The rise of one of the most controversial YouTubers — Logan Paul
Who is Logan Paul?
Logan Paul is a 22 year old YouTuber who currently has over 16 million subscribers. Logan paul first started to gain popularity through the vine app, where he would post short funny videos. Soon after, he started posting his videos on bigger social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, which allowed him to reach a wider audience. In 2015, he told Business insider ‘I want to be the biggest entertainer in the world’, and today he is one of the most popular YouTubers on the platform. Apart from his daily vlogs, he has also acted in many YouTube Red movies such as ‘The space between us’ and ‘The Thinning’
Social media presence:
Logan Paul ensures he has a significant presence online by connecting with his fans — whom he calls the ‘Logang’, by also having accounts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, which he uses mainly to promote his YouTube videos.
What I find incredible is how he has managed to gain such a huge following in a short space of time. He went from having around 364000 YouTube subscribers in 2015, and fast forward to February 2018 he now has over 16 million subscribers. His rise to fame can be attributed to his consistent online presence and uploading creative, daily content to his channel. Through this popularity he also started his own clothing range called Maverick.
The suicide video that changed it all:
Logan has become the subject of a lot of controversy when he posted a video in December 2017 where he visited Japan’s suicide forest, and came across a hanging corpse. Instead of switching off the camera, he continued to film the body. As reported by CNN, he burst out laughing and gives an explanation for this by saying “the smiling and laughing … is not a portrayal of how I feel about the circumstances. Everyone copes with s*** differently… I cope with things with humour.” He received a huge amount of backlash for this video, with even celebrities tweeting their disappointment and anger.
After receiving the backlash he removed the video and posted an apology on twitter and YouTube in which he says that he is ashamed of himself and used these platforms as a way of expressing his regret over his actions.
Even after promising to ‘be better’, Logan still continues to communicate his thoughts in an insensitive way and is seen in a recent video, tasering two dead rats, leading to YouTube suspending his ad revenues.
Some may say that this controversy gave him more recognition, although not for the right reasons, as he garnered 50 million views on his apology video. His subscriber count also continues to increase showing people may have accepted his apology. Although Logan had become famous for his many videos, it took just one vlog to damage his reputation, showing the importance of using social media effectively and taking into consideration the sentiments of others.
