Armed with mobile phone cameras and the internet, a new generation is growing up very publicly with online videos – but are being failed by adults who are not paying proper attention to this new medium, according to Demos.
The study, called Video Republic, by the left-leaning think-tank, examines the rise of the YouTube generation and considers how their enthusiasm and skills can be encouraged.
The report makes recommendations to help adults cope with the changing virtual environment, and calls on schools to help children to understand the long-term implications of living their lives in a semi public way.
"Schools, universities and businesses should prepare young people for an era where CVs may well be obsolete, enabling them to manage their online reputation," says the report.
"This generation of young people are guinea pigs ... we need an educational response that extends beyond the focus of safety, towards broader questions of privacy and intellectual property."
The findings suggests that creating video blogs and online diaries should be part of the school curriculum, used by schools in the same way that they organise museum trips or extra art classes.
Celia Hannon, who led the research, said: "It's now as normal for teenagers to write a blog as it is to write a diary – that's a massive shift," she said. "Youngsters are working out their relationship to the outside world and forging an identity."
Ten hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute of the day and figures show that Britons are watching more than 3.6billion videos online each month – a rise of 56 per cent from last year.
YouTube, which is owned by internet giant Google, dominates the market with 20 million viewers in Britain, while the BBC trails a distant second with fewer than 6.5 million online viewers.
The report identifies that politicians can use online video as a way to engage with apathetic youngsters – but this strategy would work better if young people were empowered to approach the internet on their own terms.
"The government is pouring vast amounts of money into this, because they feel young people should be making themselves heard," Miss Hannon said. "But people can see through it – bloggers say it feels contrived."
Instead, she offered the example of the US presidential candidate Barack Obama, who has seen interest from young voters after he encouraged them to exercise their creativity online.
"Obama is the first 'YouTube politician' because he gets that you can't control it. His campaign team get that it's about the enthusiasm."
