The Era of the Vlogger

In this past week's readings, we read an article about the entrepreneurial Vlogger by Jean Burgess and Joshua Green. In this article, they talk about YouTube and how the vlogger, or video-blogger, has shaped the YouTube community. According to the article, "vlogs make up almost half of the top thirty Most Subscribed channels on YouTube." To the people who don't quite understand what a vlogger does, basically they create videos that are "typically structured primarily around a monologue delivered directly to the camera, vlogs are characteristically produced with little more than a webcam and some witty editing." So how can someone doing something so simplistic become some of the most popular people on YouTube and even the whole Internet? Unlike videos uploaded by big networks or other professional companies and people, vloggers are a lot more direct and personal with their viewers. Like the article says, "More than any other form in the sample, the vlog as a genre of communication invites critique, debate and discussion. Direct response, through comment and via video, is central to this mode of discussion." Vloggers are able to be entrepreneurial because they put out their content and stay very active within the community.

When I think of vloggers, one big name comes to mind: the British twenty-some year old vlogger, Charlie McDonnell. This article talks about how "Charlie McDonnell has become an international star with his web channel charlieissocoollike by becoming the first British person to generate a million regular viewers on YouTube." I started watching his videos back in 2010 and he fully deserves the views and fans. The beautiful thing about a successive vlogger is that it is their own content and work that has gotten them to where they are in life. Charlie has worked on multiple collaborative projects with other people like producing three albums, two of which are with some of his friends about Doctor Who and all three can be found on iTunes, but he creates all of his videos. No one else is scripting what he says or does. It's purely him talking to a camera in his room or wherever he may be. Just like in Burgess and Green's article, Charlie McDonnell is also very keen on being direct and personal in his videos. He says, “When people watch YouTube videos, they're usually just one person sitting in front of their computer, and so with that in mind, I try to make my videos more personal, like I'm speaking to one person rather than a big audience." Charlie has not only succeeded as far as a fan base goes, he's also made money from YouTube. Often a viewer will hear him say how making videos is his job and he doesn't need to work anywhere else. Because of his earnings, he has been able to skip university and start his media career in London where he also purchased his first house all paid for from the money made from YouTube.

Charlie McDonnell has been a huge inspiration to me as I have started up my own vlogs. He was just a normal teenager and now he's a celebrity and making money by doing what he loves. Going back to the first article, it says "that amateur and entrepreneurial uses of YouTube are not separate, but coexisting and coevolving." This is completely true. People often start on YouTube as amateurs, but as they improve and their viewership increases, they become more involved with the community. If they're lucky enough, they may even get paid for the videos they produce and many vloggers from that point create better content and sometimes like to give back to their viewers. They appreciate your subscribers and often ask for requests and ideas to please the audience. Vloggers run the YouTube community for a very good reason. They have imagination that only they can have and we live in a time where original content is preferred. So many times TV shows and movies are knock-offs or remakes, but vlogs are full of completely original works.