YouTube Culture - a viewer's perspective

Hello! I'm not sure I am the right person to be writing this post as a blogger opposed to a YouTuber, but I am an avid YouTube viewer subscribed to 94 channels most of which I will watch on a regular basis and I'd say I watch YouTube for at least an hour everyday often more, I 100% watch YouTube videos way more than I watch actual TV. However recently beginning with a Sprinkle of Glitter YouTubers have been making videos about the community often what they see is wrong with the community as their channels increase in size, most notably Zoella who recently reached 5 million subscribers, and how overwhelming they are finding what they are doing. I think the most on the money video is Pointless Blog or Alfie in 'We Need to Talk'.

 

Other YouTube culture videos:

A Sprinkle of Glitter

Charlieissocoollike

Itswaypastmybedtime - A Chat With Carrie

 

My first point I would like to make is YouTubers vs Celebrities

Whilst some would differ them to celebrities, they have huge fan bases, appear in magazines... does this not happen to celebrities? Therefore I would consider them as so. I feel an argument against them being celebrities is they didn't set out to become famous, as it began as just a hobby. However actors, musicians etc I don't believe set out to be famous, but do their job because they love it and are passionate about it, personally I want to go to drama school to become an Actress because I love acting not because I want to be famous, I just want a career I know that I would love. On the other hand their are people who are famous for being famous the Paris Hilton's and Kim Kardashians of the world who make money by their name being attached to something. Is this not what YouTubers are now beginning to do with books being published, realistically are large portion of their sales are going to be from their fans, not so much because they are well written pieces of literary arts - I'M NOT SAYING THEY'RE NOT GOOD BOOKS- John Green is a best selling author and a YouTuber, I'm not condemning them!

Going on from the celebrity point... not expecting their Channel's to take off

Way back in 2007 Charlie McDonnell aka Charlieissocoollike appeared on BBC Breakfast to talk about his videos that were taking the world media world by storm link here for the interview, this I personally think is the turning point when it became possible for a YouTuber, to become someone (especially in the UK), he now has nearly 2.4million subscribers. When you have other YouTuber's such as Jenna Marbles with 13 million subscribers, I think that we can all see if you make content which is enjoyable channels can grow massively.

 

Role Models

The jist I'm getting is some YouTubers aren't comfortable with viewers having them as role models as someone to look up to, as we don't see the whole image of their lives online. But a large majority of people on social media only share the good and exciting parts of their lives, I am going to use facebook as an example when people upload pictures its generally of events such as holidays and parties for example not a picture showing your day when you've been down, this is our internet persona, so it's only normal showing the good and exciting parts. I think in Alfie's video he puts it well you can look upto those who's video you watch, the people in the video are probably going to be the same in real life, but to be aware to an extent this is a persona and they may be going through things they don't want to share, but you can still look up to them. 

 

Charity

Personally one of the most positive things to come out of this raising money for good causes. Out of my sub box Tyler Oakley stands out with his recent Birthday collaboration with the Trevor Project which in brief  'The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.' Find out more about the charity, Here, definitely worth a read. Tyler has been involved with the Trevor Project for a long while, making videos, interning in 2009 and hosts their annual red carpet event. This year for his birthday he asked fans and views to donate to the charity with an initial aim of raising $150,000 which is already a huge amount, the final amount however was $525,704 which is astonishing and will go towards helping a large amount of young people.

This website here, has other examples of fundraising achieved on YouTube. Here is an article on the Guardian website about PewDiePie's latest fundraising this time with charity Save The Children

 

Why do I watch YouTube?

I feel like some of this post has been a bit anti-YouTube, but I've tried to take a step back and had a look back on the whole thing. Therefore I think I need to say why I personally watch YouTube. I began by reading blogs, which lead me to Essiebutton aka Estee and she had a YouTube channel which I clicked on, and loved the video I watch God knows what that was, and I watched YouTube for pretty much the same reason as I read blogs for beauty, make up and fashion, something I was and am still interested in, and that is predominately what I watch, I have branched out since to cooking channels and comedy channels, but my favourite videos are 'follow me around' vlogs - I just find it interesting to see what people are doing I guess. I also like YouTube because you can watch it for hours on end, or just use it as a stop gap for a short time

 

Some of my Favourites

Estee from EssieButton

Fleur from FleurdeForce

Grace Helbig from ItsGrace

Zoe from Zoella

Jim Chapman

Lexi for So Totally Vlog/Lexi A-N

Jessie from Sunbeamsjess

Ingrid from MissGlamorazzi

and that is just the tip of the iceburg!

 

Thank you for reading if you got to the end!!!
What are your thoughts do you disagree, agree or have I missed anything out?

 

xxx

Current Faves

Hello, due to A Levels I was never going  to get a 'Monthly Favourites' style post up, so I waited for a little while and now I have a whole bunch of bits and bobs to talk about... let's hop into the post!

Tigers About the House

This 3 part programme is about two tiger cubs Spot and Stripe who were born at Australia Zoo, as part of the Sumatran Tiger species these are two very important cubs, with population rapidly decreasing in Sumatra in West Indonesia, Zoo keeper Giles has decided to hand rear the cubs himself to give them the best chance of survival to adulthood. I've found this interesting due to the Zoo's approach of looking after animals, being very hands on, which is different to what you expect. Also it is important to get the message out there to keep this species in the wild, if we can't keep such a majestic animal in the wild, how can we expect to have other less impressive, but yet still an important part of the ecosystem alive in the wild. Whilst I feel this programme is mainly about hope, however it does leave me dismayed at the human race, destroying habitat and still using Tiger bones in medicine even though their is no evidence at all that it helps various conditions, it makes me angry in all honesty. I highly recommend this to watch and the most out of everything featured!

Link for WWF website for more info about Tigers and their endangered status.

Green Tea

For a while I have been drinking the Twinings Lemon and Honey Green Tea, but recently I have moved on to Green Tea no extra frilly bits. Green Tea is said to have lots of health benefits, which you can read about on the NHS website, personally I mainly drink it as it supposedly helps your metabolism and its a nice healthy drink with limited calories.

Orange and Lime

I've been trying to go on a bit of a healthy eating kick, not eating between meals and not having cake after meals etc. (ALTHOUGH EXAM STRESS REALLY RUINED IT)  But I still need a bit of sweetness in my life. I have been opting for a combination of Robinson's Orange Barley Water and a Lime squash mixed together, I do not know why I haven't tried this before it is just literally so good and is really summery.

Hoop Earrings

Recently I bought a multi set of hoops from Topshop, as I love my really big hoops, but realistically they're not practical to wear on a daily basis so I wanted some smaller ones for day to day. I think it's quite amusing before I FINALLY got my ears pierced I used to think that hoop earrings were really chavvy and tacky, now here I am the proud owner of 4 pairs of hoop earrings how times have changed.

Paolo Nutini

As you may know Rosie and I went to see Paolo Nutini at the start of the month. Adding to that post though it's just crazy to think he was performing in my home town, and now recently he's been in like New York, it just feels slightly surreal.

Frozen Soundtrack

Yes I know that Frozen came out ages ago and that most people are beginning to get over it. But I just love it, nothing can beat walking down the stairs to the instrumental in Let It Go, the power I feel is immense! Plus the soundtrack as a whole got me through my revision.

Sweeney Todd Soundtrack

 

Sweeney Todd isn't quite as happy as a Disney film, with composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim setting out to see if a musical could scare audiences the way a film does and theme of revenge, definitely not quite so happy. I doubt I would have gone out of my way to listen to this if it wasn't for Performance Studies, because I have become a bit of a Sondheim fan, this helped me in my hours of need during A Level revision as well.

Private Berlin by James Patterson

Finally a book that scared the crap out of me however I kept on reading and reading until I finished. The basic story is that an ex-Stasi member covering up his crimes committed before the Berlin Wall came down in order to disappear. This quote is from the blurb to give you more of an idea 'Mattie Engel is one of the rising stars at Private Berlin, and believes she's seen the worst of people in her previous life with the Berlin police force. That is until Chris, her colleague - and until recently, her fiancé - is fond dead, brutally murdered in an old slaughterhouse outside the city'. Private is a detective agency based in LA and has offices all over the world with the series of books covering all of their different office, a favourite of mine is Private London. All the books in the series are page turners if I really wanted to I am pretty sure I could finish one in a day and I am not a fast reader!!

The current book I'm reading is Bridget Jones's diary, much less gritty.

If you do take anything away from the post please look at the links I put into the Tigers About The House section please. If you would like me to do any further posts on Tigers or endangered species as a whole then let me know, as it is something I am hugely passionate about!

Thanks for popping by!

xxx

June Wishlist

Hello! Seems like long time no blogging, but now i've finished my A Levels I have all the time in the world, i'm aiming to get at least one post out every week, but hopefully more like two as my minimum. Now with revision comes boredom and with boredom comes hours of browsing on clothing websites, meaning that throughout my 'intense' revision I have got quite the wishlist... here are the best picks from my selection.

1. Gingham Pelmet Skirt

2. Beach Please Sweater

3. 90's Crop

4. Zara Lace Dress

1. Why has this made it onto my wishlist I hear you ask! Well let me tell you, I think this cut of skirt is super flattering it is the same cut as my PVC skirt which i love but it's too warm to be wearing PVC in the summer. Secondly its gingham and gingham is fab so nooo arguments there.

2. This from the ASHISH X Topshop collection, which has slogans written across them which are that little bit witty. And this top makes me giggle and it would be very entertaining to wear because those innocent people in society just think you want to go to the beach (like my mother), where as most people will realise if you say beach in a certain way the slogan becomes 'Bitch, Please'. All the wit there ASHISH but i'm sold. Plus it would be very comfy so thats always a good thing!

3. I don't know if you've noticed but the 90's are very big right now, the very decade of my birth. With the trend being seen all around one example is Kylie Jenner, who seems to be loving it! I want to ease my self in to the trend with a halter neck like this.

4. This has been on my pinterest for a while now just sitting there staring at me, then I went into town at the weekend went into Zara, and I saw they dress there, I simply cannot explain my undying love for this dress, I'm not gonna lie it is very odd to have these feelings towards a clothing item, and I could wear it for meals out, garden parties, afternoon tea... basically I will find any reason to wear this. The rave about the dress I do NOT own, and that I do not know if it will suit me or not is now over!

Thanks for popping by!

I should have loads of exciting posts hitting your screens soon!

xxx

Paolo Nutini 2nd June @UEA LCR

Hello! This is indeed a very exciting blogpost :D In the midst of exam revision on Monday I went to see Paolo Nutini with one of my bestest friends Rosie, it was my first gig and technically Rosie's second, if you can count seeing the sugar babes when you were 11 as a gig?!

Oh My Goodness it was sooooo soo good, the atmosphere was electric, I don't know if this is a stupid thing to day but he just sang with total passion and conviction, his music is just fantastic I really love his new album, but seeing him live was just so much more, THAT MAN IS MADE TO PERFORM LIVE. I thought you may like to hear Rosie's thoughts I have asked her to sum up the gig in three words and have directly copied her message 'phenomenal, outstanding and mind-blowing'

After the gig which was freaking awesome, we were two of about 20 waiting for him outside stage door (is it called that in gigs?!) I was a bit hesitant about waiting to meet him, as on interviews he is a bit vague and unbothered... however he wasn't like that at all he was funny chatty and an all round nice guy. Did I mention Rosie got a lil kiss on thee lips from him, which I think made her life... which she has summed up as 'earth-shattering, surreal and perfect :3'

Finally we need a quick special mention for his arms which oh my are basically perfection they are muscley with a little bit of vein but not too much that its ugly.

 Hope you enjoyed this post!

Regular posts will appear when A Levels are complete

xxx