Who's Afraid of YouTube?

Scott Stringer over at MyDD beat me to the punch in commenting on the article in today's NY Times Week in Review about the effects that YouTube is having in this election cycle. Scott hits most of the points I was going to highlight (so go read the post), but he didn't touch an important point at the end of the article:

Then again, YouTube’s impact on politics may be exaggerated. For one, the site’s users are generally young and not highly engaged politically.

“Most social networking sites cater to younger audiences, 18 to 24,” says Michael Bassik, vice president of Internet advertising at MSHC Partners, which advises candidates on media strategies. “For the most part, it’s not political conversations taking place there.”

Interesting, except (a) myself and just about everyone I know watches YouTube - including my non-geek coworkers - and all of us are above 24 years of age, (b) the 18-24 year olds that Mr. Bassik discounts have played an increasingly important role in 2004, 2005, and 2006 elections, and (c) a search for "Colbert" on YouTube will yield clips that have been viewed 30-60,000 times, and a search for The Daily Show will get you clips that have been viewed as many as 100,000 times. I'd say that's indicative of a political conversation - or at least a substantive interest in politics - on YouTube. And - shockingly - its happening among those supposedly apathetic young whipper-snappers!

So while it may indeed be true that at the moment the amount of press exposure that YouTube is getting is disproportionate to the amount of influence it wields, a look at the blatantly obvious facts that (a) YouTube or similar services are only going to become more mainstream, and (b) old peole die and young people replace them, reveals what should be a whopping no-brainer: YouTube's influence will only grow, and it will have a significant - and I believe positive - impact on the way we evaluate and interact with our elected officials. At first among "youth" and eventually among the broader electorate.

(Sidenote - for comparison's sake, the only thing I could find in a quick search on YouTube more popular than The Daily Show was Snakes on a Plane.)