Demos the influential left think tank has just published a report titled Video Republic. And it makes for interesting reading. In it they use Nerimon, an 18 year old YouTube user with subcribers totaling 30,000 as an example.

Generally positively deposed to user generated video and sites like YouTube, it includes a quote by Jeff Jarvis, also one of ZuluZulu's favourite media commentators.

"The revolution won't be televised, it will be YouTube'ed"

They're sounding a bit like Forrester Research with their Groundswell book does Demos. Forrester argues that social media is a trend, a groundswell where people turn to each other for things that where previously provided by corporates.

Demos argues that the Video Republic also promises a redistribution of power and has the possibility for a new kind of democracy.

Cecilia Hanon a researcher and lead author of the report made an telling observation in the UK Guardian with regards to the denizens of the Video Republic:

"Youngsters are working out their relationship to the outside world and forging an identity."