Dr Jean Burgess

Some of the most prominent YouTubers are not teenagers or children but adult vloggers with production teams behind them, a study of the uses of YouTube by new media researchers has found.

Dr Jean Burgess from QUT's ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (Cci) and Dr Joshua Green from MIT's Convergence Culture Consortium found some surprising trends when they analysed 4300 of the most popular videos on YouTube in the last six months of 2007.

The study compared user-created and traditional media content on YouTube to understand how broadband was being used in participatory culture.

"There are two ways of understanding YouTube - as a low-cost distribution channel for commercial media content and as a platform for amateur cultural production. Both YouTube uses are alive and well, but each has some unexpected patterns," Dr Burgess said.

"We did find a lot of commercial content from traditional media such as television and music, much of which is uploaded by users.

"But YouTube is also being used commercially in new and innovative ways. A good example is the ongoing HotforWords videos in which a skimpily clad woman gives the etymology of words.

"It is participatory in that viewers can send in videos of themselves asking a question. It is clearly orchestrated for YouTube and is syndicated to iTunes and acts as the main driver of viewers to the HotforWords website which carries a lot of advertising.

"We found that some people who look like ordinary vloggers (video bloggers) might have started out that way but now have production teams behind them as they explore and expand the social and business networking potential of YouTube."

She said Tube was also an online community, where ordinary people went to participate in and create online culture by uploading clips from traditional media sources or by vlogging.

"People upload short "quotes" on YouTube, such as their favourite team's winning goal or a segment from the tv news, to catch up with friends, comment on important cultural events or start a conversation with the world."

Dr Burgess said that despite the hype about "fan content" they found fewer examples of mash-ups and remixes than expected.

"The comparatively mundane 'vlog' format -a talking head, a fixed camera and an everyday setting - is extremely popular."

"We also found a fascination with video technology itself. There are many videos that were based around tricks, novelty and humour. Because of this emphasis on variety YouTube is kind of like vaudeville."