTube Milestones

The Google-owned YouTube is celebrating hitting new milestones. And the statistics being touted are pretty spectacular.

YouTube videos are now viewed 4 billion times every day. To put that into context that’s the equivalent of more than half the world’s population watching one video on YouTube on a daily basis. And it’s an increase of 25 percent in the last eight months.

Also up massively are the number of uploads, with 60 hours of video added to YouTube every minute. In other words, one hour of video every second. Eight months ago, in May 2011, it was 48 hours uploaded every minute.

YouTube has helpfully created its own video (and site) showing what these numbers mean in real terms.

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YouTube Slam is the latest attempt by the premier online video site to make stars out of ordinary people while sucking more time away from those of us who spend our days online. And it’s a veritable stroke of genius.

Viral Video

It’s a well-known fact that the vast majority of videos uploaded to YouTube go nowhere. They gain just a handful of viewers, most of which know the uploader personally. Unless a video is picked up and promoted by a site such as WebTVHub then it’s difficult to get noticed.

This does mean, however, that the videos which do break out are generally the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the most compelling, most watchable, most addictive videos on the whole of YouTube. But how to find these gems before they reach the mainstream?

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YouTube remains the premier destination to watch online video. It’s now ubiquitous to the point at which I doubt it will ever lose its place at the top of the market share leader-board. But which were the biggest video hits on YouTube in 2011?

YouTube Rewind 2011

The make-up of videos which appear on YouTube is constantly changing. But two things appear to be constant: 1. Music videos are insanely popular and 2. To score a hit a video must warrant repeat viewing, sharing, and commenting.

YouTube recently revealed what we watched on YouTube over the past 12 months with its YouTube Rewind 2011. The video embedded below acts as an introductions and is presented by one Rebecca Black, whoever she may be.

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Believe it or not things aren’t as black and white as they may at first appear when it comes to copyright infringement laws.

Which means YouTube is awash with videos that could be legal or illegal, depending on who is arguing the case.

No Copyright Infringement

Andy Baio recently wrote a fascinating article discussing how a new generation see copyright infringement very differently than previous generations. Mainly thanks to YouTube.

His kicking off point was the pronouncement, “No copyright infringement. I only put this up as a project,” placed by the uploader on a video showing Pulp Fiction in chronological order. That’s the full Pulp Fiction movie, distributed by Miramax, with its scenes rearranged.

This video is far from alone, with hundreds of thousands having some sort of copyright disclaimer attached to it. Even though doing so makes no difference to whether a video is infringing or not. The problem is no one quite knows what is and isn’t infringing when it comes to YouTube videos.

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I don’t know about you but the TV set which sits in the corner of my living room is getting used less and less these days. All thanks to the Internet and its range of video content and catch-up services. And so we have the new YouTube design.

Hate

YouTube rolled out its new design on Dec. 1. And the complaints instantly began rolling in. Many people don’t like the changes that have been made. But they were necessary changes for YouTube to become the media center it hopes to, and that Google hopes it to.

Despite the complaints I think YouTube has got the redesign pretty much spot-on, though I’m sure it will be making changes based on the feedback in the coming weeks.

All YouTube is doing is evolving: transitioning from a destination where we watch a solitary video of a cat being cute to watching multiple videos created by dedicated video producers. This is the new YouTube, which is very different from the old YouTube.

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The new YouTube we have been expecting for the past few weeks has now rolled out. And damn good it is too, at least on first sighting and after a very brief test. Not everyone is so pleased with the redesign though. In fact, some are spitting mad.

New YouTube Design

The new YouTube design has now rolled out. And there are no surprises or last-minute adjustments from the redesign we looked at in the middle of November.

This is a redesign intended to do a number of things. Firstly, to get us watching more videos. Secondly, to get us sharing more videos, particularly via Google+. Thirdly, to give the website a visual overhaul to keep it in line with the rest of the Web.

It looks like YouTube has ticked all these boxes, and yet people still aren’t happy.

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