Purpose

The purpose of this study is to document and analyze the success story of YouTube as a social network site in a competitive market, offering important academic and managerial implications.

Design/methodology/approach

Historical methods were used for investigation. This study applies the Resource-Advantage theory to identify key events in the history of YouTube from archival documents and evaluates and synthesizes the evidence to recount the channel’s evolution.

Findings

YouTube faced challenges from competitors across various industries since its launch. It has used its global user base and technological skills to develop innovative market offerings for users, contributors and marketers. YouTube built long-term relationships with stakeholders, continuously adapted to external changes and initiated internal alignments to compete in multiple industries. Over time, despite several changes in the competitive landscape, YouTube has grown into a successful media firm, competing across traditional broadcasting, gaming, live TV streaming and SNS industries. It is an exciting tale in the history of social networking.

Originality/value

This study significantly contributes to the marketing history of social network sites and platform-specific scholarship by applying the Resource-Advantage theory to document the evolution of YouTube.

中文翻译：

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社交网站和竞争：YouTube 的故事，2005-2015

目的

本研究的目的是记录和分析 YouTube 作为社交网站在竞争激烈的市场中的成功故事，提供重要的学术和管理意义。

设计/方法论/途径

采用历史方法进行调查。本研究应用资源优势理论从档案文件中识别 YouTube 历史上的关键事件，并评估和综合证据以叙述该频道的演变。

发现

YouTube 自推出以来就面临着来自各行业竞争对手的挑战。它利用其全球用户群和技术技能为用户、贡献者和营销人员开发创新的市场产品。YouTube 与利益相关者建立了长期关系，不断适应外部变化，并发起内部调整，以在多个行业中竞争。随着时间的推移，尽管竞争格局发生了一些变化，YouTube 仍然成长为一家成功的媒体公司，在传统广播、游戏、电视直播和 SNS 行业中展开竞争。这是社交网络史上一个激动人心的故事。

原创性/价值

这项研究通过应用资源优势理论来记录 YouTube 的演变，对社交网站的营销历史和特定平台的学术研究做出了重大贡献。