YouTube: HOT or COOL? Is the Medium the Massage?

Yes we know all know of Marshall McLuhan's, Medium is the Massage. But have you heard of hot and cool media? Maarten Heilbron and I discuss if YouTube is hot or cool. FYI, Medium is the "Massage" was the book publisher's error but Marshall liked it so it stuck. Maarten Heilbron and I discuss.

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[MaartenHeilbron]

I most sincerely appreciate how intelligent you made me look. Thanks!!!

[RoyAntaw]

Loved the back to back interview style. Thanks Paul and Maarten, we need more media studies for youtube and broadcasting today :-)

[CallMeChato]

One thing we didn't discuss that I think is worth discussing is not just where you can see YouTube but how it's framed. I think it feels very different when viewed in its 'traditional' frame with all the Up Next videos on the right. I think you need to accept the Up Next thumbnails as part of the distraction. How many people are checking them out while watching. Then, of course, you can have full screen mode to remove all distractions and the distinct frame.

[adrudgery]

In the year of our Ford 157, I still haven't purchased the 4th wall viewer upgrade.
I've found the streamed or premiered videos provide a sense of time spent with friends beyond the usual reasons for watching a content creator. For regular YouTube videos, my difference between hot and cool is the storytelling. Watching someone transition shots to show encouraging cat curiosity while cooking is only interesting because they can tell a story rather than look my cat cooks with me.

YouTube also seems to form stronger parasocial relationships. I wonder how that impacts the hot or cool of this platform.
Thanks for helping my brain stay thinking.

[yksw]

I love you throwing seamless and almost unnoticeable jokes into the discussion. There are some observations which might get lost 😎

[michaelcherry]

I truly enjoyed this! The joy of PPC is that you never know what you're going to get. A discussion about Marshall McLuhan? That's never going to happen anywhere else!
I liked that you discussed the different ways people will look at YouTube and how that affects the Hot/Cool designation.
I think that when McLuhan was talking about medium and message (or massage), the limitations of the types of technology made for a restricted discussion.
Yes, there was a range of screen sizes for TV and the prospect of colour and, yes, the film companies were coming up with ever more amazing screens (CinemaScope, VistaVision, 3-D, etc.)
However, if you compare the range of options available in 1964 to what is available in 2020, the discussion becomes very contextual.
It's not just YouTube that people watch on different devices. A lot of streamed internet content ends up being seen on everything from a smart phone to a 75" flat screen.
How the media is accessed becomes even more critical to deciding if a media is Hot or Cool because the experience becomes completely different depending on how you see it.
I'm reminded of an older multi-panel comic that showed the progression of television.
First, a hobbyist is showing of his home-built TV (circa 1930) with a 2 inch screen to the amazement of his friends.
Next, a family is clustered in front of their "big, enormous 12-inch screen" (shout out to "Little Shop Of Horrors").
Next comes the large, bulky consoles with 25", 27", 32" (!) CRT screens. And so on.
The last panel shows a group of people clustered in amazement around...a video i-Pod with a 2" display showing a movie (obviously an older comic!) Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

[alexandermckay]

This is brilliant. I hope you do more. Hot/Cool comes down to interactivity and YT is inherently interactive. By my typing my thoughts to all and sundry it engages. Also, the fact that I can modify my system (so far) to reduce ads makes the experience much more vital to me vs. a cool medium like TV which tries to get me to disengage. The fact that, for the most part, YT is generally one to one, not the broadcast one to many format That TV likes to force. This is going to be very problematical in the next few years. You've invited us into your life. People will forget and consider you a friend, someone they've interacted with for years, yet you've never met them. That's entering some danger zones, particularily with those with massive audiences.

[simpleeyemedia]

Bravo! I used to teach this stuff in universities. If I ever got back into teaching, I would *definitely* want to show this to students in "Mass Media in Society" type classes. Nice job, both of you!  

Yes, TV is now definitely more "hot" than before. Youtube is really both "part video" and "in some part text messaging" (ala comments and polls and likes). Most of the time people are on typically smaller screens with less immersive audio. I would argue he would have called it more of a Cool media. The really interesting thing about McLuhan's theory is that you can't really talk about hot and cool media without defining the "active participation" on the part of the viewer/user. Cool for him was really was more like an assessment of how much the viewer was "detached from" the message by the medium. I think you both state this in an insightful and helpful way.

You both definitely need to continue to do more stuff together!

[frankowalker]

That was a fascinating discission. I always watch YT on my 43 inch TV in full screen with the audio through the stereo.

The thing with television is, the TV set has got better and bigger, but the quality of the content the TV stations put out has got so low it's not worth watching anymore.

[robl]

This is an extremely welcome video offering, thank you! Another great "PPC and friends" hit. Well done, great topic!

[ronboe]

1) Will there be a quiz? Will any of this be on the final?
2) If I pass the quiz, how much college credit will it be? :)
3) You guys should do this more often, or start a 3rd channel for just the two of you. Good stuff!

[JBManos-ggzm]

McLuhan!!! Hot dog. I won’t even leave a dumb comment on this one. McLuhan is pro turbo deluxe! Great stuff! 👍🏻

[Wordsnwood]

It's difficult to compare youtube vs TV, since youtube is wide open to anyone. IS there an actual definable youtube culture or style? Also you mentioned mobile devices at one point. My analytics are showing 51% mobile devices, plus a further 9% on tablets. That's a lot of viewers on tiny screens. But I bet some epic travel vlog channel probably has a higher percentage on TV's or big screens. annnnd I just though of something: If I watch on a cellphone, but "cast" to my TV via Chromecast, do the google anaylytics catch that? Hmm.

Another fun one guys, though I do suddenly crave some black liquorice.

[cmonkey]

Ha, I watched to the end. Take that, YT algorithm! But seriously, just wonderful to watch two intelligent guys talk about ideas in a format that might not even make it on talk radio nowadays. So much is changing, and a rule to remember is: everything is an experiment. I'm old enough to remember B&W television on a 14in screen.

[duringthemeanwhilst]

very enjoyable. easily the best 2 Canadian YouTubers...

[gradybeachum]

Iron Man Listens to "Heart of Gold" - can't unthink this. I blame you Mr. Chato!

[Alex_Short]

Can we say that from sense making perspective (in educational context) both YouTube and Tv is cool?
We need to engage to understand the meaning of what had been said.

[tuomaskilpi]

For me, what sets YouTube apart from TV, movies, radio and all other forms of traditional media is that since YouTube has (almost) infinite bandwidth, creators and videos, everybody's YouTube experience can and will be completely different. For me, YouTube is an eclectic mix that includes Canadian Hackintosh comedy, Korean mukbang, British language geekery, international book industry news, American political commentary and plenty of retrogaming. But I have never seen a singe PewDiePie video in my life. Of course McLuhan's view was that content does not really matter. But just like YouTube can offer myriad combinations of content, it can offer numerous ways to be used as hot or cool media (or it can even be both at the same time). There is the possibility of interaction, involvement and participation, but there is no requirement. On some channels I may just watch, on others I may comment. Some videos I may just consume passively on my big TV, with other videos I can rewind, skip ahead, take screenshots on my phone. I can even download videos (even if it's not an officially supported feature) and remix them to my liking. Thus YouTube is not a single media, it is many and all at the same time.

[CliffordBradbury]

Another point is that we're you have talked about different eras of various media a lot of them are not available to view now. Books, print etc yes, via a library or a vault etc, but YouTube also offers almost all of it's content ever uploaded available to play in seconds. The tv networks and film studios release their content on a far more kept mannnor and it can well be withdrawn over time. Of course YouTube it could be argued have hardly had the same overheads as traditional creators and creations and whilst it also profits wildly from it, tho with exception of specific commission of specific works which they do directly pay for, they have little control on what appears on their platform and network.

[jimmydragonstudios]

Martin: "Hopefully there's something useful in there." lol!!