Social media comes home

Google’s YouTube Space, a place where YouTube creators can use the space to learn new skills, connect with other creators and create new content, at the new Google office in King’s Cross, London. RandShow more

Online video-sharing platforms create space for Emirati content on the world stage

YouTube has quietly risen to be one of the most popular and profitable of Google’s many ventures. In the history of video there has never been such an efficient vehicle for consumer advertising, whereby advanced analytics about user interaction with content can be translated into tailored advertisements.

Analytics is just one part of YouTube’s genius. The video-sharing platform has facilitated a boom in amateur content on everything from travel reports to product reviews. Some YouTubers, as they are known, have become famous for daily vlogs – short videos about their everyday lives. To the uninitiated it sounds pointless, but some of the content is compelling and engrossing.

Daily vloggers have an aura of authenticity that is extraordinarily difficult to replicate in a professional environment. These creators are able to share their content directly with viewers and even communicate with them in the comment sections of their videos. Many of the most popular vloggers fly around the world at the invitation of tourism boards or corporate sponsors. Bear in mind that the most influential advertisement is always the one you barely notice.

So what could this mean for the UAE? For one, YouTube could be a brilliant platform for Brand UAE content. The Dubai tourism authority has already invited several major YouTubers to ­visit the city and upload their experiences. As The National reported yesterday, YouTube has chosen to open a special content creators’ studio in Dubai next year. The outpost will be the tenth such creative space around the world and should help kick-start the Emirati YouTube space.

At the moment, the most popular YouTubers tend to be based in Europe or the United States, but the platform is taking off in the Middle East. There are already 50 YouTube channels with more than one million subscribers in the region. With the new creators’ studio and the popularity boom of YouTube in the region, we have a chance to carve out a uniquely Emirati space on the world’s most popular television network.