Do You Tube? When communication turns into video e-nteraction

The paper identifies some specific characteristics of the interaction through videos on the webiste YouTube. An intricate network of communication threads are created by video responses and written comments and video-communication seems to exploit maximally the potentialities of a never-ending multi-directional and multi-authored hypertext, where apparently all media and modes of communication merge together and migrate into one another. The paper tests these aspects of video-interaction, by examining an example of a communication thread stemming from one of the 'Most Responded' videos on YouTube. After an introduction to the history and current extent of YouTube and a discussion of related theoretical and methodological issues, the analysis focuses on some specific aspects of video-interaction, relying on studies of computer-mediated communication, linguistics, conversation analysis and multimodality. Finally, the concluding section singles out some key principles that seem to govern this new form of interaction.