So where is the satisfaction in watching YouTubers you might ask? The popularity and rise of these online fame characters of YouTube have been posting since the very beginning of the site founded in February, 2005.
Top 10 of the most popular YouTubers by number of followers:
- Pewdiepie – 51,941,416 subscribers
- Holasoygerman – 30,661,035 subscribers
- Smosh – 22,531,665 subscribers
- ElrubiusOMG – 22,465,881 subscribers
- VanossGaming – 19,646,239 subscribers
- Nigahiga – 19,009,475 subscribers
- Fernanfloo – 18,356,257 subscribers
- Yuya – 17,042,329 subscribers
- JennaMarbles – 16,705,910 subscribers
- Markiplier – 16,026,368 subscribers
These YouTubers with their popular presence online encouraged a certain way to be presented/edited/uploaded. This is how their viewers them imitate them, by presenting their lives online, on apps and social media, in an edited form. Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook have said to limit a representation that is to reveal only the ‘best bits’ of some ones life. But with everyone encouraged by the media to look in a certain way, this is going to create some long term effects on the younger more susceptible audiences.
Do you edit photos before uploading or post an Instagram of your socialistic ‘perfect’ picture?
Returning from the imitation games conducted by their actual viewers, lets look into the reasons why YouTubers are watched by so many. The term vicarious suggests to live through someone, which is made so easily accessible by their idealistic vlogs (video blogs).
But where is the fun in living vicariously?
It would completely differ with the themes these YouTubers actually produce videos about. Family life, traveling, playing video games, holidays, special moments, makeup, fashion, difficult times and the list goes on. All of these genres certainly create a large engagement with at least some of their content being relatable to some one. If their content is relatable then it would make sense on why their demographics for their YouTube channels are of a certain kind. Pewdiepie ranking top of the list (seen on Vidstats.com) having a 13-24 mostly male demographic. Whereas Zoella (a beauty blogger) with 11.5 million subscribers has a demographic of mostly females between 10-18 years old.
Why are you watching them?
It is certainly an interesting concept, login online to watch someone else live their life, sharing their experiences on a camera. We seem to be interested in our own lives on our technological devices, so where did the jump across to watching these vlogs happen? No one is for sure, however the ‘day in our lives’ style of video is now one of the most popular daily video uploading style seen online.
Previously in a blog post we discussed the popularity of the same style of videos on the social media apps Snapchat and Instagram. However are we really all so interested in everyone else and their individual lives? It could be said that this is now the case for the app users creating their own ‘story-vlogs’.
Popular UK Vloggers (not in any particular order):
- Tanya Burr
- Jim Chapman
- Marcus Butler
- Zoella (Zoe Sugg)
- Pointless Blog (Alfie Deyes)
- Thatcher Joe (Joe Sugg)
- Sprinkle of Glitter (Louise Pentland)
- Caspar Lee
- KSI (Olajide “JJ” Olatunji)
- Pewdiepie (Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg)
- The Syndicate Project (Tom Syndicate)
With these YouTubers and their many talents its no wonder that people around the world tune into their channels to watch videos about their lives. Having daily schedules on when they upload and doing it solely for their online followers, it almost another world of how others chose to live.
Relatable to you?
But with the YouTubers having such lavish lifestyles and copious amounts of cash to do what these please for the camera, are these setting up unrealistic ideals for their audiences? Helicopter rides, multiple holidays to the Maldives in one year, and owning a small collection of small dogs? Is this the average audience members life? No, probably not. So how do these YouTuber stars become so relatable to their widely diverse audiences? This is entirely questionable.
Do you watch any of these YouTubers? And if so which ones? Why do you watch them and why are their lives so easily accessible and viewed by millions?
Another question is, have you ever thought that you would be able to create the same amount of fame if you were to create a YouTube account and were to upload videos on a daily or weekly schedule? Do you think it would be popular and for what reasons?
Shall we try it out?
If you’ve been following this blog then you will have seen the normality in living behind the phone screen and even other media devices. Watching some examples of Vlogs on YouTube I believe that we should give it a try, so I’m inviting you to follow a day in my life and the technology that I use in a typical day off from university.
Hoping that its an interesting capture of my life. This interpretation of a YouTubers vlog style ‘day in the life’ video will show the amount of devices I use along with how long I use them for and how many times during the day. So I am looking forward to the next instillation of this blog and I hope you are to.
Vlog will be available on my next upload in a few days.
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