The thing I find fascinating about Charlie (besides his wit, nerdy knowledge, and British accent) is that he does this for a living. His vlog is not just something he does for fun on the side, but his actual job.
He's not the only one. ShayCarl and recently 14-year old Olivia Ford are also famous vloggers who make money off of their YouTube channels. After a vlogger gets popular, with lots of views and subscribers, they can sell advertising space and/or join the YouTube Partner Program. The latter gives the vlogger 50% of the revenue from regular ads run on their channel. The more hits your channel gets, the more money you'll make. Just as an example, Charlie has over 1.5 million subscribers, and many of his videos get more than a million views each. I don't know exactly how much money he makes, but Yahoo! Answers reports that YouTube partners make between $2.5 to $5 every thousand views your videos get. If you're getting the same number of hits as Charlie, you're doing pretty well for yourself.
The point of this post is not necessarily to encourage the reader to start a vlog and get rich off of it (though I have to say I've been thinking of starting my own). Rather, I want to point out the changing face of business in our digital culture. Obviously many people use the internet for profit; it's an easy way for customers to shop and buy online, advertising is made even more effective through things like Facebook, and companies use the web for all sorts of functions. But non-professionals are also cashing in due to Web 2.0.
In our digital world, anything and everything can be shared with anyone and everyone. That means if you have something interesting to say, you can put it in a blog and possibly become a sensation for telling the world what you think. If you have a talent, you can get noticed. And if you're funny, you can get paid for posting videos of yourself being funny. It doesn't necessarily require a ton of thought or even time. You just need to have something people want to see/read/listen to. You might actually be a complete amateur, but if people like what you have to offer online, it can become your job.
There are pros and cons to this. You can be paid to do what you love. In a struggling economy, starving artists can make a comeback through the internet. However, there's also the argument that you could post something absolutely awful, but as long as people watch it, you could get rich while high art suffers. *Cough* Rebecca Black *Cough* I'm also slightly concerned over what happens in a few years when these internet sensations stop bringing in the viewers. If they don't have the money to retire, they may have to get "real jobs," and after relying on their wit or artistic talents to get by for so long, will they have any marketable skills?
Still, as one website pointed out, starting a vlog is a great way for students to make a little money on the side (if you can network enough to gain popularity). I think if you can do something you enjoy, which will benefit others, and get paid to do it, more power to you. Web 2.0 has opened all sorts of avenues for anyone with something to share.
For more information, visit
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110104140728AAT11OG
http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/campus/cash-and-careers/student-money/vlogging-an-alternative-way-to-make-money
http://www.ehow.com/how_5026759_make-money-vlogging.html
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