Sometimes a columnist must make sacrifices in the name of research. So for this column’s second anniversary your intrepid writer agreed to live out probably the most significant trend yet recorded here. Regular readers can feel smug knowing that they picked up on the online video boom here long before YouTube and Google Video began terrifying TV schedulers. But how would the brain respond to watching only the amateur videos flooding into these sites each day? What if, cruelly deprived of TV, radio and newspapers, your columnist was forced to spend two desperate weeks obsessively immersed in this stuff?

That’s what I did with my summer holidays, and, after 14 days in Italy with only a broadband connection and a crate of prosecco, I can say that this new video- sharing culture feels healthy. Sure, you have to jump past terabites of dross to get to the must-watch clips. But there is enough energy, humour and talent here to convince me that this is the route by which we’ll discover many of the next generation of mainstream stars.

So what did I find? Here are a few emerging trends. You can experience them yourself by exploring YouTube, Google Video, Digg Videos and Videosift – or, more simply, via the weekly charts maintained by Alx Klive at worldtv.com/charts. But do your family a favour. If you do make this a holiday project, look up to acknowledge the kids at least every second day.

There are real stars out there. I don’t mean media fads such as 79-year-old English widower, Peter, whose grumbles on life as "an old person" have been seen 1,617,416 times on YouTube. Look instead to natural performers such as Minouye from Honolulu and his lascivious friend Abbe, whose petty comic banter is equal to any network sitcom. Or try engrossing art projects such as the video by "ahreelee", who photographed herself each day for three years and edited the results together – it has been seen 1,896,061 times.

Home-made karaoke has somehow become cult viewing. It’s hard to see why two girls miming along to Barbie Girl could earn "Lynne and Tessa" a global fan base. Much more fun are the amateur bedroom raps in response to other submissions. One, by a 17-year-old from Brisbane, had been seen 662,747 times last week.

Corporate marketers have already moved in. Beware the strategically placed film trailers and product promotions disguised as self-conscious "viral" clips. Much moreimpressive are the professional film-makers and musicians using these sites to find wider audiences. The rock band OK Go uploaded a nattily choreographed music video that has been seen almost four million times. Now that’s exposure.

American humour is winning – but Britain’s is there, too. Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show is by far the most pirated mainstream TV show – so if you have not discovered it, start with the wonderful timeless interview with Stewart’s London correspondent, Stephen Colbert, about those allegations involving Prince Charles and his valet. Colbert explains that libel laws prevent him from giving any hints – while he sensuously eats a banana. As for the British competition, well, the short clip of the amorous English couple becoming romantic in their kitchen has become a modern classic – notably for the woman’s reaction after the man inadvertently lifts her on to a still-scalding stove...

david.rowan@thetimes.co.uk

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