Research Priorities for YouTube and Video-Sharing Technologies: A Delphi Study

Online video-sharing services, particularly YouTube, have gained an audience of billions of users including educators and scholars.While the academic literature provides some evidence that YouTube has been studied and written about, little is known about priorities for YouTube research. The study employed the Delphi method to obtain a consensus from experts about areas that are most in need of research in video-sharing technology (particularly YouTube). An expert panel, identified from a comprehensive review of the literature, participated in a three-round Delphi process involving two cycles of online questionnaires and feedback reports. Participants responded to the question, ‘What should be the research priorities in video-sharing technologies (particularly YouTube) over the next 5 years?’ Seven research priority categories were identified and ranked in order of priority: (1) users, groups and communities; (2) teaching/learning; (3) social/ political impact; (4) video creation/production; (5) legal/ethical; (6) media management; and (7) commercial interests