YouTube 2.0

It might be premature to coin this phrase, but I think we're actually inside, albeit subtly, the YouTube 2.0 generation.

YouTube started in February 2005. For those readers that don't know what YouTube is (and I find it hard to believe you found me but not them, YouTube is a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. The sharing of video started with simple, home made video and pirated television clips. Soon, though, people began making series directly for the web. Much of these were amateur stories, but the quality grew. Soon new personalities were becoming household names as professionals outside of the system began to emerge online: Ask a Ninja, WallStrip, and the Totally Rad Show.

But now, Hollywood has come in full force. Oh, don't get me wrong, they've been testing the waters for the better part of a year but friend of all fandom, Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire and Firefly fame, came out with a very high profile webseries this summer: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

And this is the beginning of the end for the YouTube 1.0 generation.

Don't get me wrong, Dr. Horrible is a great television series episode. Shot like a web series, this little show has a budget and cast that no Gen 1.0 show could touch for its entire season, let alone for a single episode (OK, to be fair they cut it into three segments).

Time to wake up, because Hollywood is on the web and here to stay.