YouTube is one of the biggest social media platforms, in the year 2016, it is accumulated that over one billion active people go on youtube in one month. "If YouTube were a country we'd be the third largest" Said Creators of YouTube. As a person who has had both cable and Youtube in their lives I would chose Youtube over cable anyday. Don't get me wrong I am still an avid TV lover but it has gotten easier to watch TV on my computer with platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime etc.
With the attention YouTube has been getting people have started to make a living off YouTube. Some of their creators make up to six figure salaries per year. YouTubers such as Swedish creators Pewdiepie who has over 49 million subscribers makes a total of 7.4 million per year. Other major YouTube channels are JustinBieberVEVO and RihannaVEVO but most of the most subscribed YouTube channels are from the people who have turned YouTube into job.
YouTube has become its own culture and has become a major way for businesses to get their product across a bigger audience. TV has commercials but starting at a random person telling me how great a makeup product does not have the same effect as a person I watch everyday telling me how much they like it. YouTubers talking about a product has more of a effect than a spokesman. You want someone who you feel like know personally and trust to tell you about a product than a spokesman.
YouTube has also been the cause for many viral sensations such as
The Cinnamon Challenge
https://www.google.com/search?q=youtubers+talking+...
The Whisper Challenge
https://www.google.com/search?q=whisper+challenge+...
The One Hundred Layers Challenge
https://www.google.com/search?q=whisper+challenge+...
Some of the Creators of YouTube have become so successful they are starting to branch off YouTube with book deals, being on TV and creatoring their own makeup being sold in major stores such as Target and Walmart. This past fall YouTuber Miranda Sings created and started in her own Netflix original show "Haters Back Off." And becoming household names for their them and their products. Youtuber Troye Sivan came out with two EPS and one album all three were both in the top ten in the Billboard 200.
Youtube has also become a gateway for people and their coming out as being gay, bi, trans etc. Coming out videos have reached over 10 million views with hundred of thousands of positive comments of support.
Youtube has become much more than a website to others, its a place to learn and share and find people who make you genuinely happy. The platform has everything from tutorials of how to clean a bathroom to a family showing you their daily lives. There is always something to new on this website that brings people from every aspect of the world together.
