The show is on!

By Smriti Daniel

The weird and wacky world of YouTube, populated as it is by lonely girls and urban ninjas, British Prime Ministers, moon-walking ex-kings of pop and hundreds of nuts of every size and description, can be surprisingly absorbing. The site, which allows users to upload, view, and share video clips has been called revolutionary and was even named Time Magazine's 'Invention of the Year' in 2006.

Even as you read this, YouTube is playing host to millions of visitors who are downloading several million videos. What are they looking for? Well, everything from amateur videos, blogs, short original films, and even mainstream movies, music and TV clips.
Surfin’ the tube:

Navigating youtube.com is rather easy going, really. When you first enter the site, take a moment to scope out your options. The list of featured videos is always worth checking out, and you can click on subcategories that include most viewed, most discussed as well as top favourites. Who decides what's entertaining? You do. YouTube's members rate videos they like, and the most popular are always easy to access.

The links across the top give you an idea of what other folks on YouTube find interesting, and you can dig deeper within each one using the Time, Category, and Language links on the left to refine the list of videos. The Categories tab will allow you to pick a specific area (say Gadgets, Comedy or Music) that you find particularly interesting. If you know exactly what you're looking for – say, the divine intervention scenes in Pulp Fiction, you can type the appropriate keywords into the search box at the top of every page (in this case 'bible + pulp fiction' or 'Samuel L Jackson+ pulp fiction' would both work.)

When you find other members whose videos you like, you can subscribe to them so that you're notified whenever they upload new videos – the newest four will show up on the home page when you login, or you can view all your subscriptions to see them all at once.

After you're done watching a video, a column on the right lists other related videos which are always worth a look. If you like, you could also post a video 'response'. You can watch videos on the site without downloading any software or even registering. While unregistered users can watch most videos on the site; registered users have the ability to upload an unlimited number of videos.

Check these out:
Still not sure where to start? Not even sure you'll find something you like? Rest easy. YouTube says its user base is the "18-55 age range and spans all geographies." This translates into something for everyone… and I mean everyone. It's amazing what people will allow themselves to be videoed doing. I could rest my case on user asemoknyo whose 'famous' spaghetti trick went wrong and who ended up snorting a strand of cooked spaghetti that came out her nostril or on the dude who stars in Strange Faces and Noises I Can Make I, II, III and IV.

YouTube clips tend to download fast, and depending on the speed of your connection, they make for great breaks in the middle of serious work. Even if you haven't given it a shot, have no fear. It's so easy that a baby could do it (FYI a search for "easy baby" on YouTube yields more than 1,400 videos.)

The choice, as always, is yours. Feel like learning an instrument? Several YouTube users offer free Guitar Lessons. Interested in extreme sports? Try searching the almost unheard of 'Sports Acrobatics' or check out the Urban Ninjas. Feel like head banging? The Baghdad-based heavy metal band 'Acrassicauda' has been making waves. Wanna laugh a little? Try the Facebook Stalker, SouthPark Parody or RajKumar's Eef You Come Today video. Wanna get the edge on Warcraft? You'll be overjoyed to know that there are plenty of gamers willing to share survival videos. Interested in celebrity gossip? Check out Paris Hilton in jail or Faith Hills' never-to-be-lived-down appearance at the last country music awards.

The list, as you are no doubt beginning to discover, is endless.

The YouTube Effect
Not everything on YouTube comes light and easy, however. YouTube and sites like it are tremendously powerful and can impact 'real world' events to an extraordinary degree. It's being called the YouTube effect – the phenomenon whereby video clips, often produced by individuals acting on their own, are rapidly circulated throughout the world thanks to video-sharing websites. Although big time T.V channels like BBC and CNN employ several hundred journalists, it's practically impossible for them to cover as much ground as the 'omnipresent millions' – essentially anyone carrying a cell phone that can record videos.

Today, YouTube includes videos posted by terrorists, human rights groups, and U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Some are clips of incidents that have political consequences or document important trends, such as global warming, illegal immigration, and corruption. Some videos reveal truths. Others spread disinformation, propaganda, and outright lies. All are part of the YouTube effect. So be entertained, provoked, inspired, and challenged… but just don't believe everything you see.