YouTube:
A World of Knowledge and Fun at Your Fingertips1In 2004, three PayPal employees had a light bulb moment. Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim envisioned a place on the internet where people could share their home movies with the world. They set up shop in a Silicon Valley garage, and Karim posted the first ever YouTube video in May of 2005. “Me at the Zoo” was just 19 seconds long, and it featured Karim casually speaking in front of the elephant enclosure. The video bore little semblance to the sophisticated productions often seen on YouTube today. In 2006, Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion. If the original YouTube founders had had a crystal ball, they might not have been so quick to sign on the dotted line! 2It is difficult to overstate just how popular YouTube currently is. There are 2.1 billion monthly active users all over the world. Unlike TikTok, which has a mostly young user base, suggesting young people prefer entertainment over educational content, YouTube appeals to people of all ages. In fact, the majority of internet users in the U.S., whether they are 15 or over the age of 56, use YouTube. In some places outside of the U.S., the internet can, of course, be more difficult to access.3Think of video sharing platforms like candy stores. While some offer just a few flavors, YouTube has a treat to satisfy absolutely any taste or craving. Want to get help with a difficult math concept? You’ll likely have no trouble at all finding a tutorial. Looking for some entertainment? There are videos featuring pranks, fictional characters, and hilarious cats. Videos can be up to twelve hours long, while a YouTube short is, like most TikTok videos, less than a minute. The amount of content on YouTube is also constantly increasing. A 2020 estimate stated that 500 hours of content were being uploaded every single minute!4Some young people who may have once said they wanted to be movie stars or professional sports players now aspire to be YouTubers. Those who can get enough views and subscribers on YouTube can indeed make money—serious money. In 2021, YouTuber Mr. Beast earned a staggering $54 million in gross revenue, making him the highest earning YouTube creator in history. It is hard not to feel a vague sense of injustice when there are so many doctors, nurses, firefighters, and police officers who will never come close to earning even a fraction of this amount. With that being said, the YouTube millionaire Mr. Beast is admittedly an inspiration to many. Stories like his show young people that with enough creativity, perseverance, and hard work, anyone with a camera and a YouTube account can make their dreams come true.
TikTok:The Source for Bite-Sized Entertainment!1There is something about lip-synching and dancing to a favorite song turned up loud that is pure bliss. In 2014, Musical.ly, a social media app, offered users the chance to share their lip-synching skills with the world. Over the next few years, the app racked up hundreds of millions of users. A rival app called Douyin, which was developed by the company ByteDance, appeared on the scene in 2016. Outside of China, Douyin was rebranded as TikTok, which is now a household name. In late 2017, ByteDance acquired Musical.ly, instantly—and substantially—increasing TikTok's user base.2As of 2021, TikTok had more than one billion monthly active users in more than 150 countries, but it is undoubtedly a young person's app. TikTok videos can take many forms and be about practically any subject. There are videos of people completing challenges, sharing photos, responding to other TikTok creations, and, yes, lip-synching and dancing.3TikTok can be described as a form of micro-entertainment. Unlike movies or episodes of a television series, most TikTok videos are mere seconds long. So, TikTok does not require users to invest a substantial amount of time. People with just a few minutes to spare before a sports practice or class can log in and escape with some lighthearted fun. The popularity of TikTok among young users suggests they would prefer to see many videos in a given amount of time instead of just one.4Interestingly, while TikTok is known for short videos, the maximum video length seems to keep going up. At first, a TikTok video could only be 15 seconds long, but this was later changed to 60 seconds. In 2022, the maximum length was increased to 10 minutes. This change could be an effort to appeal to a broader range of users, and it might reflect TikTok's desire to compete with YouTube more effectively.5Some people who spend a lot of time generating TikTok videos want to know: Can I make money doing this? The answer is yes! TikTok does have an ad revenue sharing program, but the payout is a drop in the bucket compared to what some TikTokers can make by becoming "influencers." If TikTokers have a huge following, corporations will sometimes pay these influencers to feature and promote brands in their videos. And earnings can be mind-boggling. For example, TikTok personality Addison Rae earned an estimated $5 million in 2020. Success stories like these do have a downside, however. They can mislead people into thinking they, too, can make millions from TikTok, something only a miniscule percentage of people can do. If someone wants to make TikTok videos, the main goal should not be getting rich quick, but simply having fun.
How do the authors of both “YouTube” and “TikTok” interpret differently the fact that TikTok is popular among young people?
A.
The author of “TikTok” believes it suggests young people enjoy watching TikTok videos of various lengths, while the author of “YouTube” believes it suggests young people like knowing what kinds of videos they will likely see.
B.
The author of “TikTok” believes it suggests young people like being able to watch many videos, while the author of “YouTube” believes it suggests young people prefer to be entertained than to learn about something.
C.
The author of “TikTok” believes it suggests young people want to watch lighthearted content, while the author of “YouTube” believes it suggests young people want to interact with people of the same age.
D.
The author of “TikTok” believes it suggests young people enjoy the amount of variety TikTok offers, while the author of “YouTube” believes it suggests young people prefer to watch shorter videos.
D.
The author of “TikTok” believes it suggests young people enjoy the amount of variety TikTok offers, while the author of “YouTube” believes it suggests young people prefer to watch shorter videos.