Whether it’s through an educational lecture, music video, vlog or sports highlight video, YouTube has always been a place for self-expression. It appeals to a variety of viewers—all the more reason why the platform only continues to gain popularity. According to Statista, across the globe there are 149 million people who view YouTube videos monthly and 30 million who view them daily.
Among Redwood students who watch YouTube, there are a few who also seek to create their own content. Junior Nishant Misal dedicates the majority of his time to editing sports highlight videos, along with vlogs, which he either uploads to his accounts or sends to others.
“I watched vlogs and I would see them try and attempt to do something original but they don’t get it perfect and I was like I might as well try and do it for them,” Misal said.
Misal’s edits began as original video content, which he has now built on by editing both vlogs and sports highlight videos from popular social media users. After six months of watching tutorials on editing, Misal felt confident in his editing skills. Soon he was discovered through Instagram which wasn’t super easy at first.
“You have to understand the Instagram algorithm so to get on the explore page you need to get a certain amount of likes in the first few minutes of your post, and if you get on the explore page, you get noticed,” Misal said.
Once he was discovered, Misal was hired to begin making videos for a basketball account with 2.3 million followers known as @dribble2much.
“You have to understand the Instagram algorithm so to get on the explore page you need to get a certain amount of likes in the first few minutes of your post, and if you get on the explore page, you get noticed,” Misal said.
This served as the beginning of Misal’s editing career which only grew after this. He continued reaching out to YouTubers and going through anyone with connections to them to gain more recognition. Misal eventually got the opportunity to edit videos for YouTube vlogger George Janko, who has more than one million subscribers.
In the future, Misal hopes to continue making edits and working on building his vlog editing skills. He hopes that this will lead to a more extensive career where he can continue to create and edit content for well known YouTubers.
On the other side of the lens is freshman Sophia Totterman, who creates vlogs that show her interests and opinions. YouTube has been something she has been involved with since 4th grade and she has now gained over 800,000 subscribers.
“I always wanted a big audience. It was funny, the time that I started getting an audience was when I gave up on that dream and just started doing YouTube for the fun of it because I like ranting and putting my opinions out there,” Totterman said.
At the start of her career, Totterman posted gaming videos and eventually began uploading commentaries about almost anything. She now edits her own videos and incorporates a variety of content within them. Totterman includes includes both her personal views and also showcases a talent that she hopes to build on: creating music.
“I’ll pick a topic and just give my opinion about it try to be entertaining, try to be funny, try to be unique and say something other people haven’t said before,” Totterman said.
Totterman hopes to continue with making videos and eventually build a career where she can entertain others, whether that’s on YouTube or a different platform.
On the other hand, junior Lexi Friedman and her sister Ari, who goes to Convent High School, were encouraged to create a YouTube channel after Instagram followers requested one.
“I usually do polls on my Instagram and then people say ‘Oh, post a make-up video’ or ‘Oh, post a skin care video …’ We don’t want to make stuff that people aren’t going to want to watch,” Lexi said.
Their YouTube channel is relatively new and only consists of two videos, one make-up tutorial and an edit from a trip they went on. Lexi explained that she will continue to make videos on the request of viewers, but is going to focus on building her social media platforms first.
For most students, YouTube serves as a way to pass time. For sophomore Izzy Margulies, watching YouTube vloggers has always been something she has enjoyed.
“People are watching it because they are hearing about it from other people and I think there is just more variety now. It’s more appealing to a lot more people and it doesn’t just focus on one targeted audience; I think that’s just what has let the YouTube community grow,” Margulies said.
