For this journal entry, I chose YouTube, listed under Social Web Tool 2. YouTube is essentially a video sharing platform that allows users to view and upload videos. It also allows users to post comments and to search for specific videos that they are interested in. Besides these functions, on the homepage, there are always some recommendations based on users’ past views and likes.

YouTube would be a great tool to use when we are looking to support a CoP that has been formed. There are particularly some advantages of YouTube when it comes to using it to support a CoP. The most important one among all is YouTube’s interoperability on other social media platforms and applications such as Facebook, Skype, and Yammer. Its interoperability allows easy sharing of information and knowledge on other platforms, which allows members within a CoP to use several tools in combination to better support their CoP. The second benefit we see in using YouTube to support a CoP is users’ ease of access and use on YouTube. YouTube allows users to easily access their website with an account, and a lot of users already have a google account that they can use to access. Also, the website is very easy to use, and it’s very self-explanatory so there is no further instruction needed in regard to viewing or uploading a video and posting comments. These benefits together make YouTube a great tool to support a CoP, but it’s not an appropriate tool that we can use to initialize a CoP since it doesn’t provide much functions in relation to communication. It doesn’t provide a private platform for users to chat and interact with each other.

YouTube can be used to share and transfer knowledge in many different ways. First of all, as I’ve already mentioned above, it’s interoperability allows the videos that are posted through YouTube to be shared on many other platforms. If this function is not already imbedded in that platform you are looking to share YouTube videos on, you can also share it by using URLs. The most important part of how YouTube is great at sharing knowledge is its capability to demonstrate something in the form of video instead of using tedious words and explanations. Most of us are visual learners, and we learn and follow better when we can actually see the material presented in front of us. YouTube is the way to make this happen. The search function on YouTube also allows users to quickly find the information that they are looking for and narrow down their search. Comment is another function that provides an easy way for the users to share their thoughts and questions.

All being put together, YouTube is a great tool to consider using when we are trying to better support a CoP.