The booming world of Youtube is becoming a cultural phenomenon. Over the past 10 years, the vast platform has grown significantly since it was first established in 2005 by founders Chad Hurley, Steven Chen, and Jawed Karimin. Its content covers a wide range of topics and advice on those topics, offering tips in addition to the personal experiences of the individuals who create these videos. From sex education and relationship advice with youtuber Lacey Green, to clean eating and vegan knowledge from creators like Laura Miller and Niomi Smart; even mini science lessons with Hank Green that will help you survive whatever science class you may be struggling through. But youtube videos can also be shown through a different filter as an art form. For example, Casey Neistat or the Michalaks whose camera shots or, “silky montages” as Stef Michalak phrases it, can leave the watcher in awe of what they just experienced through their computer screens.
The different styles of videos and content are accessible to hundreds of millions of viewers. Another popular example of increasingly produced video content on Youtube are video blogs, also known as vlogs. These videos give a visual account of the behind the scenes architect and their every day life. Although it is compacted into a short 15-20 minute clip, it appears as if its almost a mini reality show, except it cuts all the overly dramatic crap. The viewer experiences real examples of another person’s life and point of view through a digital platform, and there is nothing quite like that out there.
However, some of the content created may be questionable in terms of its authenticity. For example, some creators may title their video with a catchy slogan to get views, also known as “click bate.” Between the capitalized, in your face titles and the regurgitated challenge videos, it is difficult to determine if some creators are just making their content for views.
Youtube has expanded drastically over the last 7 years, meaning the audience has changed and expanded over the course of that time as well. The concern of authenticity comes into play when individuals who have seen certain youtubers climb their way to the top of the stratosphere, so to speak, in terms of the income and fame that comes with having a popular channel. For example, youtuber PewDiePie has whopping 44 million subscibers, and further down in the youtube ranking is Zoella, who has a following of over 10 million subscribers. Popular content creators now rake in a generous revenue from their views and the opportunities youtube has allowed them.
However, back in the early days of the site, many youtubers speak about how they had a different sense of morality when it came to Youtube. The platform was just starting out, and many channel creators used it to express their creativity, and to share their unbiased opinions of topics and products with others, before ad sponsorship exploded in the youtube world. In the last year alone, advertisers displaying their ads on youtube has increased by 1,000%. So, how are viewers supposed to determine the honesty of the new generation of youtubers and their intentions towards their viewers? Other than taking their word for it, the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is the quality of the types of videos that are being made.
One of the biggest corners of youtube is dedicated to its own section of creators called beauty bloggers or beauty gurus. To some, these youtubers that collaborate with makeup and clothing company’s may seem materialistic and it is in a sense. But there is also a lot of unbiased content produced by these so called beauty gurus who simply want to teach via tutorial style. As a woman, the pressure to look a certain way and to conform to social norms of what “perfect” is is impossible. Does youtube content unintentionally glorify this image of perfection and needing to be perfect? Maybe. Maybe such tutorials or recommendations on certain products involuntarily gives into that. Or maybe these are women who grew up wishing they had examples to learn from on certain concepts like makeup, and skin care. Beauty vloggers aren’t simply limited to the outer appearance of beauty. They are creators of discussions and forums that implement videos on critical topics like body confidence and introverted personalities, with youtubers like Grace Victory, Estee Lalonde and Samantha Maria. Even delving into the “not so perfect” side of life and sharing their stories on depression or domestic violence. These are women who encourage and support others to be confident and that that confidence should be celebrated.
However, no matter how someone may view a situation, the creator included, your point of view will always be challenged by someone else. In this world of over 7 billion people, Youtube has at least 1 billion active users every month. “If YouTube were a country, we’d be the third largest in the world after China and India,” Youtube claimed. However, with high numbers comes an increase in the number of critiques. The comment section below these videos contain some of the most hateful, ugly, one-dimensional opinions and accusations that tear down Youtubers. Many content creators have shown their vulnerability by putting themselves out there, in a world full of scrutiny and judgement or “hate” as it is popularly phrased. Handling such criticality can be very overwhelming and eveyone handles it differently; from Zoella’s “Sometimes It All Gets A Bit Too Much” video to Jenna Mourney, aka Jenna Marbles, in her video “Reading Mean Comments.”
Youtube’s boundaries are limitless. However, the pros and cons of that freedom will always exist. It’s simply part of the infrastructure that makes up this other-worldly Youtube culture.
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