Review of YouTube’s Zoella
Zoe Sugg, or Zoella, is one of YouTube’s biggest beauty, fashion and lifestyle sensations. She has over 11 million subscribers and continually receives millions of views on each of her YouTube videos. According to her Draw My Life video, Zoella started YouTube after feeling alienated by her anxiety and having success with an online blog. This video was published in April of 2013 when she was nearing one million subscribers, and today, which marks three and a half years since the video was published, she has nearly 14 million views on it.
To say that Zoella has come a far way since 2013 is an understatement. While channels such as JustinBieberVEVO and PewDiePie have many more viewers, Zoella has climbed farther in the ranks in personal YouTube channels than most. She has won awards for her content on YouTube, launched a beauty line, written the novel, Girl Online, and is ranked 45th in Social Blade’s “Top 100 YouTubers by Subscribed.” She has even created a second channel for vlogging- otherwise known as video blogging- called MoreZoella due to her popularity. Her history of success and popularity through YouTube can only be due to a combination of her bubbly personality, good content and consistency.
Zoe puts out much of the same content as the rest of the YouTube lifestyle sensations, but there is a reason for her triumph over the rest. She keeps her fans coming back by putting out consistent content. Every week her viewers can expect a high-quality video that showcases her personality and is entertaining to watch. Whether it be a makeup tutorial or popular tag video, she consistently posts entertaining videos that keep her fans coming back for more. In August, Zoella published “Ultimate Friendship Test with Mark,” where she and her friend mark would answer questions about each other and would throw food at each other if they answered incorrectly. This is such an original and entertaining idea that it received well over two million views and 590 comments.
Another special attribute of Zoella videos is that Zoe has remained humble and fun even with her rising popularity. Rather than acting as if she is “way too cool” for the camera because of her rise to YouTube fame, Zoe has maintained her bubbly personality. In her latest video, “Chatty August Favourites 2016,” Zoe and two friends go through her favorite products from August while laughing and joking around. This makes for a much more entertaining video than one of a girl listing off favorites into a camera. This way, her viewers get to know who she is as a person through her personality, as well as her content.
Zoe could have succumb to an attitude of the rich and famous, but she stuck to her roots and remained the person that she was when she began her journey. She is not afraid to be herself, and that even means opening up about her anxiety and panic attacks to all 11 million of her followers. Surely this is not an easy thing to explain on the internet, but it is a part of who she is and she wants her fans to know that. Her honesty and courage is what has her fans begging for more.
Reversely, there are some negatives to Zoella’s channel. In Zoella isn’t the perfect role model girls think she is, Daisy Buchanan points out a few imperfections of the YouTube star herself. While Zoella has won over the hearts of millions, her main audience is young and impressionable girls. These girls follow Zoe’s every move, and with that comes much responsibility. Buchanan claims that the star focuses too much on vanity and the “beauty culture,” and teaching girls to “prioritize pretty over cleaver, confident and smart.” The influence that Zoe has over young women could be used to teach them much more valuable lessons, but she chooses the beauty, fashion, and lifestyle route.
Zoe has worked hard for her fame and fortune. Her years on YouTube have served her well and for good reason. She has stayed true to who she is and her purpose for starting her YouTube channel. Zoe’s bubbly personality is what brought her to fame, but her consistency and great content is what keeps her on top. Her content and quality have only gotten better as time has progressed and her fan base has grown because of it. This is even shown in her other social medias such as her 9.4 million followers on Instagram and her 6.2 million followers on Twitter. It is quite obvious that Zoe’s fans are following her because of who she is and the content that she puts out on all areas of the internet.