Exploring Motive: “Why is it Being Organized?”
We analyzed the first design question “What is being organized?” by pulling back the defining layers of the term “video” to conceptualize the nuances of the YouTube video. Unlike peeling back layers, the second design question can be explored in an arborescent fashion in the sense that there are numerous areas of exploration to examine the question of "Why?" Composition instructors conducting an organizing systems analysis may very well explore other avenues of inquiry but for this analysis specifically, I will be outlining the data derived from my personal analysis to provide a model, not the model. In particular, my analysis approaches the question of "Why?" with attention to the new-user experience and the recent site re-design implementation to promote user engagement and advertisement visibility. The latter are two critical focal points to promote the viability of YouTube as a revenue generating site.
Like the first design question, posing clarifying questions helps create an entry point into the analysis: Why does YouTube organize its resources? How does their organization inform the site’s intentional arrangement to promote desired user and interface interactions? Exploring the question “Why” reveals a hierarchy of video organization. Although YouTube allows users to upload their videos, all videos are not created equally once organized within the site’s system. In fact there is a discernable privileging of certain videos over others. The deliberate organization of certain videos is explicitly showcased as new users join the YouTube community. By exploring the site through the perspective of a new user, a response to the second design question will begin to take form.
Describing the new user’s experience provides a useful framework for understanding both the way YouTube organizes its resources and why YouTube and the strategies thereof. After first-time users create a YouTube account they are prompted to subscribe to the YouTube channels. Users land on YouTube’s home page and come across ten different channels curated by YouTube. The first two channels are defaulted for all users, while the remaining eight channels are generated based on the new user's interests. Interestingly, the eight channels display channels that align with the user’s interests. A user’s channel interest is determined by the information they furnished during the sign-up process and via the information collection as a result of data mining (Google leverages algorithms to track user activity and uses that information to personalize the user’s web experience with customized advertisements and videos). The reason why YouTube prompts new users and returning users with recommendations is to promote, as Joshua Cohen states, a “sticky” attribute of the site (2013).
When juxtaposing the pieces of the analysis thus far, it appears that YouTube organizes its site’s main home page with a ten channel recommendation to promote prolong user engagement with the site and to generate more revenue from advertisement. Google grosses an incredible amount of revenue generated from advertising and marketing. Specifically, there are currently more than a million advertisers using Google ad platforms (“YouTube Statistics” 2014). Most of the advertisements, Google notes, are from small businesses. The financial capital can be understood as an underlying factor explaining why YouTube organizes its resources as aforementioned. The site continues to re-design the structure of the site to maintain its relevance. The site had explicitly embodied the idea of the television by displaying a column with channels on the site’s home page, while also providing space for a home page with a news feed (in resemblance to other social media sites such as Facebook) (“YouTube’s Website Redesign Puts the Focus on Channels” 2011).
Like the first design question, posing clarifying questions helps create an entry point into the analysis: Why does YouTube organize its resources? How does their organization inform the site’s intentional arrangement to promote desired user and interface interactions? Exploring the question “Why” reveals a hierarchy of video organization. Although YouTube allows users to upload their videos, all videos are not created equally once organized within the site’s system. In fact there is a discernable privileging of certain videos over others. The deliberate organization of certain videos is explicitly showcased as new users join the YouTube community. By exploring the site through the perspective of a new user, a response to the second design question will begin to take form.
Describing the new user’s experience provides a useful framework for understanding both the way YouTube organizes its resources and why YouTube and the strategies thereof. After first-time users create a YouTube account they are prompted to subscribe to the YouTube channels. Users land on YouTube’s home page and come across ten different channels curated by YouTube. The first two channels are defaulted for all users, while the remaining eight channels are generated based on the new user's interests. Interestingly, the eight channels display channels that align with the user’s interests. A user’s channel interest is determined by the information they furnished during the sign-up process and via the information collection as a result of data mining (Google leverages algorithms to track user activity and uses that information to personalize the user’s web experience with customized advertisements and videos). The reason why YouTube prompts new users and returning users with recommendations is to promote, as Joshua Cohen states, a “sticky” attribute of the site (2013).
When juxtaposing the pieces of the analysis thus far, it appears that YouTube organizes its site’s main home page with a ten channel recommendation to promote prolong user engagement with the site and to generate more revenue from advertisement. Google grosses an incredible amount of revenue generated from advertising and marketing. Specifically, there are currently more than a million advertisers using Google ad platforms (“YouTube Statistics” 2014). Most of the advertisements, Google notes, are from small businesses. The financial capital can be understood as an underlying factor explaining why YouTube organizes its resources as aforementioned. The site continues to re-design the structure of the site to maintain its relevance. The site had explicitly embodied the idea of the television by displaying a column with channels on the site’s home page, while also providing space for a home page with a news feed (in resemblance to other social media sites such as Facebook) (“YouTube’s Website Redesign Puts the Focus on Channels” 2011).