Article by Lilia Rodriguez

YouTube

Job, Hobby, or Entertainment?

An article by Lilia Rodriguez

I

t’s October 2001, a baby girl is born in the country of Israel, she is raised in Israel until age 9 and then moves to Chile for one year. She makes new friends and learns Spanish, the native language. One day, she gets the news that she is moving to America, the United States of America, that is. She is excited and nervous but also sad that she is leaving her friends behind. This girl is, Camila Bes, a current aspiring Youtuber.

By the time Camila was settled in America a new technology/video-sharing website had started blowing up, did you guess it was Youtube?

You are right! After discovering Youtube, Camila’s creativity ran wild.

Youtube came out several years ago and people have decided to take advantage of this rapidly growing platform by creating careers out of it. People of all different ages and backgrounds come up with content and film it. The people who post these videos are known as “Youtubers”. A direct definition from the Oxford dictionary states that a “Youtuber” is “a person who uploads, produces, or appears in videos on the video-sharing website YouTube”

Youtube; Job, Hobby or Entertainment?

(Oxford Dictionaries). Now more than ever, in this generation, youth are inspired to create their own YouTube Channels but many question whether or not Youtube as a career is a safe path to follow. In Camila’s case, she hopes to continue with a Youtube career and get famous, but she will always have her studies backing her up as a plan B.

Camila Bes began creating videos in middle school after she was inspired by a very popular Youtuber at the time, Bethany Mota. In an interview, Camila stated, “I watched a lot of Youtubers... I watched Bethany Mota and I loved her and I really wanted to be like her, kind of. So I made videos and then I decided to post them, but that was only once I learned how to edit. So I filmed a lot and then I learned how to edit” (Bes). Although she was a little hesitant at first, Camila started posting her videos publicly starting in high school. As you may know, English wasn’t Camila’s first language, so moving to America was a bit of a struggle especially since she didn’t know much English. But Youtube was a big factor in helping her with English which also added to her passion for YouTube. Camila further explained her situation by saying, “I moved here six years ago, so I learned most of my English watching Youtube videos and I was obsessed with

it... I really looked up to Americans and the way they spoke and the things they did and I watched all that on Youtube” (Bes). Youtube wise, a struggle for Camila is the pressure of social status. When asked what the challenges about being a YouTuber, Camila described the feeling of being stuck when she compares her channel to those who are ‘thriving’ on Youtube with big subscriber and viewer counts. But then she came back to reality and realized that it is not why she created “I really looked a channel because and the way the she did it to make others happy whether it is things they did a one person or a thouthat on Y sand.

Although Camila will always depend on school as a backup plan if Youtube doesn’t work out, she does have role models who have succeeded in the YouTube world.

She even went on to say, “Obviously everyone knows James Charles and you know, I’m not that much like of a beauty guru and all that but I think it’s really amazing like the amount of time and effort he dedicates into his videos” (Bes). James Charles is a boy who blew up after his yearbook photo with his highlighter “Poppin” went viral on twitter back in 2016. Soon after, he became the first male ambassador for CoverGirl

Camila Bes editing a new Youtube video

and that’s when his career skyrocketed. In a Vogue article about his success, it stated,

At the time of writing, Charles has over 6.8 million subscribers on YouTube, 1.32 million Twitter followers, 6.7 million Instagram followers and 125,000 likes on Facebook....and has his own line of Sisters up to Americans merchandise, Apparel. He ey spoke and the has one of the most and I watched all engaged followings on YouTube, many of Youtube” whom, as one learns when attending his live show, are not afraid to call him out on, well, anything they see fit.

This article was written last August and as of now, James has already gone up 15 MILLION subscribers! His current Youtube subscriber count is 16,061,269+ and it continues to grow as we speak. As you can see James Charles’ career with youtube is up-most thriving. In Charles’ case, we can see that YouTube worked out as a career choice. In addition to Charles’ success, there is also a story about a couple

of adults who decided to drop everything and become full-time Youtubers. These men, Ammarxz, 24, Thomas Brag, 25, Matt Dajer, 27, and Bobby Derin, 27, decided they were tired of their traditional jobs and ‘Each of them put aside what most would call “stability” and “success” (much to the dismay of their parents) to pursue a risky, ambitious project that would come to be known as the “Yes Theory” ’ (Shopify). Yes Theory is now a very popular youtube channel with over 3 million subscribers. These men decided to take a risk and it turned out for the better because now they have created a job for themselves that they actually enjoy.

James’ situation is incredible and the Yes Theory may persuade you to switch up your career but before we get too ahead of ourselves we have to actually look into logistics and face reality, what are the chances of this actually happening to you? Or even just the basic question of, Can you actually make a living out of Youtube?

Youtube is seeming to make it harder and harder for upcoming/new Youtubers to make money from ads. According to Washington Post, “The company [Youtube} recently said channels need to have reached

Youtube; Job, Hobby or Entertainment?

1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time over the past 12 months before they can earn money from ads” (Washington Post). Depending on how much content you produce and whether or not your content gets noticed, this could take a while. In another interview with Youtuber, Nicole Ge, also known as Nic0le on youtube with over 70,000 subscribers, she helps us better understand the way you make money from AdSense, she adds that “on YouTube, for every thousand views you get an amount between like a dollar and 7 dollars... and it’s just depending on like how your viewers interact with that video and such and it gets recommended to other people based on that interaction...

I have been monetized on YouTube since September and I generally make around $300-600 depending on the months” (Ge).

Following that, a harsh reality from a fortune article explains that, “If you’re a series regular on a network TV show, you’re getting a good amount of money...yet you can have half a million followers on YouTube and still be working at Starbucks” stated Alice Marwick, an assistant professor of communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Fortune). Ge agrees with the views of Marwick and goes on to say, “ I feel like a lot of people like dream about like YouTube being like a good career path but realistically it’s not viable like only like, what is it 3% of YouTubers, actually- like who are doing YouTube actually make it. As in like getting enough to support from- support

a living and such and if you look at it 3% is really low compared to like a traditional job somewhere” (Ge). As we can see, Youtube can be a platform for many, whether you want to make money from it, use it as a hob ....by, or even just watch it. In another ....interview, with a Youtuber who is ....still trying to grow their channel, ..Natalie Lo states, “I use YouTube .for a hobby just to make videos for my friends to watch, for my families to watch...I think it’s fun how my friends say that they like my videos and how they watch the whole video, not just half of the video and I’m like well if you’re enjoying it, I’ll just make more” (Lo). In this case, we can see how Natalie Lo just uses Youtube to entertain friends and family.

As well as bringing in money from posting content, there are also perks with having a youtube channel. Camila explains that she has had sponsorships and has had brands reach out to her to promote their stuff including the brand Chiffon, a ring company. As for what lies ahead, Camila hopes to continue Youtube as long as she can, but until then she will continue her education hoping to go to a good university. “I’m proud of my sister and I think she might blow up someday”-Mia Bes

An old photograph with Mia Bes (on the left) & Camila Bes (on the right)

About the Author

Lilia Rodriguez is a junior at Mountain View High School, who also attends the film program at Freestyle Academy. She is 17 years old, and loves hanging out with friends & family, enjoys making Youtube videos, and plays lacrosse for Mountain View High School. Not to mention, Lilia is always down for an adventure, whether it’s going to the beach or just hiking by nearby trails/forests. She is looking forward to senior year and hopes she will create many more awesome memories.