That Sticky Icky?

  So, Youtube has been hailed as the 'stickiest' sight on the internet, but how and why is that sticky icky so irresistible?

  Now that you have finished watching... well whatever it is you watched, think back on how long you spent watching the video.  Now think: did you click on some related links, did you forward this to a friend, did you tweet it, did you post it on Facebook, did you post it on a blog?
  All of these things contribute to why Youtube is so sticky.  I can't tell you why we are so addicted to watching babies be babies, or people failing at life, or videos of cats being absurd, or puppies being cute; but I can tell you we are, and that for 2011 Youtube had over one trillion views (1,000,000,000,000).  That is approximately 140 views for every person on the planet!
  Some have their own opinion of why Youtube is so addicting; see the following article.  I can agree with some of these people, but I believe that Youtube is so addictive because it is not network television.
  Youtube is not only instant access, instant learn anything, instant replay, instant sharing, instant memories, it is instant everything.  I view anything I can find in the blink of an eye (depending on 30 second commercials and my internet speed).  I can learn how to make bombs, or pick locks, or fold an oragami swan, or cook a duck, or write a poem, or anything I am studying in school.  I can watch newsreel bloopers, I can watch old sports games and old MTV videos.  But even more importantly, I can post these.  I am in control of the content.
  Like everything else in new media I have control of the content I post.  Unlike having to watch whatever the TV Network deems appropriate or valuable I can film what I want and then post it to the internet.  I have instantly become my very own producer, director, actor, sound technician, director of photography and whatever other credit I choose to give myself.  And boy, don't we kids just love that instant control!

Cartoon From Randy Glasbergen