Today, seven in 10 adult Internet users watch videos, and 50% report watching humorous videos, up from 31% in 2007, according to the most recent survey by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. Viewing educational videos jumped from 22% to 38%.

"There's certainly decent evidence out there that consumers like both professional as well as amateur content, whether it's passing on a clip they saw on Comedy Central or sharing something done by a name you may not really know," says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew project.

"But again, definitions easily get blurred," he adds. "If I'm shooting high-quality video of a classroom and posting that, is that an amateur video? The terms are really losing their meaning. And users increasingly don't care."

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