YouTube-ification of the World

YouTube has become a bit of a reflex-buzzword. Wanna look cool? Just throw in a mention. However the true measure of any innovation is whether it changes user's behaviour. And it's certainly changed my behaviour.

If I read a story (and its usually floated across my desk through Google Reader) and it catches my imagination, my default reaction is to look for where I can see the event they're talking about. Suddenly, just 'reporting' isn't enough. I mean what's the point of this story if you can't see it?

Camera phones have revolutionised the ability for normo's (UGC is a crappy phrase, normo's is much better) to record breaking events. A picture (or video) is worth a thousand words and when aggregated properly (hello Google's YouTube search) will become a much more compelling sell than the nightly news.