Dear Readers,
When I first started posting videos to youtube, it was as part of a short lived collab channel whose videos now make me cringe every time I watch them. The only thing I really like about that channel is that through it I found the vlogbrothers.
The vlogbrothers, for those who don't know, are two brothers who vlogged to each other every day, and they are the keepers of the "nerdfighter" community on YouTube. In the nerdfighter community the word "nerd" is loosely defined. The qualifications seem to be only that you are awesome, awesome being defined through wanting to help others by decreasing world suck. It's a long story but really it's because of this community that I love Youtube the way that I do.
And why my friends call me a Youtube Addict.
I'm not going to lie, I spend a lot of time on Youtube. But that's because I personally think it has created this opportunity for people who aren't "famous" to be recognized. It's like how in the medieval age there were peasants and there was the aristocracy and no middle class. Then there was a rise of the middle class. Well I see Youtube as the rise of the middle class in the entertainment industry where status is like money. You have celebrities and then you have youtube celebrities and then you have regular people. Being a youtube celebrity is more of an honor, in my opinion, than being a "real" celebrity, just like being middle class is more impressive than being "rich". The middle class are the backbone of our economy. Youtubers are the regular people who toiled to build a fan base, not through advertisements or movies or blah, but by making their content on a regular basis and being awesome. If you have a real fan base on Youtube, you have loyal fans, Harry Potter fans, fans who will wait anxiously for your videos to come out every week, will beat down any troll who sounds like they are trying to diss you, will buy every button, every t-shirt, every c-d that they can afford. Youtubers don't have to resort to becoming alcoholics or shaving their head to regain the public's attention.
I've seen YouTube raise thousands of dollars for hundreds of charities in a weekend. I've seen YouTube unite hundreds of people at conferences and gatherings. I've seen people get just as excited over meeting Hank Green as they were to see Snookie.
Because really, in the battle between Jershey Shore and the Vlogbrothers, who has the more real reality tv?
Just sayin.
Sincerely,
Elle
