Periscope
Survival of the fittest
The ¡§Bus Uncle¡¨ video clip, which captured a middle-aged man yelling at a young passenger who had asked him to lower his voice when he spoke on his cell phone on the bus, was one example of how people got attracted to video-sharing sites.
The six-minute video has been viewed for more than 100,000 times online, and more people have come to know about YouTube and other video-sharing websites.
Even local media gave big coverage of the incident and some magazines used it as their cover stories. The episode also drew the attention of foreign media such as New York Times, TIME, Washington Post and Reuters.
Some local Chinese-language newspapers have then covered more information about online videos. Apple Daily reports news about interesting online videos and stories on the internet while Ming Pao Daily News has a section called ¡§Ming Click You¡¨ since September to provide information about videos and stories from forums online.
Another YouTube¡¦s fan, Suen Ka-chun, has got to know YouTube because of the Bus Uncle issue. He used to spend 10 hours each week on video-sharing websites in May 2005, but now only spends three hours per week. He usually watches music videos on these websites.
¡§I like Noriko Sakai and Luna Sea , but many of their music videos cannot be bought in the market now, so I watch them on those video-sharing websites,¡¨ Mr Suen said.
He said YouTube showed links of related videos when one video ended, which attracted him to watch more videos on the site. ¡§When I search a music video of Luna Sea , it automatically shows other videos related to the group, it¡¦s very convenient,¡¨ he said.
The influence of video-sharing websites is more apparent in other countries as some traditional media organisations have started to partner with those websites to expand their reach to audiences.
NBC Universal and CBS Corporation in the United States have struck a partnership with YouTube separately to provide content of their programmes on the video-sharing site.
Three major music labels ¡V Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group ¡V have also made a deal with YouTube to distribute thousands of their music videos on the site and give users free access to those video clips.
Video-sharing websites pose challenges to traditional media.
