Youtube- Are Online Stars Taking Over?
Reflection
When reflecting on my research I think it is necessary to link this with my interaction with the text, YouTube. As a consumer I view content through this platform daily and feel a personal connection with each of the users I watch. My reason for this is that I find it relaxing and the style of the videos gives the illusion that I am communicating with a friend. My initial interaction with YouTube was very one sided as I only consumed from the platform. This then recently developed alongside my love for blogging into my contribution to YouTube. Since October I have been uploading my own videos as my way to interact further on the platform.
Questions that are frequently asked to me is how many subscribers have you got? Does anyone actually watch them? And why do you make these videos?
Although to have many subscribers would be wonderful, the enjoyment of creating the content and having full creative control is what is the most enjoyable aspect of it all. This alongside research I have done makes it apparent that the main contributor to YouTube’s growth and popularity is that the users and audience find the feeling of involvement and interaction as something to work towards. YouTubers seem to be creating their own streams of interaction between each other using "tag videos", this chain begins with one user recording a video and nominating others or encouraging anyone to create a video in response. One example of this which I myself took part in was, "The 25 Questions Tag".
YouTube is a community based around participation, interaction and growth of prosumer content, this in all seems to be a factor that makes so many people want to get involved on such a large scale. If we look again at Zoella, in most interviews she is asked whether it was her goal to basically take over the internet, and in all she is just as shocked as us, the audience.
IddyBiddyPosts- 25 Questions Tag (My Channel)
Conclusion
YouTube is altogether an innovative and new way of broadcasting which has taken everyone by surprise with its success. It would seem that it is the way forward in getting known and becoming famous. What makes it such a great platform is the accessibility to all users, “with easy and affordable access to cameras, editing software and computer power, the playing field has been truly levelled.” (Chad Hurley & Fredrick Levy. 2008). With this in mind as well as the growth of technology it is the ultimate broadcasting platform.
To conclude I thought it was best to look into what the makers of YouTube had to say about the platform. They wished to create a way to make a platform for amateur video makers as well as those with more experience. They wanted to make it possible for anyone to broadcast their work and go viral no matter what their income was. In all they wanted to change video broadcasting completely to be more appealing to a creative and ever changing generation. “YouTube has always been about creating and developing something that could change the world.” (Fredrick Levy. 2008)
Finally looking once more at this in reference to Zoe Sugg, we can see how this is fully possible. Especially when we look at the reception she and other YouTubers receives at any event for example; Playlist, VidCon, Summer in the City, etc. Fans turn out in their thousands and wait hours to spend a couple of minutes with the girl who talks to them via the internet. Her name is known throughout the generation of teenagers and further. She has become a leading celebrity and entrepreneur almost overnight, winning awards, having over 7 million fans, writing a best-selling book and releasing her top-selling beauty range. She has achieved what many Hollywood celebrities would dream of from the comfort of her bedroom by talking to a camera and putting it on YouTube.
Altogether Zoella and YouTube are one of the biggest phenomenons of our generation as they talking us completely by surprise, changed our generic idea of cross platform development and also changed what we define as a celebrity. With the growth of “online stars” and our generations interaction with texts, media and platforms as prosumers and audiences it is perfectly clear that this progress has not yet reached its full potential and what that is cannot yet be defined. However it seems that we are about to enter a world where everything and everyone is made online as our much loved “ Online Stars” take over.
“Every time you post something online, you have a choice.
You can either make it something that adds to the happiness levels in the world—or you can make it something that takes away.
I tried to add something by starting Girl Online.
And for a while, it really seemed to be working.
So, next time you go to post a comment or an update or share a link, ask yourself: is this going to add to the happiness in the world?
And if the answer is no, then please delete.
There is enough sadness in the world already. You don’t need to add to it.” – Zoe Sugg, Zoella.