We live in an age where the online world is rapidly becoming more popular than television and online figures are gaining celebrity status. With 300 hours of video being uploaded to Youtube every minute, the website provides endless and instant entertainment for free. Better still, if you have a Youtube account you can refine the videos so that only the content creators that you want to watch appear on your subscriptions feed, and creators similar to those you like are suggested, so that you can explore your interests.
Youtube was founded in 2005, but arguably gained status around 2007, when vlogging first became popular, and viewers became more interested in the comings and goings of strangers than cat videos (although who can beat a good cat video every now and then?). Vloggers such as "The Vlogbrothers", with their "Brotherhood 2.0" project, in which two brothers only contacted each other through their Youtube videos, became the forerunners of Youtube videos.
I started to get interested in Youtube in around 2010, which now seems like the "innocent" days of the website. I liked vloggers such as Charlie McDonnell "Charlieissocoollike", Lex Croucher "tyrannosauruslexx" and Craig Benzine "WheezyWaiter". I was drawn to comedic vloggers who would fill up my time with entertainment, rather than people who would teach me anything. "The Vlogbrothers" were still going strong, although no longer undertaking their two year project, they provided me with knowledge about music, dumb historic facts and issues in America. One of the brothers, John Green, is a successful author, with two of his books being made in to films. I also liked the vlogger Alex Day, I found him very funny, and his friendship with Charlie McDonnell was admirable and inviting: they made you feel a part of a secret, nerdy culture that supported each other. However, this friendship ended last year, after allegations were made against Alex Day regarding sexual abuse, and due to this I have also stopped watching Alex's videos.
I started to get interested in Youtube in around 2010, which now seems like the "innocent" days of the website. I liked vloggers such as Charlie McDonnell "Charlieissocoollike", Lex Croucher "tyrannosauruslexx" and Craig Benzine "WheezyWaiter". I was drawn to comedic vloggers who would fill up my time with entertainment, rather than people who would teach me anything. "The Vlogbrothers" were still going strong, although no longer undertaking their two year project, they provided me with knowledge about music, dumb historic facts and issues in America. One of the brothers, John Green, is a successful author, with two of his books being made in to films. I also liked the vlogger Alex Day, I found him very funny, and his friendship with Charlie McDonnell was admirable and inviting: they made you feel a part of a secret, nerdy culture that supported each other. However, this friendship ended last year, after allegations were made against Alex Day regarding sexual abuse, and due to this I have also stopped watching Alex's videos.
It is at this point that I will mention the popularity of the genre "British Male Vloggers that Appear Attractive to Young Female Girls". I don't understand why in particular they have to be British, but this is definitely a recognisable category of vloggers, who gain the type of followers that a popular boy band may get; often referred to as "fan girls". This was seen to be relatively harmless, until it came out that a number of these vloggers were allegedly sleeping with their underage fans, spawning a massive internet-wide debate over the issue of consent on Tumblr, Youtube and otherwise. This caused some prominent faces to disappear from the mainstream, with vloggers such as Alex Day being ousted from the internet by angry ex-fans.
Many Youtubers took this as an opportunity to educate their young audiences about consent, making the best of a bad situation. They recognised how dangerous it was to have such young, impressionable fans being influenced by older people who were not moderated and were free to do as they please. Youtube gatherings had by this point turned from fun meet-ups, where you could chat to fellow viewers of a particular person, to fans just insanely mobbing their favourite Youtubers, and had become dangerous.
Now, I mostly watch Youtube to watch people play video games, which sounds odd, but this stems from me being terrible at video games myself and also from being one of the younger, female cousins in my family and therefore only being able to watch the older, male cousins play. I still watch Lex Croucher, and admire her growth from "funny Youtube personality" to someone who people can genuinely look up to in regards to her feminism and animal charity work.
Beauty gurus have gained a massive popularity of late; people who teach viewers how to apply make-up, style their hair, or share clothing hauls. A notable guru is Zoe Sugg, "Zoella", who has recently released a book, appeared in the Band Aid 30 Christmas song, competed in the BBC Bake- Off Celebrity Special and has just been placed as a waxwork inside Madame Tussauds. With rumours circling that she has bought a £1 million mansion, it is difficult for people to say that you can't reach celebrity status through Youtube anymore.
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