Chapter 2 - Vloggers

As I mentioned previously, I watch vlogs myself. These vlogs are of Dutch vloggers, as I am more attracted to those than to English-speaking vloggers (and I need to have a limit of how many creators to follow if I want to do something useful with my days).

Vlogging is a trend at the moment, and lots of (young) people spend large amounts of time on YouTube watching these vlogs. If you have no idea what a vlog is, here is an explanation.  

The definition of vlog is video blog, video log or video diary. It developed from the written blogs, which were then created using video as a medium. Around 2005 vlogging started to grow in popularity, right in time for the launch of platform YouTube.

In short, what vloggers do is film themselves dynamically (in selfie mode) talking into the camera-lens addressing their audience. They show exciting events or activities they’d be doing in a specific moment or just talk to the camera. There is no specific age for vlogging, some of them are as young as 12 years old. 

Fun Fact: Most vloggers use the Canon GX7 Mark II camera, because they can tilt the screen to see themselves whilst filming. A lot of the shots in vlogs is the person filming, filming themselves whilst they talk to the camera, which is the viewer. Get it?

Demonstration of what vlogging looks like by Enzo Knol, Dutch vlogger with over 1340 daily vlogs and 1,4 million subscribers

Some creators upload daily or weekly vlogs and usually show highlights of their day and not the boring or negative moments. Through vlogs, the viewer gets to peek inside the life of a stranger, but it’s okay since the vlogger decides what they want to share. If the vlogging wouldn’t exist, this peeking would not be appreciated. In a way it can be compared to reality soaps and shows, which also reveal people’s lives from up close. 

Some vloggers started posting vlogs as they wanted to be rebels of the free word, for others it developed from their blog, they wanted to try it out and I’m pretty sure some do it for the money. For example, Dutch vlogger Enzo Knol did some regular gaming videos on YouTube, but once he started vlogging he got more and more subscribers which are now over 1 million. This means that more than 1 million people are interested in what’s going on in his life, which is pretty crazy. On top of this these viewers generate an income, so sharing these videos generates a living. 

Others use YouTube and vlogging as a platform to be creative or influence people positively, such as Teske de Schepper, who is developing a career as a singer using her YouTube channel and her audience on the platform as an aid. 

The thing which fascinates me about this vlogging phenomenon though, is that vloggers voluntarily put up a lot of private information for the world to see. Also, the fact that people are attracted to seeing all this information, as if it is a way to escape from their own lives, or that it is a way to judge the life of someone they don’t know personally.

And then there is the cutting and pasting of fragments to create the most interesting and fabulous life, which is entirely in the hands of the vlogger. This can create a misleading image, especially to those who don’t realise that the content is edited. 

‘’Social media is a portfolio of your best moments’’

- Safiya Nygaard, 2017

So now hopefully you, whoever out there is reading this, understands what vlogging is and means. Obviously there is much more to it, such as networks, branding and social influencing. These topics will be discussed in coming chapters. 

The lessons for this chapter:

1. Remember that any content on-line is potentially edited/manipulated
2. If you want to become a vlogger: go for it! It can be a great opportunity to get yourself out there and find the right network of people to kickstart your dreams. But keep in mind to be cautious about sharing personal details, behaviour and to which lengths you expose your life and the lives of those around you. Not everyone wants to end up on YouTube for the whole world to see. Also, be prepared to grow a thick skin against mean viewers, there are always those angry people out there who think it’s okay to post extremely useless and insulting comments.

Also, check out the twitter page of this project: @IamVlogged