Internet Celebrity

[jomen112]

Imo, there is the old media and the new media. The old media decided who becomes a celebrity basically by giving them air time and promote them in different way with the old media. This is the way it always been working. With the new media there exist no such driving force, hence nobody become a celebrity - unless the old media picks them and makes them one.

[Eliseharris]

Very true - the old media still decides who becomes a 'celebrity'. Unfotunately the calibre of celebrities has plummeted recently! And the only new people who get to be celebrities are those who have the most famous relatives, the least class and the most ridiculous love lives. Actual achievement has ceased to count. It's just a thing that gets in the way of reporting sleaze.

[ROBwithaB]

I used to have sync problems when I was editing in Windows Movie Maker, especially because I needed to do file conversions to import from the Sony HandyCam.

Eventually I stumped up for the starter version of Sony Vegas and all the problems went away.

Don't know if that helps....

[ROBwithaB]

I think the whole "community" aspect of YouYube is over-rated. I'm not really into social networking in any way. I'm almost grateful that South Africa doesn't have a paretnership program, thereby sparing me the burden of having to attend gatherings and be a "mentor" to newbies.

YouTube is a mechanism for collating and disseminating entertainment.

I try to be entertaining.

If people enjoy it, they'll watch.

I don't need to be best friends forever with the audience.

Yeah, I'm a grumpy old fart.

[Eliseharris]

I don't think anyone has ever considered me a mentor! I tend to turn up at these gatherings and get embarrassed that I know nobody and nobody knows me, before slinking off again.

[camaro02girl]

Hi Im gay or str8, I hate youtube. your pretty. Im crazy.

[DragonsTooth]

Watching youtubers is a cathartic alternative to watching celebrities on TV for me (i mean the videoblogging youtubers at least). Most television embitters me these days. I don't really want a polished product anymore. Some of the most affecting or interesting art and comedy happens when the maker stumbles upon something that their audience can relate to and videoblogging has moments like these is abundance.

[DragonsTooth]

Ugh! Doesn't the comment i just made sound awful dry. Well, it's just basicly reassuring to her someone witter on about things too :-)

[Eliseharris]

No, no, not dry at all. I believe you are right about videoblogging and other internet videos - what it sometimes lacks in polish it often makes up for in passion.

[GalacticalBliss]

You are pretty, however you're terrific personality magnifies  you're physical beauty.

[Eliseharris]

Oh, thanks - I was expecting a 'but'!

[GalacticalBliss]

Your welcome. You have talent my dear. You gave me a good laugh ceiling creatures and mice lol. I sense a bit of Seinfeld in your humor, as you amusingly discuss the nuances of everyday life.

[reddwarfers]

Im sure that a cable channel with viewing figures that included sheep would be famous :P

[reddwarfers]

I do like the explaination using town mayors, lots of little overlapping communities inside of the large one. Still as viewers are going to be part of many communities (a range of subscriptions) the mayor thing doesn't quite fit with average joe only knowing about his own mayor and Mr. Boris. How about local MPs rather than mayors? would that fit better?

[CheekTV]

There is a community but it's more about people just hanging out. love u x

[Eliseharris]

There was certainly a community spirit at the gathering, but the type of people who go to these things are not necessarily all Youtube is! There are so many disparate groups.

[monicavm]

It does make sense, your video. I don't think there is a YouTube community either. The people who get along hang together. That's all. Nothing terribly special. It's very much like real life. :)

[MagiMysteryTour]

"YouTube community" is a buzzword.

The analogy is to a bee hive. YouTube started as one small hive that quickly expanded into more and more hives.

Now the gatherings are like swarms, where you see bees you never heard of from hives you didn't even know existed.

At the end, you go back to your own little hive and settle back in with the same cluster of bees you are familiar with.

YouTube community, bzzz bzzz bzzz.

p.s.: Oooh, you're pretty!

[jumpnbounce]

I was gonna write a comment with my "2 cents/pence", but after realising how long it became, I thought I would do a video response instead...much easier than writing an essay

[Eliseharris]

Look forward to it!

[ReflectedImpedance]

(cont) they are as keen on you as I am. YouTube can be a bit one-sided though; I watch your videos, but I don't put videos up on the site. Hence, I get to know you well, but I (almost) remain as a stranger to you. That would make problems if I ever were in the position of meeting you in person. I would feel (and probably do even now) that we knew one another, but in reality it is really only me that knows you. All that said, YouTube is a great thing, and you never fail to cheer me up.

[Eliseharris]

I would encourage anyone with any sort of video camera to make videos - but it isn't for everyone. Glad I could cheer you up!

[scottklaw]

Only here on you-tube you can find the lady's of awesome. Like you. and mega awesome video's or i can turn on my directv and watch paid programing all night. I think i will do you-tube.

[Eliseharris]

Thanks - and you keep being awesome yourself!

[Pokemongo1]

hey elise - i'd just like to say i REALLY enjoy your videos! i find your personality a breath of fresh air, a down-to-earth person who has a good viewpoint on things!

oh, and i just watched the video where you try to get your computer to recognise your voice.. i couldnt stop laughing haha!

hope you continue making more videos!

[Eliseharris]

Thanks - I will definitely make more! Just got to work out how to get them in sync!

[komikero]

As you've already concluded in the comments, there is no huge monolithic community, but a bunch of smaller ones. In a sense, it's impossible to have one huge community, the same way it's impossible to have a global community for real. It's just too huge to manage. I think these smaller communities form organically as they should. You have a community of people who visit and view our videos regularly, and I'd like to think I'm part of it.

[Eliseharris]

Yes, you are! As I posted on someone else's comment, because I don't really have that many subscribers and only a few 'active' ones who ever comment, it feels like I know a lot of people. It's a bit like a club in a village hall!

[blackturtleshow]

I think there was a sense of community in 2006 and into 2007, but now it's too big. There are groups of people, like you say, that are somewhat cohesive, but now it's grown from being a town to being a city or a huge metropolis!

[terrancelueckgen]

you dont have a boyfriend ,,,,do you?

[FOSEEBOY]

you see dear....YOU-TUBE is BIG BROTHER'S way of WATCHING what most people are DOING....(lol) P.S.- your lovely hands look like sensual puppets caressing the air...

[BadAlbert]

I think if you're part of it you're part of it, but some are more active than others. As for the celebrity aspect there's an extent to which I think it has lessened somehow since youtube really blew up, while at the same time it has become more so but much more superficial and less organic and authentic. Does it really mean anything, no I don't think so. But contradictions abound as there is clearly gains to be had thus explaining all the whoring.

[Eliseharris]

It's definitely a boost to the ego to get lots of views or subscribers. There are a fair few channels in the top 100 listings who haven't ever made a video of their own and just upload rips from TV - but most of them still seem to glory in getting lots of attention. It must just be a numbers thing for a lot of people.

[ReflectedImpedance]

(cont). I discovered you by accident when I was looking for videos shot in Edinburgh, and now I'm hooked on you. That's part of the problem with YouTube as far as any "fame" is concerned. How else would I have discovered you, had I not been looking for Edinburgh videos ?. That is why I agree with the statement that someone else made, namely that YouTube is a collection of cliques and clubs. Keep posting the videos, and I'll keep watching. Try not to hide behind banners on the screen though.

[Eliseharris]

Thanks for the compliment! And yes, you are quite right - everyone seems to stick to their narrow group of interests and rarely sees what people outside those is doing. My videos can be a bit random so I have struggled to get a subscriber base! A few people always comment but that means it's a more intimate thing - I feel I know them and vice versa.

[ReflectedImpedance]

Yes indeed. Now and then there can be an overlap of interests between one user in his or her "clique" and another in another clique. (I can just imagine Ollie with his Venn Diagrams at this point !). That's a good thing, otherwise none of us would ever meet anyone else (even in the YouTube sense). If you are unhappy with the size of your subscriber base, then comfort yourself with the thought that the subscribers that you DO have are "quality" subscribers. I'm sure that they are (cont)

[ReflectedImpedance]

(cont) in the eyes of the subscriber, that person IS a celebrity. As the person has a large number of subscribers that all think that they are a celebrity, then they ARE famous. I feel however that no matter how many subscribers someone has on YouTube, they will never be rich because of it. You make a lot of people very happy with your videos Elise. You look gorgeous in this one, and I was quite shocked when I read through all the other comments, that no-one else had even said so. (cont)

[ReflectedImpedance]

I think Elise that you have actually answered all the questions that you have posed. There is no community on YouTube. As someone else said, it is a collection of clubs and cliques. Everyone has their own interests, and hence their favourite handful of topics to search for on the site. Maybe one of my topics is the same as someone elses, but I doubt that ALL of mine are the same as ALL of someone elses. If someone on YouTube has a large number of subscribers, then in the (cont)

[ujdo]

Clubs and cliques.

Better to be rich than famous.

[MadBadVoodo]

Five Stars!!

[BarryAldridge]

I agree with you about Youtube being great. It can confusing to define community when people talk about Youtube community. I do believe there are communities on Youtube depending.

I do agree with you Elise about the issue of people being known if they are known on Internet and not known outside. It depends.

Internet Celebrity is something I still try to think about.

[Eliseharris]

It does seem that there is not one over-arching community but lots of little ones.

[grnlfe01]

Someone once asked me whats the difference between an amature actor and a professional one, and I said "In a perfect world one gets payed and one doesn't." The difference between You Tube and TV seems to be that the people on it, like yourself are doing it because they want to do it. Not to get rich or famous but because they think people will get something out of it. I think if something unites the people on You Tube into a community its that.

[nothadnotbad]

i think that the people who got started on youtube when youtube was very fresh and new....are the celebrities. now everyone wants to be one and there are millions of people on youtube. the first youtube video isn't even famous Elise. I'm a fan of yours and i find you adorable and would be very happy if i ever ran into you.... im sure others feel the same. show your talents. don't give up.

mike

nothadnotbad

[JasonMelancon]

I think the answer to your question, "Is YouTube a community, and am I part of it?" is easier: Yes, on both counts. Sure, there are sub-groups and cliques, but I think the overlap is the key. The degree of separation between any two given YouTubers, in either the Subscriptions direction or the Subscribers direction, is probably very low (and probably pretty easy to calculate programmatically for the entire site!).

[JasonMelancon]

This overlap allows ideas ("memes," if you like) to reverberate throughout YouTube pretty efficiently. This can be seen in, for example, the prevalence of FREE HUGS, One World, naked vlogs, etc. And while nobody at all outside YouTube will know him, I'm betting everyone on this comments page knows who MIKMA is.

[JasonMelancon]

Er, on second reading, that sounded mean to MIKMA. Obviously some people outside YT might know him, such as his friends and family. MIKMA, if you read this, sorry, dude.

[MagiMysteryTour]

Mikma wasn't here

[grnlfe01]

All the You Tube sub-communities.....That would be one epic ven diagram.

[Eliseharris]

It would probably be very decorative!

[JasonMelancon]

Our traditional conception of who is a "celebrity" and who isn't has a weakness. Magazines at the checkout counter show us the faces we are supposed to recognize and revere; they are in a position to do this simply because they've been around a lot longer. So the usual concept of "celebrity" is not very useful, because by this definition, a celebrity is whoever the magazines tell us is a celebrity.

But that criterion doesn't really tell us who is the best known, or the best loved,

[JasonMelancon]

because people who gained notoriety in the traditional media will be known by those media, whereas folks who gained their popularity organically outside the traditional media, such as YouTubers, haven't had contact with those media, so will not appear on the magazine covers.

So in order to ask a meaningful question, and compare apples to apples, we really have to define a fairly new conception of "celebrity" status.

[JasonMelancon]

And that conception has to be based on hard numbers: Who is most present in the minds of the populace? Whose personalities, opinions, or talents are most recognized? The traditional media don't have those answers, because they are only concerned with their own, and don't deal with the likes of a Nalts, or a TheHill88. But if we had the numbers, I think the question, "Who is a celebrity?" would be answerable without much trouble.

[Eliseharris]

I am not sure how best to work it out but I am pretty sure mot of the people in magazines and tabloids these days are only in there because the editors have chosen them for some odd reason, not because the public considered them worthy first. Talent gets in the way of the sort of of celebrity depicted in tabloids and magazines.

[JasonMelancon]

Heh. Yeah, that's another problem. The traditional media have gotten to where they can just manufacture their celebrities. What's the point of even caring about a concept like that?

[Tartooth]

What is this about? I had a look through your back catalogue and I like to point out to a lady who wears pyjamas that "Arms and Towel" had 512,090 views and "All Dresses Up" had 35,906 views.

[Eliseharris]

I got more for wearing a nose strip!

[Tartooth]

You would say that, of course, the video called "Happiness" with Anna Black I found very funny.

[davidpetersonharvey]

What software are you using for your video? That out of sync thing is, indeed, strange, and we don't have that problem with our videos. I'm curious as to what settings you use to render the videos.

[Eliseharris]

Video Pad free software I downloaded as the software that came with it does not work at all and TOD files (JVC) are not compatible with a lot of editing programs (unless you strip them to MPEGs and then they are missing things.) I tried making an MPEG and uploading but Youtube shortened that by over a minute. AVI seemed better but either with frame rate of 30 or 25 it is still out of synch. I do not understand why it's so ropey.

[lostinacloud]

Your show time video works fine and thats when you got your new camera. Try thinking about what you did then?

[Eliseharris]

I did exactly the same on this as I did on the "Summer in the City - Who is Going?" video and that seems to be Ok. I am beffuddled. The footage of the actual Summer in The City gathering worked fine at the weekend but that's gone wrong now too.

[majesticmeteor]

it's a vast fleeting meeting of incognito desperadoes.

but because of the hugeness of it, there is likely to be more a chance of recognition or interaction even if it be only in the cyber sense.

Certainly more chance to jabber on the Net and somewhat interact, than if one is a wallflower.

The dynamic and ease of the Internet has brought once private diaries to the Blog and Vlog age; allowed isolated hermits like me to play records for other hermits.

In real life I would not seek expression.

[cricketbat08]

You are a Youtube celebrity - I enjoy watching your vlogs and I find you very appealing and entertaining - thus you are something of a celebrity to me, at least!!

[Eliseharris]

Why thank you. It seems to mean different things to different people.

[anthwhite91]

You need someone to fight with, most likely some sort of vegetable detesting vagabond.

[MyOddSock]

Andy Warhol said "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes". Someone else more recently commented that everyone would be famous to 15 people. Ease of publication and self-promotion on the Internet / YouTube is the reason it makes less impression with people. I guess if you want the sort of celebrity which generates a good income then you need to get the attention of a media mogul - TV producer - publicist. The harder something is to find the greater its perceived value.

[Eliseharris]

Possibly, though I don't believe it is actually as easy as people seem to think to create a real big following and genuinely have people watch/use/engage with online content. I think it's just that the old guard media would like people to perceive it as being easy (if it were so easy they would be better able to capitalise on it!)

[Ape65]

Oops: re-reading my messages I realised I was unclear: BBS existed all over, but tended to be "local" in nature, which in my case meant Montreal.

[Ape65]

(continued..) other would become friends. Of course the fun part were the GTs (Get Togethers), where you would finally meet all the people you knew online.

I made 2 or 3 good friends through BBSing. It's unfortunate the whole thing collapsed with the invention of the Web in the early 90s.

YouTube reminds me somewhat of the BBS scene, except that it's global and people tend to cluster in less diverse groups.

[Ape65]

The whole thing reminds me of the BBS community that existed in the 80s and early 90s, just before the web got big. BBSs or Bulletin Board Systems where computers that you could dial up and use to exchange messages and chat with people. In Montreal, there were at one time 500 BBS's, mainly run by amateurs from their home. Most of the usuers were from Montreal. Because the messages were textual and nicks were used, people who would otherwise never meet or have anything to do with each (cont)

[Ape65]

YouTube is just a public forum that allows people who would never otherwise get to know each other meet. Then small "communities" of friends form using multiple sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

[MyOddSock]

A community would traditionally have been formed because of a shared physical location (and genes) - shared interests and beliefs bonded people and promoted their survival. YouTube does not promote a particular belief or interest (well not strictly true), but it is a fascilitator for making virtual communities. It depends on the content of the channel of course... a highly cohesive theme will more likely attract a community of like minded people.

[Larkvall]

I don't think there is such a thing as the 'The YouTube Community'. I mostly hear about this elusive community from only select people such as your friend with the hat from the 'Box Show'.

[prfctday]

hmm... how to define youtube? I'm thinking - these last few seconds - that maybe it's like a 'club' and if someone well known walks in and you don't know them it's because they are well known in another club. Some people come on youtube just for music or just for comedy and would never bother to click on a religious or political type of video... so they don't know certain people for that reason.

[Eliseharris]

Exactly - there are a load of little clubs and there's very little overlap!

[me2ontube]

don't worry ... lots of people love you and just because they don't all subscribe doesn't mean you don't get the views - many of us would love to meet you but can't attend the gatherings - you have a large COMMUNITY of friends and i'm honored to be among them - luv ya

[Eliseharris]

Thanks! I have so few subscribers, really (and every time I post a new video I always lose another three or four immediately!) I would like to think it's a glitch, but it probably isn't.

[MagiMysteryTour]

You're only losing the Michael Jackson fans who finally realize, one by one and not very swiftly, that they had subscribed to a British female comedian and not to their dubious hero.

[6atale]

Well techincally a community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment.. so in that case youtube is a community!

I think youtube can be a community in the terms of a sharing and such because anyone can post videos and share their views or humour or beliefs and so on and so forth. And regarding the tv thing, you can't talk to people on a tv! but you can chat with other people on youtube!

[Eliseharris]

Yes, there is that accessibility - then again some of the really 'big name' Youtube people don't seem to respond to all that many people.