Top 5 Downfalls of Being a YouTube Star
While it may seem very glamorous and fun to be a YouTube star, it can actually be quite difficult. From hate to hard work, it is not nearly the fame and fortune that new YouTubers might wish for. There can be many perks of YouTube fame, but here are the top 5 downfalls of being a YouTube star:
5. Creating Original Content
YouTube has many trends. There are often challenges going on in the community and all of the YouTubers jump on the chance to be a part of it. Viewers can get a bit annoyed about these trends because they log into their YouTube accounts to see the same video created by everyone that they follow. For example, one of the biggest trends right now in YouTube’s beauty community is the “How I Did My Makeup in High School Challenge.” In NikkieTutorials’ challenge, she even claims, “now I feel like so many YouTubers have done this already and here I am just doing my part.” It may be fun for viewers to see challenges the first few times, but after a while they become bored. Creating original content is extremely important for YouTubers to be recognized by their own channels, rather than keeping up with the Joneses. MyHarto has just over 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube because of her original idea called My Drunk Kitchen, where she drinks copious amounts of alcohol while making gourmet food. Most beauty channels that feature the “How I Did My Makeup in High School Challenge” are much smaller.
4. YouTube as a Full Time Job
Many people do not understand the concept behind YouTube as a profession because of the non-disclosure of YouTubers’ salaries. YouTubers are not able to disclose the amount of money that they make from YouTube, and in most cases, partnerships with companies. For this reason, people disregard their work as a profession and make negative comments about it. YouTubers Aspyn and Parker explain some of what goes on with making money through their profession in their vlog, “HOW WE MAKE MONEY & AFFORD TO TRAVEL!” however, have to work at gaining a following base in order to make money. The more followers they have, the more views they get on their videos and the more money they make in turn. In the beginning stages, YouTubers do absolutely everything without pay and in their free time. Since YouTube has gotten larger by the minute, it has been much harder for new YouTubers to come to fame.
3. Privacy
YouTubers often give up much of their privacy because of their followers. From not being careful enough while filming street signs and license plate numbers to leaked addresses and phone numbers, YouTubers have to double check everything that they put out there. In SierraVlogs’ Vlog “Subscribers Find Our Palm Springs House,” she explains her experience with her fans coming to a vacation house that she was staying at. While this may not have been their actual homes, this is a scary experience for people that make a living by putting their lives on the internet. The fans probably found the YouTuber’s location because she also lets her subscribers follow her on Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and all other social medias. With a profession like YouTube, privacy can be hard to obtain.
2. Stalkers
This is quite a scary thing for YouTubers. Most of them put quite a bit of their daily lives on the internet, and anyone can access the information. Since YouTube stars are minimally famous, this can be a big concern. YouTuber, Tana Mongeau tells a story in her video, “CRAZY FAN BROKE INTO MY HOTEL: STORYTIME,” about a stalker incident that she was the target of. Not only did this person find her hotel room, but she broke in to see Tana. Again, thankfully this was not her home, but it is nerve-racking to think that this kind of thing can happen anywhere.
- Negative Comments
This is by far the biggest problem that I heard about from YouTubers. In some cases, YouTubers are known to disable comments on their videos in order to avoid this problem. Vlogger, LaVidaDeMeg has spoken about having her comments disabled for years because of this problem. No matter what they say or do on the internet, there is someone who disagrees and feels the need to post unpleasant comments on YouTube videos. This also causes fights amongst the community because others will get involved while trying to defend the YouTuber by attacking the other user. While the temporary solution to this problem may be to block the negative users, this can only solve the surface-level problem. YouTubers must learn to be thick-skinned in order to avoid getting burned by negative comments.
