The Rise of YouTube
We can all admit that we have used YouTube for some reason in our lifetime. Whether it is use to post a video, or watch a video, YouTube has any video to suit our interest. It has also become a big part of individuals who post on their YouTube channel often. Youtube has become a starting point for YouTuber’s career. Not only has YouTube grown to be a huge website, but it has grown to becoming a starting ground for fame.
People can develop a job through YouTube because it has become a website that can unleash talent. It can help gain recognition to their expertise in certain areas: music, fashion, makeup and video games. YouTube has done just that for certain creators, and brought them success. But, some negative issues also happened to YouTube creators. Let’s first explore the history of YouTube and how it developed into the website it is today.
The History of YouTube: Where it all began
On Februrary, 2005, Youtube was formed by : Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. Its headquarters location is in San Bruno, California, and is owned by Google. Since then, YouTube has become the third most visited website after Google and Facebook.
Since 2005, YouTube has now garnered over 1 billion users. Also, 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. You can watch videos in 61 languages and is available in 71 countries. YouTube has gotten to the point where people can start their careers from this website.
The first ever video uploaded to YouTube called, “Me at Zoo,”features co-founder Jawed Karim. It is a brief 19 seconds video of Karim discussing about elephants at the zoo.
Terms and Policies that hinder YouTuber’s
Of course there are policies and regulations to keep videos in order on YouTube. There are also some policies that can hinder a Youtuber when it comes to their revenue. Nintendo has a policy that impedes video gamers in the YouTube world.
Nintendo has a strict policy claim when it comes to any YouTube gamer who shows Nintendo content. For example, doing a “Let’s Play,” with Super Mario brothers. When a creator posts their video they are able to collect money from the advertisements. But any video you post in relation to any Nintendo games will remain viewable, but it will be flag. This happened to YouTube gamer, “Angry Joe,” with his video. The creator will no longer be able to collect any advertising revenue from that video. The money will go to Nintendo.
Nintendo recently released new guidelines that will make YouTuber’s a little more happier. Nintendo will allow YouTuber’s, 60 per cent of ad revenue for their Nintendo videos. The company will be more lenient and give 70 per cent to channels dedicated to Nintendo content.
Some Rising Stars
Musicians
Justin Bieber
YouTube is not only a place to watch funny videos, but also a place to start your career. A popular singer, whom we may all know of, from Canada, became famous after posting his singing videos on YouTube. Justin Bieber was lucky enough to become noticed after posting these videos. Who knew that could happen? YouTube has made a gateway for people to get noticed and to make it big in the singing industry.
Tori Kelly
22 year-old Tori Kelly started her career off of YouTube. She hit it big after she posted an acoustic cover of the song, “Thinkin’ about you,” by Frank Ocean on YouTube. The video went viral and it currently has 23 million views. She recently performed at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, among other A-list celebrities.
Kelly has been into music at a young age because both of her parents are from a music background. Kelly won the, “America’s Most Talented Kid,” in 2004. Also, she appeared on season 9 of American Idol when she was only 16 years old. Unfortunately, she did not make it to the live show. Kelly was first noticed after performing at Room 5, in Los Angeles. Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande’s manager signed her after seeing her perform. Kelly released her first album in June 2015, titled: “Unbreakable Smile.”
Beauty Gurus
Michelle Phan
One of the first YouTube beauty guru’s, Michelle Phan has made a name for herself from YouTube. Starting out 7 years ago, Phan has attracted around 7 million subscribers to her channel. She became popular after posting makeup tutorials on: Lady Gaga, Sailor Moon, and Barbie.She has evolved into more than just a makeup artist on YouTube. In 2013, Phan announced her new makeup line, partnering with
L’Oreal, called “Em Cosmetics.” “Em” meaning “you” in Vietnamese- Phan wants women to tell their story through makeup. Now Phan has moved on to bigger things. Phan announced in 2014 that she wants to launch the next beauty influencer like herself. Phan created IPSY, which is a subscription that gives you products for you to try. So with the help of Ipsy studios, they will help the next beauty influencer. They will provide them with professional equipment, workshops and mentors.
Bethany Mota
Another beauty guru who also enjoys making makeup, and “Do it Yourself” videos is Bethany Mota. Bethany Mota started out on YouTube, which now has 9 million subscribers. Mota started making videos at the age of 15 because of dealing with bullying at school. YouTube was a gateway for her to express herself and to distract herself from the bullying.
Mota hit it big after partnering with Aeropostale to create a clothing line for young girls in 2013. With the success of the clothing line, she later released two perfumes. She gained more fame, after becoming a contestant on ABC’S, “Dancing with the Stars.” Through YouTube, she gained recognition in the public eye and has even won two Teen Choice awards.
YouTube Gamers
PewDiePie
YouTube gamer Felix Kjellberg, “PewDiePie,” is the most subscribed on YouTube. With almost 40 million subscribers, he is one of the first to do“Let’s Play,” videos. These videos show his reactions to videos games in a commentary box on screen. PewDiePie also does vlogs, and will soon release a 250- page illustrated book. His new game for iPhone and Android called, “PewDiePie: Legend of the Brofist,” was just released in September.
In a video PewDiePie posted called, “draw my life,” he describes his life and how he got to YouTube. PewDiePie was into art, and created most of his artwork on Photoshop. After displaying his artwork at an exhibition, he earned enough money to buy a new computer. He used his new computer to make gaming videos on YouTube. At one point in college, he quit and started selling hot dogs to make money.
VanossGaming
A Toronto native YouTuber is the second most subscribed YouTube gamer. VanossGaming, also known as Evan Young does his share of playing video games. He does it with some commentary while playing video games such as, Grand Theft Auto Five, and Call of Duty. With around 11 million subscribers, Young makes about 300,000 a month for his videos. Fong ended up dropping out of University after his channel blew up in his second year of being on YouTube.
Playing games on YouTube wasn’t Fong’s first ideal choice. Even though his channel was created in 2011, it wasn’t his main focus. His first choice was to play junior hockey and wanted a scholarship to play in the U.S. But that didn’t work out, so he went to school full-time until his YouTube videos got more viewing time.
Controversial YouTube Scandals
Sam and Nia
While many Youtuber’s become popular, once known, any mistake you make will become public. There have been many controversies dealing with YouTuber’s, there are two recent ones.
A sort of “YouTube Stars,” recently had their share of viral fame from YouTube. Sam and Nia, a vlogging YouTube family, went viral after posting a video of them lip –syncing to a song from the movie Frozen in their car. They went viral again after a video of Sam surprising Nia, by letting her know she was pregnant.
Three days later, they vlogged saying Nia had a miscarriage. Everything was fine until the Ashley Madison hacking incident came about. The names of people who had an account on the website were open to the public; Sam, being one of them with an account. A lot of people were upset with Sam, even after he posted a video apologizing and saying Nia forgave him. Many individuals started to wonder whether Nia’s miscarriage was true or made up to get views. This is because they tweeted, “Our tiny baby brought 10m views to her video & 100k new people into our lives. She turned our life around & brought us closer together.”
The issue got bigger when Sam approached another YouTuber at Vlogger fair. The result of this led Nia and Sam getting kicked out of the event. The family recently started vlogging again after almost a month break.
Zoe, “Zoella” Sugg’s, book controversy
Zoella had her share of controversy after launching her debut book, Girl Online. Controversy stirred after her fans found out that she had a “ghostwriter.”
Zoella has a huge following on YouTube with around 9 million subscribers. You could consider her to be a beauty guru because she posts makeup tutorials and vlogs. Zoella decided to write her first fiction novel. The book sold 78,109 copies in its debut launch. People were upset because Zoella did not write the book by herself but had help from Siobhan Curham, a children’s author.
Zoella said yes she did have help, but the storyline and characters were all hers. Once the whole conflict was unfolding, she took to Twitter and tweeted: “Bare with me on vlogmas. I’m taking a few days out and off the Internet because it’s clouding up my brain. Thanks for understanding.”
Zoella continues to make YouTube videos and is now working on the second book to, Girl Online. She has made it clear to her fans that she will be completely writing it on her own and with an editor.
This is Not the End for YouTube
What started out as a website with one video uploaded to it has grown. It’s a website where you go to watch videos of your interest, and is a place where people can start their career. If you haven’t checked out any of these YouTuber’s out, go ahead and take a gander at them. You might find a new favourite.
YouTube is still rising. Just recently YouTube announced new shopping ads to their website called a, “digital storefront.” With this, whatever item you see on YouTube, you can buy it right there and then. The reason for this is because increases in people go to YouTube to find out what product they would like to buy. So this is not the end for YouTube.
Works Cited
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What do you think? Leave a comment.
We are grossly underestimating the beautiful times were living in. Im SO grateful to be a millennial.
Agree!
I’ve spent so much time watching, learning, and enjoying content on this site in my life and I’ve been thinking for a while that if I started making videos, my first video would be one about thanking YouTube for what it does. It’s just been such an awesome platform.
YouTube is really great 🙂
I still remember the days before YouTube, watching things on Funnyjunk and other sites to see flash videos. YouTube has been a rapidly growing platform that I consistently use in my daily life. It’s interesting to see the history and know who started on YouTube and where they’ve gone since.
I miss that website, I wonder if it still exists?!
It’s interesting how loud YouTube can allow your voice to be. Even if you do mess up, you have a platform to defend yourself. You may get shouted down, but you can always post and re-post. Essentially I think YouTube is a huge magnifying glass for how the online community works. Sure there is a lot of dross, and some of the ugliest stuff you’ll ever see, but there are also enough videos for a good weekend binge that show how wonderful humans can be. Nice article.
That’s a great observation, thanks for the feedback!
Another musician who got famous through the utilization of YouTube was Lindsey Stirling, AKA, the Dancing Violinist. She did a lot of music covers of video game and movie soundtracks like Skyrim and Phantom of the Opera and eventually released her own music. Last I checked, she just reached over 7 million subscribers. I also have a YouTube channel where I vlog about metal, writing, and books. It would be nice to become famous, but for now I just enjoy having a channel.
Yes, I remember seeing her on America’s Got Talent. She is great!
YouTube’s greatest quality is its accessibility. Nearly anyone can create an upload a video, and the nature of the site doesn’t require videos to have high production value in order to be successful. It’s why so many “average” people have been able to find fame or share what they love with the world.
So true.
Youtube has become the place where I consume the most media. Instead of television series, I’m watching Youtubers upload content, so it’s nice to see an article that explores this platform and some of the controversies. Thanks for this article!
I hear ya, I am so obsessed with vlogs! And you’re welcome 🙂
Cant even remember last time i watched tv.
For me it happened this past summer, but that’s only because I was at my parents’ vacation home in a very sparsely populated place with forest all around, making video viewing via internet pathetically slow. Yeah, can’t imagine being at the mercy of a TV only and it’s been seven years now since I dumped my own telly completely. I haven’t missed it.
Thanks for the information! I’m doing a project on YouTube!
Glad to help, I hope you do well on it!
YouTube is so much more than stupid cat videos. And yet, that remains the prevailing stereotype. Why, there’s a wealth of beautiful classical music and compelling commentary and discussion on a variety of topics if one takes the care to ferret it out.
Thought-provoking piece.
So true! Still guilty of watching cat videos though, haha.
In my opinion, the coverage of this article on You-Tube has been very well achieved. The pros and Cons have been spelt out clearly; and it is for the viewers and users to judge the path of using You-Tube towards positivity.
Thank you!
Another platform to make your ideas and opinions go viral. There’s definitely nothing out there like YouTube!
So true, I love it!
I remember using google video and then finding youtube. never turned back. it was such a long time ago
Haha, same here!
Great article, I think Katy Perry also started on YouTube which is pretty cool.
Did she really? That’s awesome! And thank you 🙂
No problem, unfortunately I can’t find it now but I believe she briefly discussed it during the YouTube awards she hosted a few years ago
Wow, I might have to research that.
Maybe I was mistaken, its bothering me and I can’t find it anywhere haha!
I think this is a great article! I like that you mentioned vloggers in various areas and that you showed the scandals along with glamour. It was also very well written.
Thank you very much, I appreciate the comment!
Sadly, YouTube is banned in one of the biggest country–China! unbelievable!
Really?! I never knew that.
It is also worth mentioning that YouTube has been instrumental in the rise in Edutainment – videos that both entertain and educate. Check out Crash Course, Big Think, and In A Nutshell for examples.
I will indeed check that out!
As other users have noted there are many educational videos on YouTube. In other words the superfluous stuff can hook people onto youtube, they will sooner or later encounter one of these educational videos.
So true!
I love the diversity on YouTube, there is a video for every genre and topic.
Yes, I guess that’s why we are so hooked to it!
YouTube is a testament to our need for expressing one’s thoughts, talents, and creativity. It is the result of a long journey that started with syllables, drawings, and alphabets to culminate in a global thought market where we have achieved the ability to send our thoughts and experiences all over the globe. We live in wild times.
Of course, there is a dark side to all of this; one which we must always be aware of to sustain a healthy virtual community: Irresponsible expression, greedy marketing, politically driven cyber warfare, and lazy/shallow content.
Personally, I see the current YouTube as a thriving place for entertainment and intellectual stimulation offered by some talented and dedicated individuals such as book reviewers, tutorials, educators, and talented media creators.
Good job with the article!
I hope YouTube continues to deliver in quality.
Thank you! Also, great observation; I hope YouTube continues delivering quality videos as well.
I’ve been on YouTube since 2006-7. Time flies…
Indeed it does!
YouTube is one of the best avenues for entertainment right now. The freedom with which creators can post, while of course not complete, allows for some wonderful content. It also allows for room to make a lot of people successful, which we haven’t been able to see at any other point in entertainment history. There is, however, a lot of white noise because of that. Now everyone thinks they can be an entertainer, and that their lives are interesting enough to warrant views.
Interesting thought. Never thought about that!
It was… in 2015.
Youtube has been a powerful platform to express.
This article caused me to think about how YouTube differentiates itself from other social media platforms. Great job!
This is a thoughtful and thorough overview of Youtube. Thank you!
Youtube is easily one of the largest artistic changes in media in this generation. The power and influence of youtube on our culture is vastly unappreciated and I’m so glad that this article recognizes youtube creators as artists and not just vloggers. Vloggers are a new artist among this era and their medium has boundless possibilities.
I found your article very interesting as I think the history of Youtube is a very important topic. I think you highlighted some interesting Youtube figures that does way better than Wikipedia would! Nice job. Agreed also with one of the first comments that we are living in an amazing time!
Youtube has changed from a website that invited all kinds of people to post their videos to share to a website that is all about money. Now this is true of most things in life but its very apparent with Youtube in particular. I remember back when youtube was still new there were a lot of social components that made it more interactive. You could leave comments on a page directly and add other Youtubers to a friends list. It made it almost similar to myspace (throwbaaaack). As youtube got bigger it seems like Google favored streamlining everything to generate maximum profit and take out that human element. As someone who does upload videos I can safely say that the way Youtube works is a lot like capitalism. It really only benefits the mega popular channels while all the smaller ones get ignored. Especially when it comes to copyright issues. But like what was stated in this article, Youtube isn’t going anywhere. It is way too integral to our lives. But here’s hoping they make it less machine and a little more human.
This is one of the best articles about youtubers. This article clearly points out how people have benefitted from YouTube and highlights the scandals. As a fan of vloggers on YouTube, I find the relationship between viewer and content creator one that is more personal.
Youtube as a whole intrigues me. You can basically do whatever you want, and that’s an unprecedented level of freedom. Youtube is obviously trying to make more money (a la YouTube Red), but I have to admit, all of these people and scandals listed above are still a marvel to behold in this day and age. People make a living doing what they love. What more could you ask for?
I pretty like this article. I am really convinced that YouTube provide a lot of advantages : at first, we can get a free access of several types of videos, and this was very useful. YouTube also allows some people to express themselves, through different ways : music, makeup, videogames, etc.
I think that the rise of YouTube won’t stop, because this is so useful, because we need to get a free access to videos, because YouTube also helps the advertisers and this is the reason why the access to YouTube is free for everyone.
What I was expecting to see was a section addressing the commercials that now appear on YouTube. I mean, the ads have been there a long time, but the commercials are new and the commercials that run over a minute long (some even in excess of 7 minutes!) have become beyond ridiculous. I’m sure many YouTubers have playlists set up so we can go from one video to the next without skipping a beat.
I personally like to create playlists of music or meditations I want to hear while I sleep. Waking up to a loud and long commercial has interrupted my slumber too many times that I needed to stop using YouTube as a sleep aid.
Woah! I totally subscribe to Ipsy. Had no idea, she started on youtube,but when I saw the picture I was like.. hmm she looks familiar.
Also… I wish I had joined on the getfamousthroughyoutube bandwagon when I was like.. 7 years younger…
Great article. I use YouTube a lot to watch Let’s Plays and book reviews. It’s a pretty fantastic site, but not without its feuds and controversies.