YouTube has undoubtedly become the most popular social streaming site. It is a community-driven platform that allows users from around the world to upload videos about virtually anything. More recently, however, people have gained fame from YouTube; these people are called "YouTubers." So what type of content can make these people with unique abilities famous?
You can't talk about famous YouTubers without recognizing the most famous one; Justin Bieber. Bieber got his start on YouTube after his mother started uploading videos of him performing covers of popular R&B songs. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, an American talent manager, and he became one of the youngest superstars at the age of 15.
Bieber has worked alongside many other R&B performers, most notably Usher, who acted as an early mentor to the child star. Bieber was the first performer to have seven songs on a debut album reach the Billboard Hot 100. He has been awarded the Artist of the Year at the 2010 and 2012 American Music Awards. He has also been nominated as Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album in the 53rd Grammy Awards. His fans are referred to as ," and his Twitter account has reached over 40 million followers.
While Bieber has gained fame from YouTube, he is not the most subscribed to YouTuber. That title goes to Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, also known as PewDiePie. PewDiePie is a Swedish video game commentator who usually plays horror or action games. He is known for his over the top vocal reactions to big moments in the games he plays, gaining popularity for his play-through of the survival horror game "Amnesia: The Dark Decent." In 2013 alone, his number of subscribers grew from 3.5 million to 19 million, placing his channel as the most subscribed to YouTube channel. Near the end of 2013, his channel was gaining a new subscriber every 1.03 seconds and as of February 2014, he has gained over 23.7 million subscribers and over 3.6 billion video views. His followers are known as "Bros" or the "Bro Army."
"I started watching PewDiePie during his play-through of 'Amnesia' and his over the top crazy reactions made me subscribe. The stuff with Stefanos was just really funny," says Tom Czerminski, senior.
Sometimes the videos don't need to be about what the YouTuber can do in front of the camera. There are many channels that make videos that use heavy CGI and rely on editing. One such example is YouTuber Freddie Wong. Freddie is known for his channel FreddieW that ran until 2012, when it was renamed RocketJump.
"I watch RocketJump because Freddie Wong is in it, and I liked his amazing CGI and video game humor. They also started the web series 'Video Game High School,'" says Matt Low, a senior.
"Video Game High School" is also partially created and directed by Wong, and its becoming one of the most popular web series, even appearing on the streaming giant, Netflix.
One can become a popular YouTuber no matter their various talents and abilities. In today's day and age, just about anyone can become famous because of YouTube's nearly infinite accessibility to millions.
dhartma2@ramapo.edu
