Video Vortex

In Geert Lovink’s essay, he mainly argues that the power and attraction of Youtube lies in its searchability and its ability to allow users to “broadcast themselves.” In Lev Manovich’s essay, he classifies the developments of mass media as a transformation from mass consumption to mass production and through this mass production is the communication amongst individuals through social media. While Geert focuses mainly on the power of Youtube, Lev Manovich delves deeper and discusses the actual developments of social media. However, both of these authors ultimately agree on the fact that social media tools such as Youtube have had an extremely massive effect on public society and how we use it to communicate. One thing I felt that they both disagreed on was the actual influence of the social media corporation on how we broadcast ourselves. It seems that Geert feels that we have more freedom with broadcasting ourselves online and that Lev claims that social media conglomerates have the power to control how we communicate with these tools. However, they both ultimately agree that social media is a cultural development.