YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts

Chapter 14. Closing Arguments

Michael W. Dean

This chapter is a veritable manifesto on life. If you're wondering, "What the heck is this doing in a tech book?" well, feel free to ignore it. Alan and I have already delivered on the promise of the book title in the first 13 chapters, so consider this a free extra. But we believe that every how-to book should contain some "Why?" to make sure you use your new skills for good, never for evil.

Here you'll find words of encouragement, some sidewalk Zen on the art of living life (online and off), some talk about new things you can try going forward, and a little bit of a good ol' punk rock pep talk. This is the commencement speech that takes what you're doing on the 'Tube and rockets it beyond…into the future of your life, and the lives of every citizen of the planet Earth.

Alan and I talked a little before about "not making YouTube your world." I want to tell you why you shouldn't and, moreover, how you can change the world and become part of the global community, using YouTube as a jumping-off point.

What's Wrong with the Internet

You know how in every horror movie and sci-fi movie, one character is the portent? This is the grizzled old miner who says, "You youngsters shouldn't go camping out there tonight. It's the anniversary of the night them other kids went missing. Folks 'round these parts say a witch done ate 'em!" Or it's the crazy scientist who says, "We should listen to these signals from space! They're a warning! These aliens ...