The phenomenon in which one navigates to a single video hosted on Youtube (either by URL from email, friend, forum post, by searching, or otherwise) and find yourself clicking on related videos until you wake up hours later to find yourself watching Chocolate Rain for the umpteenth time or enjoying the musical stylings of Rick Astley.

The YouTube Effect can apply to any other video, image, music, etc. site that shows related files or pages on whatever page you are viewing.
Shit, I told myself I'd only watch that ONE Lady Gaga video on YouTube, but before I knew it, it was 3 AM and I was watching mindless crap like fat ladies yelling at skater kids. Damn YouTube Effect...
by WerriamMebster February 2, 2010
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When you go to a video, but then you get distracted and click on 'related' links until you are watching sneezing pandas.
Results include:
Bad Grades
Getting Fired
Gaining interest in something new
Teacher: Student, did you do you're homework?
Student:No...
Teacher:WTF u little nagger! YTF u not do ur homework u choob! Now I am going to DEVOUR UR SOUL! No longer will u get all A's for special Favors!
Student:Its not my Fault Mrs. Teacher.... It was the Youtube Effect!
Teacher:O... k. Tht makes sense. Ur off hook... go back to ur work
by Nick Haveran May 10, 2009
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The effect where a YouTuber will play a video game and their mindless sheep followers will start playing the game. This is usually good, but in roblox, it can result in cringe ass nae nae games such as tycoons to explode in the big money.
Fuck Denis and Flamingo. Their bitchass followers caused tycoons to flood the game section, leaving no room for the good games and causing the creators of the actually good games to use bots to get their games slightly noticed. God damn this YouTuber Effect
by BlueCaekz June 3, 2020
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The proccess by which a funny video, viral or not, is deemed unfunny by someone. This occurs when said person is told to watch a video by a freind, relative, the person who created the video, or some other person.

The reason it occurs is because the person being told to watch the vdeo is expecting something funny, which may not have been the case with the person who is telling the other person to watch the video (this person may have stumbled upon it, or if they created the video, overestimate how funny they really are)

Members of Youtube often destroy their chances of having their video go viral by saying things such as "omg go watch my video-it's so funny!" on the comments section of other viral videos-people are expecting something funny, and are let down when the video in question isn't as funny as they expected

Some videos are exempt from this effect, such as "HaHaHa" (the video of the laughing baby)
James told Shaniqua to go on Youtube so she could watch watch "Charlie Bit My Finger"- because of the Youtube Effect, James was on the floor laughing, while Shaniqua forced a laugh, expecting something funnier then what she saw
by repoed2 February 7, 2010
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