Look through your browser history--or don't--and count how many YouTube videos you've most recently watched. If you're like me, you've probably spent copious amounts of time watching cat videos or perhaps footage of your favorite band behind the scenes. I can't even begin to count how many times I've watched certain YouTubers over the course of the past couple days.
When you think about watching YouTube, most people simply think about looking up a certain topic; such as "funny cat Vines" or "kid falling off a bike while playing the ukulele". Many people, on the other hand (myself included), are avid viewers of many of today's hit "YouTubers" (or YouTube celebrities). I'm not afraid to admit that I watched all of PewDiePie's Amnesia: The Dark Descent playlist or that I have a music playlist dedicated to Lindsay Stirling and Pentatonix. I don't go to YouTube to look for a few minutes of entertainment--I go to connect and idolize these people like they are celebrities. They are celebrities, but maybe not in the same sense as Kim Kardashian or Robert Downey Jr, they are the internet's version of celebrities. They are the products of being "YouTube sensations".
Does this mean that anyone can become a celebrity? Indeed. You may not be able to make it big on television, but if you post a video of your cat falling off the counter--you might become a star. YouTube can make anyone a celebrity through the use of views, advertisements, and various other methods. Many of the people that are now considered "Famous YouTubers" or whatever other glorified name they are given were once a "normal" person.
Of course, YouTube has the tendency to create celebrities, but it also has the ability to break them down. I'm sure you have gone online to find videos of your least favorite politician just to watch them suffer and be humiliated. Your view counts. Every view that is on an embarrassing video to one celebrity/politician may end up destroying their reputation as an artist or whatever they are. This is what breaks many people down. The amount of power that a view count has is astonishing.
Does this make YouTube a weapon of mass chaos? Oh, praise be the Goddess, it does! So much can happen from one video to the next. One day you could be the most watched person and the next... well, you could be the laughingstock of the entire internet. And no one wants to be the butt of the joke.
Peace~!
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