The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 4/23/09 Section: Verve

A week ago today, YouTube's life was changed drastically, and you may not have even noticed.

It was public knowledge leading up to that day that YouTube was making some big changes regarding content, and many of the big players were talking about it in their vlogs. The question: How big are the changes going to be?

The content changes were known to be as follows: YouTube would be changing their interface to accommodate licensed content from television stations and movie studios, presumably downplaying the user-generated content aspect that has made YouTube what it is today. This, of course, made most of the YouTube community very upset.

John Green, a prominent YouTube vlogger whose multi-weekly videos average about 75,000 views each, referred to last Thursday as "the day they would take the 'You' out of 'YouTube.'" Would they change the homepage links to movies and TV shows? Would we still have our subscription list? How hard would it be to find users channels?

Not very hard at all, as it turned out.

Thursday came and went, and YouTube looks mostly the same. The big changes interface-wise can be found in the new tab on the homepage labeled "Shows." It's very discreet and blends in with everything that has always been there ­­-- a good sign that YouTube knows its users like things the way they currently stand.

Inside the "Shows" tab you will find a page of featured television shows -- mostly old stuff because YouTube doesn't have the rights to much else.

Choices include "MacGyver," the original "Charlie's Angels" series, and our personal favorite, the animated "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe." On the left sits a column where users can switch over to movies, with a selection including "Starman" (who doesn't like Jeff Bridges?), "Night of the Living Dead" and "Carrie".

Continued...

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