As people are increasingly sharing their accomplishments with an extended cyber community, users are intensely analyzing what they consume and even questioning its validity and credibility. After eight months of endless hard work, research, and testing, Jarno Smeets, a mechanical engineer from the Netherlands, purportedly flew one hundred meters with his self-built wings. In his triumphant video, he showcases what appears to be his flight and his emotional reflection. Thanks to the extensive reach of social media, over a million people have seen this video in less than three days. However, many people are openly disputing and questioning the authenticity of his claim by bringing scientific evidence and examining the lower resolution of the video. This controversy elucidates what individuals risk when they publicize their personal achievements–they may face intense and even ruthless criticism, even to the point of delegitimizing and undercutting their self-esteem and the entirety of their achievements. While it was the most viewed clip among 13-17 year olds all of yesterday, it’s currently the tenth most viewed video among 13-17 year olds and the fifth most viewed among males.

Adding to the slew of political satires, Hugh Atkin stitched together footages of Mitt Romney’s numerous speeches and interviews and his political opponents against repetitive background music. Atkin’s video debunks the notion that we can truly understand the true beliefs of political candidates, as they seem make so many contradictory statements. Certain sound-bites, however, have been tastelessly manipulated to portray Romney in a ridiculous and farcical light without giving any sort of meaningful commentary or truly humorous take. Given the enormous amount of content on the web, users have every right to judiciously determine what they see as enlightening, humorous, or tasteless. While no longer in the top ten, it was the second to fourth most viewed video among males and females yesterday. It has accumulated 1,604,387 views.

Film creators are releasing trailers of Summer and Fall movies already, even targeting those who do not regularly go to movie theaters. “Prometheus,” an apocalyptic sci-fi film directed by Ridley Scott, was the most viewed video on Monday across both genders. It will come out on June 8, 2012. Likewise, the trailer for “Breaking Dawn–Part 2,” is topping viewership charts especially among 13-17 year old girls, not surprisingly. While this movie will not come out until November 16, film production companies choose to build momentum for release of high budget films months in advance by posting teaser clips and trailers on YouTube. This video has 1,918,269 views, #2 among all 13-17 year olds and ranked #4 and #3 among males and females, respectively.

Also this week, several clips of talented toddlers captivated teen viewership. One of these videos is a promo for a dance studio, Studie43, and it features an adorable two year old boy who dances the jive in the limelight. While this may seem like a home video at first glance, smaller businesses like Studie43 are apparently studying YouTube trends to positively promote themselves. After all, so many people love cute toddlers or kittens dancing. It’s the fourth most viewed video among all 13-17 year olds and females and the fifth most viewed among males, with 1,824,936 hits.

Another home video starring 2 year-old Makena singing Adele’s “Someone Like You,” has garnered over 5,244,324 views. It is currently the third most viewed video among all 13-17 year olds and the second most viewed among females of that age group. Indeed, pop culture shapes kids as young as age two, and this explains why it’s important to have positive strains of pop culture to empower youth, even the youngest of the bunch. In response to this video, many other parents have posted clips of their children singing Adele. While this may be a way for parents to showcase their utmost pride for their talented children, sometimes one cannot help but question whether this is a healthy practice for the children, who have little say in what parts of their earlier life to publicize. Ten years from now, what will children think of the idea that their personal home videos are available on YouTube? Will they feel somewhat violated, or will this have become such a traditional practice with the rise of social media, particularly YouTube, that they won’t mind? Furthermore, all the statistics and comments that come with it just further complicate matters. While most of the comments are very positive and over 27,000 people liked Makena’s video, 754 people have officially disliked it. That’s not even counting the harsh comments below, which say, “can’t sing!” or “I wouldn’t call this singing–just half-mumbling the words.”

Whether one likes it or not, YouTube is just changing so many notions of what to publicize and what to keep personal.