The first time you ever watched a YouTube video was likely in 2006 or 2007. The video was probably “Charlie the Unicorn,” the “Shoes” music video, “Charlie Bit My Finger,” “Fred,” or another video that an average person decided to upload to the new video-sharing website that would eventually create modern day celebrities: YouTube.
When YouTube first started out, it was used mostly to upload funny homemade videos. It consisted of skits, poorly done auto-tuned music videos, cat videos, parodies or animated series. YouTube was a hobby – not a career, much like it has become now. YouTube was used for fun and no one really had the intention of making money off of it because no one thought that was actually possible. YouTube launched its “Partner Program” in 2007; this allows video makers to earn money on their views – this created a new phenomenon and career called being a “YouTuber.” The term is not only popular, but an accepted career.
YouTube has transformed throughout the years. While average people still can and do upload to YouTube, the website is mostly filled with popular career YouTubers. These people can make millions of dollars a year – and some of them do through the partner program, picking up sponsors from businesses that know they are popular, and some of them even getting real gigs in Hollywood, YouTube has allowed the average person to become a millionaire. A prime example of this is Colleen Ballinger, otherwise known as Miranda Sings. She made 5 million dollars in 2016 – this income is a combination of funds from YouTube, her memoir and her Netflix series.
Of course there are still people who still make videos because they genuinely enjoy it and want to create content, but some take advantage of the platform YouTube can give the average person. “Clickbait” is a popular term used these days, meaning one creates a ridiculous title with a misleading thumbnail in order to get more clicks, more views and therefore, more money. There are lots of people famous for this, one of the most prevalent being Trisha Paytas. Trisha has appeared on nearly every TV show there is because of her ridiculousness on the Internet – she’s appeared on “Dr. Phil,” “My Strange Addiction” and more. Her net worth is estimated at two million dollars, and her videos are mostly “story time videos.” As a past sex worker and someone who claims to be the sugar baby of several famous men, she has lived a life that most have not; which is part of the appeal of her crazy story times
YouTube has changed but so have most things. In 2007, Myspace was relevant, very few had Twitter, Spencer and Heidi were still famous, and your guilty pleasure was watching Fred on YouTube. I suspect that people making a career out of YouTube are not going away any time soon. And though things have changed since we watched our first YouTube video, it’s still the website we know and love – especially when we need a quick makeup tutorial.