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Written by: Kat
The Youtube website was launched in February or 2006 and is now one of the fastest growing websites on the Net. Based in San Mateo, Calif., YouTube says it sees 12 million unique visitors per day and averages about 1.2 billion views each month. The site allows a user to Register and create their own Youtube ‘channel’ where they can upload videos they’ve made. The most common videos on Youtube are ‘V-blogs’, the newest blogging craze that allows users to recount recent events in their lives, their thoughts and their feelings in video format much like ‘Confessionals’ on reality shows. Best of all; the site is free and as yet has no annoying advertising pop-ups and constantly in your face advertising like similar websites.
Brookers channel is the fourth most viewed channel of all time on Youtube. Her channel has been viewed nearly 3 million times at the time of writing this article and she has over 20,000 subscribers. Her most popular video "CRAZED NUMA FAN !!!!" a spoof of the internet hit Numa Numa video has received over 3 million views.
Brookers recently posted her first professional video on Youtube – a video which is in fact advertising a copycat website for Youtube. The video has already had more then a hundred thousand views.
More recently the internet world has been abuzz regarding the LonelyGirl15 scandal. Honestly, if you haven’t heard some whisper regarding LonelyGirl15 you must have been living under a Cyber Space rock. Since May her Myspace channel has received nearly 4 million views, her 30 plus videos have each received up to 1 million views each and she has 40,000 people subscribed to her videos
Bree blogs about events in her life and has her own popular 'show' ‘Proving Science Wrong’ in which she and David tackle various scientific theories. As Bree’s character has developed so has her relationship with Daniel (who also has his own channel under the name Danielbeast) who recently admitted to having a crush on her, complications arose with Bree’s father – her family are involved in some strange religious cult - and Bree even went so far as to post a video of a fight she and Daniel had which later resulted in her popular Peace Offering video.
In recent weeks Bree snuck out of her house for the first time to attend a party with Daniel. She was caught by her parents and placed under 2 weeks home detention but plans to sneak out again in the future if circumstances require it. And the most fascinating thing about Lonelygirl15 and her V-blogs?
After much debate and research it was revealed that Bree is really Jessica Rose a 19-year-old New Zealand born actress who recently relocated to LA to pursue an acting career. LonelyGirl15's creators are Miles Beckett, 28, of Woodland Hills, Calif.; Mesh Flinders, 26, of Petaluma, Calif., and Greg Goodfried, 27, of Los Angeles. Beckett, who describes himself as an Internet geek, said he came up with the idea of using short videos as a storytelling technique while a surgical resident. He met fledgling filmmaker Flinders at a party in early 2006. "I saw YouTube coming about and podcasting and wanted to be a part of it," Beckett said. "Our job from the beginning was not to trick people, it was to create a character that was believable," Flinders said. While some of Bree’s fans are horrified by the fact that their favorite blogger is a fraud; "I don't know about everyone else but I find this all annoying and terrible. People will be angered at the support they gave her while she was lying to everyone's faces. This makes so much more sense now. I was wondering why she didn't accept my messages on myspace. That *****!" declared one angry viewer on her web blog. Many insist they will keep watching and enjoying the story for what it is – a creative and interactive way of telling a story. Youtube has also proven to be a great platform for upcoming bands and musicians. You can now choose to create a Musicians channel rather then an ordinary every day Youtube account. American band 'OK Go' launched a number of low budget but brilliant dance videos on the website that created a huge internet hype. The bands channel currently hold the position of the 20 most viewed Youtube channel of all time.
Youtube is also working wonders for television. In 2004 the sitcom ‘Nobody’s watching’ was shopped to various TV networks but wasn’t picked up for it’s first season. Recently the pilot – which sees two 25-year-old friends who are tired of modern days sitcoms get hired by a popular network to create their own sitcom, they are filmed in reality style show doing this while the network execs create various dramas behind the scenes for them to deal with, their idea being that the real sitcom is watching these two friends make a sitcom – was uploaded to Youtube and instantly achieved an internet following. The demand was so high that NBC has picked up the show and will produce various online websiodes while looking into will start work on the first season of ‘Nobody’s Watching’. In the meantime the shows stars - Taran Killam and Paul Campbell - have been uploaded their own videos to Youtube and maintaining viewers interest.
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