When I Stop Following a Vlogger
I love youtube, I really do and I love vlogs. The idea of vlogging, and while I did it for two years and I really enjoyed it I found that I was trying to move into something else that wasn’t vlogging and wasn’t want I wanted.
I found that most vlogs are trying to do what they do on TV. They have a set, they have fancy graphics and they try to do really interesting sketches or skits. Why are they trying to be old media when what they started with was what made them interesting.
The perfect example of this is Phillip DeFranco. The guy was just a regular Joe on youtube, talking from his office, from his living room, and now he has a set, with a special couch (That he never sits on) and everything is manicured to say “This is the image I want to present to you” but none of it is really him. It’s all made up… and it’s vlogging because that’s his job not because he really wants to do it… it also changed.. it’s a show not a vlog.
Now Vloggers can’t be taken seriously on youtube. A vlog is something that you do on the side ontop of your regular youtube gig where you create music, or do skits, or make insane whacky videos because now youtube is a compeition.
Youtube used to be “This is my life, take a look at it.” The first youtube video ever is proof of this as it is nothing but a day at the zoo… poorly shot… Now Youtube has Youtube Celebrities who go on tour and perform for people and hold conventions and I’m not saying that’s bad or that’s wrong, but it’s also not really want I want from my youtube.. but it’s harder and harder for my version of youtube, the stuff I love to be the stuff that people care about or want to pay attention to.
I think this can all be traced back to Lonely Girl who set up a lot of people, and then became a show and then she left or died… well the character did. Then suddenly the fake was the standard. If you’re not better than the fake vlogger then you’re not a good vlogger at all! and who cares. I don’t care if a vlogger is shooting using his old iPhone in portrait mode as long as they have something interesting to say on a topic that I actually care about!
The company that made the Flip Camera did huge numbers because they made a camera that everyone could buy, shoot with easily, upload to youtube with and how long did that last? Not long. Almost as soon as everyone was shooting on a flip to get that quick and easy vlog with, everyone switched over to full HD cameras, Digital SLR cameras like the Canon 5D Mk2.
So now in order to vlog and be considered worthy of following I can’t just use the camera built into my phone or my computer I have to spend thousands on a lighting set up and a set in my office and a camera. And that’s when I stopped vlogging.
I stopped because it wasn’t fun anymore. Podcasting is fun! Why? Because it takes 2 hours a week, I do it with a friend and we can talk about whatever we want. It also doesn’t hurt that the entry was 2 mics and free software that works on Mac or PC. Oh and Skype.
Youtube is now the home of insane cooking shows, digital explosions, clip shows and censored profanity. The viral video is dead. Vlogging is dead.
