Blog #4: Social Media, YouTubers, and So Much More

The Internet not only changed the way we consume entertainment sources like radio and TV, but it created new forms of entertainment all its own. So much so that Internet-specific entertainment is now an entertainment culture of its own, full of celebrities and large profits. In this post, we’ll look at different forms of Internet entertainment and discuss how they change the way we entertain ourselves. It is important to note at this point that I’m not including things like Netflix because I previously discussed websites like that.

One form of entertainment that has truly permeated our entire culture is social media. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and others transcend many cultural and social barriers. Some studies have shown that the average person spends nearly an hour on social media sites per day! These sites help us stay connected and make new connections in a way that could never have been imagined two decades ago. While these may not seem like entertainment in and of themselves, the way we use them is often for entertainment purposes! Recall that two main reasons we entertain ourselves: boredom and relaxation. Just today, I’m positive that you have used social media in a moment of boredom or as a break from work. This is exactly the phenomenon of which we speak. There is something uniquely entertaining about scrolling through Facebook and Twitter for a long time, seeing what other people are up to and what is going on in the world. The Internet has changed the way we entertain ourselves because we know find a good source of entertainment in checking out the lives and activities of others completely in secret behind a computer or cell phone screen. Furthermore, social media sites often serve as the launching pad for more entertainment content on websites like YouTube. Social media as entertainment is an entirely new concept that could not have existed without the Internet.

Speaking of YouTube, I’d say that this video sharing platform is the greatest example of the Internet changing the way we entertain ourselves. YouTube has become its own entertainment culture in a way. Started in 2005 as a small website for uploading video, the website has now exploded in popularity, with 1 billion active users each month, making it the second most popular website on the entire Internet. 1 BILLION. 1/7^th of the world uses YouTube on a monthly basis! YouTube claims that 300 hours of video content are uploaded every minute! I feel that I don’t need to say any more. The numbers speak for themselves. Without the Internet, YouTube would not exist. That 300 hours per minute of entertainment content would not exist.

Internet entertainment has truly created its very own entertainment culture. First, we had radio culture followed by the boom of TV and movie entertainment culture. I firmly believe that the 21^st century is the entertainment culture of the Internet. Internet entertainment is a booming business in which people can make a comfortable living and thrive. YouTube personalities, known colloquially as YouTubers, are a prime example of this. YouTubers with a lot of subscribers can monetize their videos, have their videos sponsored, and sell merchandise. These YouTubers create such a passionate following among their subscribers that they are hailed as celebrities in the same conversation as the biggest movie stars in the world. A YouTube convention called VidCon draws people from all over the world to meet YouTubers and meet fellow fans. Look at what happened when Logan Paul, an incredibly popular YouTuber walked out among the crowd outside this year’s event.

The bigger your fan base, the greatest the potential for profit. Felix Kjellberg, owner of the largest YouTube channel, is likely to make in the range of $12-15 million dollars annually. As YouTube channels increase in popularity, their production levels increase. They often hire writers, editors, and production assistants to help with the creation of all that channel’s videos. For example, Good Mythical Morning is an incredibly popular YouTube channel with over 12 million subscribers, hosted by two self-proclaimed “Internetainers” Rhett and Link. During most of the year, they post daily morning videos. Compare one of the first videos posted to their channel to one released this year. The evolution and growth of the channel is evident, as their production quality has skyrocketed over the years. These videos are incredibly professionally written, edited, and performed. There is nothing amateur about this. This is Internet entertainment culture.

Internet entertainment as business is not consigned to YouTube. Recently, a graduate student named Jonathan Sun, who runs a comedy Twitter account called jomny sun, signed a national book deal and released a book “Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too: A Book” to wide acclaim. He has had the opportunity to speak at multiple events and write a book all because of his use of this Twitter account.

There are numerous other ways that the Internet is changing the way we entertain ourselves, but I believe the examples of social media and YouTube are the clearest indication. How do they change the way we entertain ourselves? In a meta way, they create an entirely new entertainment culture. Social media and YouTube are HUGE multi-million dollar businesses with their corporate arms reaching into various parts of culture. On a personal level, these two Internet entertainment sources give us instant access to entertainment at any time in any place. This echoes our discussion in previous posts. The Internet gives us unparalleled access to unparalleled amounts of entertainment content with incredible speed. When we’re loading a YouTube video, I get frustrated and impatient when I need to wait for more than 5 seconds for the video to load! I don’t say this disparagingly, but rather to show that the Internet has primed us to expect entertainment all the time and expect it quickly. As a result, it is possible that we get bored more easily today and our attention spans are not used to waiting. But this is besides the point. What I hope is now clear is that the Internet has absolutely changed the way we entertain ourselves. It has changed the way we use entertainment technologies like radio and TV, while also creating its own entertainment culture on social media sites and YouTube. It has given us more access than ever before to more entertainment than ever before with faster speed than ever before. Something tells me this trend will not stop soon.