theinfluentialcreator

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Ten content creators who have influenced new media

Traditional media, inarguably, must begin to accept and learn how to conform to new media. Much like the changes in print newspaper becoming more available digitally, YouTube has a crew of self-employed individuals who have challenged the idea that the Internet is not a career and in turn, have become extremely successful through YouTube. A few youtubers who have gained a viable career based from creating YouTube videos have also become authors, starred in web-series, written movies, were on Broadway, executively produced content, created fundraising programs, created television shows, wrote and performed in live shows, etc.

The Internet has gradually become the new face of media and is a brand-building factory for eager content creators wanting to build their careers through the Internet. These creators are also more involved with their fan-base by interacting with them through social media platforms and incorporating comments and questions from fans in their videos. The demographics from pre-teens to young adults rely heavily on technology, and the increased development of cellphones has provided a space to not only pay your bills but also interact throughout all things Internet.

A YouTube career is in terms “a wild card” because it is rare to have your video go viral. It is in more ways a process that can be frustratingly slow but beyond worth it in the end. YouTube is a career of passion, the love of your content, the support of your fans and motivation. You are your CEO all the way down to the PA.

Information pulled from: A career in YouTube

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#10 Mamrie Hart

Mamrie Hart was influenced by her best friend and fellow content creator Grace Helbig, to begin her YouTube career with a channel called You Deserve a Drink. She began to gain popularity in 2011 from her comedic cocktails and has become a New York Times best-selling author for her book You Deserve a Drink: boozy misadventures and tales of debauchery. Hart is also the writer of the films Camp Takota and Dirty Thirty. 

She was a bartender and performer while she lived in New York, her channel allowing her to practice and show-off her skills in both areas. Her videos are filled with puns and each drink is created for whoever in pop culture Hart believes deserves a drink. Helbig and Hannah Hart(no relation) teamed with her to perform their live comedy tour No Filter and the trio has been given the name "The Holy Trinity."

The three women work on many projects together, such as both films she wrote, live comedy tours promoting one-another's books, and also co-produces with Helbig on their web-series HeyUSA and their live comedy tour This Might Get Weird Y'all. Hart has been in a variety of television commercials as well but found her opportunities on the Internet, not on the television.

By starting their careers on YouTube, Mamrie and other Internet personalities have grown together in the space and have built a force called Team Internet which is a team against traditional media downgrading Internet stars. Traditional media needs to begin to see the rise of YouTube and affects it is having on these generations. The Internet is the new television.

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#9 Chester See

YouTube isn’t just a career path for aspiring comedians but also is a foundation for many musicians. Chester See is a YouTube personality, musician and actor. He became associated with YouTube after writing lyrics for Warner/Chappell Music Incorporation.

He has been a part of a musical group called YTF (Yesterday Today Forever) with fellow content creators on YouTube, Ryan Higa, Kevin Jumba and Dominic Sandoval. Chester is also the executive producer of the NBC produced musical series Side Effects, starred as Stacee Jaxx in the Broadway production Rock of Ages, developer of the app Trivy, co-founder of YouTube channel YOMYOMF and has sold over 500,000 songs on iTunes.

Chester currently has over 1.6 million subscribers since starting his channel ChesterSee in 2007. His channel has been used as promotion for his music and “a place to put out music and get some feedback.” See’s breakthrough was his original song God Damn You’re Beautiful and he hopes to maintain the trajectory of building a brand as explained during his panel with Drew Baldwin at StreamCon in New York City. During his conversation with Baldwin, Chester explains that he identifies himself as a content creator rather than a community builder who is someone more connected personally with his or her audience – talking directly to him or her through the camera.

He received the opportunity to perform on Broadway by his content on YouTube and is not directly the face in all of his videos but a majority of fans, as he states, are coming for his content rather than his personality alone. Many fans however, run the line between community builder and content creator, supporting him no matter what he does – attached to him as a person rather than the quality of his content. YouTube allows that attachment and is key to building and maintaining a career.

In 2009 YouTube released their pay program, which is what began allowing youtubers to get paid for posting videos. Chester said, during the conversation with Baldwin, at that time he was excited to be able to pay his phone bill. Since then, he has been getting paid through YouTube while being provided opportunities to grow and create other things outside of his channel. Chester See used YouTube as a place to get feedback on videos and stream them to people around the world which created the foundation for his career, providing the basis to expand off of and create much more.

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#8 Hannah Hart

Hannah Hart, known on the Internet as Harto, is a YouTube personality starring in her series My Drunk Kitchen where she cooks while intoxicated. Hart is a youtuber who was lucky enough to post a viral video in 2011. She originally planned to post the video as a joke for a friend but it suddenly became popular and people were asking for another episode. Hannah filmed the video on a Macintosh computer with limited editing but the people were intrigued by the content and comedy within it. She became partnered with YouTube and began an unexpected career.

Hart has used her foundation of YouTube to run two channels, myharto and yourharto, while also releasing the New York Times best-seller My Drunk Kitchen: a guide to eating and drinking and going with your gut and Buffering, co-producing the film Camp Takota and creating H.A.H.D. (Have a Hart Day). H.A.H.D. was created by Hannah to hold events all over the world where a group of volunteers participate in charity. Her fans from YouTube plan days in their hometowns titled H.A.H.D. and are for people who cannot necessarily donate money but are able to donate their time.

Her main channel focuses on different life-lessons or tips that she expresses while intoxicated. YouTube has lead her to receive many opportunities as she starred in a reboot of the series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl alongside best friend and fellow content creator Grace Helbig. The career through YouTube is far more rewarding in my opinion because it is you who is creating your content, building relationships with fans, coming up with ways to expand your trajectory and paving the pathway to your own future. A single viral video changed Hannah's entire life.

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#7 John Green and Hank Green

The vlogbrothers, Hank Green and John Green, started to become famous on YouTube after Hank uploaded a video of him singing a song he created, Accio Deathly Hallows. The brothers took their fame in YouTube to a new level by creating Project For Awesome campaign, which is a community-based charitable movement that lasts 48 hours on YouTube each year in December.

John Green is the bestselling author of the book, “The Fault in Our Stars.”

The two brothers create funny videos that are helpful and have an international fan base.

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#6 Grace Helbig

Grace Helbig, known as the Internet’s awkward older sister, is a YouTube personality, actress, comedian, author, and talk show host. Amongst being the host and creator of the it's grace YouTube channel and podcast Not Too Deep, Helbig is also a New York Times bestselling author for her book Grace’s Guide: The Art of Pretending to be a Grown-up and Grace’s Guide: The Art of Pretending You Have it, an executive producer for the film Camp Takota and Dirty Thirty, hosted her own television show called The Grace Helbig Show on E-Network, starred and executively produced a travel web-series with fellow content creator Mamrie Hart called HeyUSA and so on. However, she didn’t become famous and gain over 2 million subscribers on YouTube overnight. It took over six years of brand building, trial and error, motivation and patience.

Grace knew she wanted to pursue comedy when she was in college as stated in her commencement speech at Ramapo College in New Jersey. She waited tables, interned with MTV and joined a sketch comedy team in New York City where she met her best friend, Mamrie Hart. In 2008 Grace and her college roommate, Michelle Akin, began making YouTube videos for their channel Grace n’ Michelle. A company, My Damn Channel, saw her videos and offered her a job. Grace’s series DailyGrace soon attracted over 2 million subscribers. However, as time went on, a realization hit. During Brandcast 2015, Grace said, in regards to her previous job with My Damn Channel, “I didn’t own my own content and the relationship with the audience wasn’t my own.” Therefore, in January 2014, Grace created her current channel it's grace on YouTube and started from scratch.

With the help from other content creators such as Tyler Oakley, the support from her fans and some acts of patience, Helbig regained the subscribers she lost and is currently creating YouTube videos for over 2.7 million subscribers. While getting paid for being a successful face of YouTube, the platform has also acted as a gateway for many other life-changing career opportunities as mentioned in the beginning. She has teamed up with her two best friends and fellow content creators, Mamrie Hart and Hannah Hart, and they have created a live show called No Filter, which have taken place throughout the United States and Canada.

Her fans have actively interacted with her in person and online – they are an army of defenders and supporters who made her book a best-seller, bought merchandise, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, watch her movie and share it with friends, fill the theaters for live shows and actively promote her through re-blogging, re-tweeting and sharing.

“My YouTube community is my core. It is the space that has allowed me to grow in a creative, collaborative, professional and personal way,” Grace said during her speech at Brandcast 2015.

Grace Helbig is an example of someone who has worked incredibly hard to get where she is today. She has outlined the movement through changing media and has showed that traditional media is not the only route to a successful career in comedy.

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#5 Ingrid Nilsen

Ingrid Nilsen wanted to share her feelings on confidence, so she began a YouTube channel in 2012 and has shown nothing but success since.

In 2014 she began working for CoverGirl and then became a judge on the television show Project Runway: Threads. Internet personalities are being seen on television more because traditional media is trying to keep up with the Internet.

In 2016, Nilsen interviewed Barack Obama at the White House where she raised questions about terrorism and discrimination against the LGBT community.

Content creators are able to become popular on all social media platforms and can open brand deals with products as well, such as Ingrid does with beauty products. The Internet is only the starting point for these influencers.

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#4 Colleen Ballinger/ Miranda Sings

Colleen Ballinger’s career through YouTube focalizes on the success of her Internet character Miranda Sings. Colleen changes her look, the way she talks and the way she acts when filming videos as Miranda. Colleen created her character to satirize someone who continues to pursue a talent even though they are not good at it. She portrays Miranda as someone extremely self-centered, comedic, strange and sassy.

Colleen is best known for Miranda and her one-woman comedy tour where she performs and meets fans as Miranda. She began YouTube for fun but the video “Free Voice Lesson” became a big hit. The concept of Miranda’s character drew in criticism, which later Colleen addressed by altering her quirky Internet character. Miranda’s coined term is “haters back off.” The term recently became a hit series on Netflix titled, Haters Back Off, and is green-lit for a second season - taking her entire community of fans over to a traditional/online media setting. 

Colleen has been ranked one of the “Top 25 Digital Stars” by The Hollywood Reporter and has recently released a book as Miranda called Selp Helf. Colleen fell into YouTube by posting videos for enjoyment and since then has made it her career. Her personal YouTube channel psychosoprano has gained more traffic – her 2015 video “Reading Mean Comments” was praised by Cosmopolitan.

Each youtuber and the way they began their career in the space is extremely different. Fandoms have been created and are groups of people with similar interests in youtubers. People in these fandoms write fan fiction (fictional stories based on youtubers they enjoy), support and defend the creators and continue the unique relationship of YouTube personalities and the fans through social media. 

During live shows fans will give Colleen/Miranda gifts and letters because they feel so closely connected.

Through balancing two characters on YouTube, herself and Miranda, Colleen has been able to live off strictly building a brand. She primarily has stayed within the space of YouTube but is a leading role displaying that the Internet and fans are a rewarding experience and mark the way of an enjoyable career.

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#3 Tyler Oakley

Tyler Oakley, known as Queen of the Internet, began his career with YouTube in 2007. He is also an activist for LGBT youth. Tyler began making YouTube videos with the hope that it would get him somewhere. He started YouTube understanding the popularity he could gain from it and the way he would be able to express himself as a young gay man (Draw My Life).

His first video was "Raindrops" and he continues to successfully expand and build his personal brand. He is extremely active on all social media platforms and recently became a best-selling author for his book Binge. Tyler chose to put himself on the front of gay politics and continues to express himself and his opinions through his YouTube videos.

He was also named 2014 Most Popular Male WebStar at the Teen Choice Awards.

Oakley, however, didn't begin making videos for money. He started his channel to invest in gay culture, pop culture, express his opinions and be sassy. Since he began his career, YouTube has led him to be on The Ellen Show with an additional segment added to Ellen’s YouTube channel called The Tyler Oakley Show. Tyler has been given the fan base needed to raise money for his many acts of charity such as the Trevor Project. Tyler often collaborates with many other YouTube personalities in his videos and holds over 7 million subscribers.

He continues to stick within his foundation of YouTube and is now a huge LGBT activist, successful author, comedian, creator of his podcast psychobabble, influencer and YouTube personality. Oakley explains his channel to be a variety of different videos and emphasizes, "It's not all about me being gay. It's kind of like an underlying theme for me [with gay life] sprinkled throughout the videos" (40Under40).

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#2 Lilly Signh

Lilly Singh is a Canadian YouTube personality who began her YouTube career in 2010. Her fans engage with her on all social media platforms and she has recently taken full advantage of what new media has to offer.

 Her talk-show series, #GirlLove, recently launched where she interviews other personalities in the spotlight to diminish hatred towards women.

Sephora sells Signh’s new lipstick, BAWSE, and she recently released her first book, “How to be a BAWSE.”

Her mission within her community of fans is to spread love and get rid of hate.

In 2015 she began her international live tour, A Trip To Unicorn Island, and in 2016 she was the voices of miniature unicorns, Bubbles and Misty, in Ice Age: Collision Course.

Singh is a leading example on how the Internet has a very viable career path that can expand you in all areas of entertainment. YouTube is the new television.

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#1 Jenna Marbles

Jenna Marbles, Jenna Nicole Mourey, released her first YouTube video in 2010 for her dancing job titled, “How To Trick People Into Thinking You’re Good Looking.” The video went viral and it wasn’t long before The New York Times and ABC News wrote and featured articles on her video, “How To Avoid Talking To People You Don’t Want To Talk To.” Jenna’s subscriber amount quickly grew and she fell in to a career she wasn’t entirely expecting. However, she chose that YouTube was the new age of media and that success was just beginning. 

With a close community of fans, her boyfriend, and beloved dogs, Jenna has been able to accomplish a number of milestones. Simply, she creates videos to help different areas, and shed some humor, on young adulthood. She has more Instagram friends than Oprah Winfrey and more Twitter followers than Fox News (The Woman With 1 Billion Clicks, Jenna Marbles).

 Her fans are able to give video ideas when she asks and can listen to her podcast, Jenna & Julien, with her boyfriend, Julien Solomita, where they discuss conspiracy theories, other Internet personalities, and an array of other things.

In addition to her podcast and channel, Jenna created a line of dog toys, Kermie Worm and Mr. Marbles.

Her hilarious outlook on life gains viewers and has contributed to the new face of media, the Internet, effectively.