For me, Youtube used to be a place where I would watch cute videos of kittens or hilarious shorts of babies. A friend would come to me with a video that I “just had to see”, for example, Charlie the unicorn, and we would watch it, laugh, and then continue on with the rest of our lives, maybe quoting it once in a while to get a few laughs.
For many people, this is what Youtube still is; a place to watch stupid videos. I mean how much substance can a Youtube video have if it is limited to only 15 minutes?

The answer is, a lot.

Over the past couple of years, the way that I use Youtube has changed. I have discovered videos that not only have meaning, but that also can create change.
When I subscribe to a youtube channel, I become part of a community. I not only get to watch all of the videos that youtuber has put up, but I am also joined together with millions of other people.

When a youtuber has a lot of subscribes to their channel, they will often gather all of those people, and take action. Most of the time it is something small, like answering a question of the day or taking a poll, but in some instances, the action goes further. For example, Hank and John Green of the vlogbrothers raised enough money through their subscribers to send five cargo planes full of healthcare supplies to Haiti. They have also created the “Project for Awesome” in which Youtubers create videos promoting their favorite charity. Charlie McDonnel, of charlieissocoollike, created an idea called chart jackers . With chart jackers, youtubers came together and created a song that they got to be #1 on the UK charts. All the proceeds from that song went the charity Children in Need. Youtube has also been used to launch many people’s careers, such as Justin Bieber.

YouTube connects so many different kinds of people, and with that connection, it becomes so much more than just a website where you can watch squirrels ride on water skis. With the youtubers I choose to watch now, my experience no longer stops once the video is over. The videos can make me ponder my life and my surroundings; push me to think about my implications and views. Sometimes I will watch a video and my whole world will be tuned upside down. An idea will be explored or a question will be posed that I have never thought about before. I just recently watched a video by John Green that talks about how pennies are totally useless and how it costs 1.7 cents to make a penny. I never knew how much money pennies were actually draining and this video made me think further about our economy.

I am not saying that it is bad to watch those funny videos on youtube, I just want everyone to know that there is more out there.

So, I challenge you. Go onto youtube and find a video that makes you think. About yourself, your community, it doesn’t matter, just as long as it has some sort of impact.