Twenty-eight Days 'til thirty...The YouTubes...

So if you have interacted with me at all in person for an extended period of time and there was an internet signal handy...you have probably been pulled down a rabbit hole of YouTube video madness.  Have you seen this one?  How about this one?  Oh, you'll love this one!  Each video reminding me of another video creating an invisible queue in my head...sometimes I won't even let you finish the one you're watching before we move onto the next.  It has even rubbed off on some of my friends...some of us get together exclusively for YouTube night where we each share videos that we like whilst eating snacks and perhaps a cocktail or two.

So how did this...let's call it...connoisseurism, start?  I honestly can't remember exactly how it started, but I know it was around 5 years ago when I started regularly checking YouTube as often as Facebook or any other social media site.

But most people don't realize that there is an entire other side to YouTube.  It's not just cat videos and people falling down.  I think there are three main types of people that frequent the site.

1. Content Creators - These are the users on YouTube whom create their own content.  Comedy, News, Musicians, Artists, Gurus, Vloggers.
2. Content Consumers - These are the users on YouTube whom log in purely for viewing pleasure.  Most of the people whom you see comment on videos would fall squarely in this area. 
3. Content Copycats - These are the users whom share (many times illegally), movie clips, commercials, music videos.  Basically unoriginal material.

Now the above areas are a HUGE generalization.  There are varying levels of each of these types of users.  For example, I'm a content creator, but on a very very small scale.  I fall somewhere in between numbers 1 & 2.  However, there are some content creators whom make a living off of their YouTube channels (Grace Helbig, Alex Day, Hannah Hart to name a few).

There is a whole community-side to YouTube that most people don't know exists.  You can subscribe to your favorite content creators and each time they upload a video, it's there on your homepage waiting for you.  There have been a lot of people whom connected creatively through the site and gone on to do huge projects together.  There are several conferences across the globe dedicated specifically to YouTubers (VidCon, Playlist Live) and some of these conferences were started by probably the most famous Vloggers (Like a blogger but with videos) on YouTube, Hank and John Green...the Vlog Brothers.  It really has developed into its own subculture.

I'm pretty sure I started nosing around YouTube out of boredom one day five years ago and stumbled onto my first vlogger.  From there, it was the fast track to watching my YouTube subscriptions more regularly than I watch any TV show.  I don't know...maybe it's because it's perfect for a limited attention span.  Entertain me in less than 5 minutes then onto the next!

With that being said, I could probably talk and talk about the YouTube culture, it's benefits, it's downfalls, the community aspect, etc for pages and pages, but I'm not going to bore you with that.  Instead...onto the clips!  These are a few (emphasis on few) of my favorite clips:

The first vlog I watched.  Ground zero, this is where it started kids:

This one with many YouTubers talking about one of their amazing annual projects:

This is one of my favorite comedy vloggers:

These are two of my favorite musician YouTubers:

And yes, here is one from my own channel that Ashlee and I put together:

I'm going to stop there, and be glad that I'm not sitting there whilst you watch these clips, because I would have another 50 on deck for you to watch as well.

Through YouTube I have been able to discover so many talented composers/musicians, comedians, writers, and just all around awesome people talking about what they do from day to day.  If you ever want some video recommendations, never hesitate to ask.

BYEEEEEEE!