Youtube Celebrity Wannabe

I was cruising through youtube a while ago and stumbled quite randomly onto what is known as a youtube celebrity. What is a youtube celebrity you ask? Because there are quite a few of them. Basically, they are young, goodlooking people who have zany, strange and random personalities. Requirements for being a youtube celebrity: Must have strange slogans, odd-looking clothes, be a bit of a nerd, and extremely technologically advanced (i.e. very good at filming and editing videos).

So think about the nerdy A.V. people at your highschool and those are pretty much the people that end up being famous. The amount of views on these people's videos are insane. I mean really, one 3 minute video of people making strange faces, wearing strange clothes and re-enacting their favorite pokemon scene gets 300k hits? Wow. 

They almost always have strange usernames as well. I mean, I totally get that, I also have a strange youtube username. But it's the name that they become known for. So people who spot them walking down a street call out in an insanely loud voice"Nanalew! is that you??"

What I find to be the most intrigueing part about the whole thing, is that they have found a way to make it a career. Most of these youtube celebs don't have regular jobs. Their videos are funded by ads (the more plays, the more adviews, the more revenue). They also tend to make appearances at conventions like VidCon and go on national tours. You wouldn't think that would really make much money, but the truth is, it DOES.

Sometimes I look at these very eccentric videos and I think, "How? How did they come up with that? How do they do this for a living?" It may not exactly be the kind of thing you can put on a resume, or brag about at a dinner party. "So what does your daughter do?" "Oh... she's a youtube celebrity."
It definitely pays the bills and no doubt can be a springboard for all sorts of interesting career tracks.

The nerd in me is always interested in the software they use, or the type of wide angle lens they film with. These are things I usually try to tell my husband INSTANTLY when he walks into a room asking me why in the world I'm watching a video of a girl with a bunny hat dancing around. "Um.... it's because of the lighting! I really love the lighting! And the retouch color finishes are fantastic. No really..... that's why I'm watching this absurd video."

See, now I've got you curious don't I? Don't worry, I won't leave you hanging. Here is a link to my possibly favorite youtube personality: Meekakitty
I like her because she's strange, and funny and loves to do fun music videos and lip synchs. But she is also a WIZ, I mean a total wiz with the camera and editing. Fantastic if you ask me. And while her videos can be a little eccentric, they have an oddly addicting quality to them.

Who knows, maybe one day I'll be youtube sensation: Lannyjane. And you can all point back to the day when I was just plain old Erin Warkentin, random blogger and livingroom dance expert.