Lonelygirl15: how one mysterious vlogger changed the internet (theguardian.com).
Or, then again, perhaps how she didn’t, indeed, being what many had suspected—about much and especially most people on the internet no matter how much they tried to suspend disbelief in the hope of insta-dating or insta-perving depending on your age, or regardless of for some unashamed grizzled ol’ elder cats, digital Eldorado— all along:
“Bree was a funny, friendly 16-year-old video blogger with a strange family. But all was not what it seemed. Ten years on, we revisit YouTube’s first viral sensation … Bree was one of a slowly-growing community on YouTube of confessional video bloggers. They poured their lives into their webcams, not yet an automatic feature on laptops as they are today. Their follower bases grew slowly but steadily, with regular, and often grainy, videos about their day-to-day lives. They were largely ignored by the mainstream media, who at the time dismissed YouTube as just a repository for cat videos.’
And—trivial, inconsequential thing I know, but ads and ad revenue over the top for uploader and Commission for service providing the platform of course, be it on top of a puppy, kitten—or indeed two girls enjoying something altogether different—in a cup or not.
“Lonelygirl15 changed all that. Her followers quickly ballooned and she became one of the young site’s most popular stars. The New York Times had a recurring blog about her. She had her own forum. Hundreds of people wanted to be her friend on Myspace. The thing is…”
And, for sure, lets be prepared for it, it is quite a substantial “thing” from some perspectives, especially those keen to remind all that Keeping Up with the Kardies and other reality shows are scripted while reminiscing about chuckling mighty and rather fallaciously at that those “accidentally” falling off bridge/log/bike/knob “home filmed” submitted sketches for financial reward on Beadle’s About; actually though, where did those sort of thing go in the digital age?
“The thing is, Bree wasn’t real. Lonelygirl15 actually had a small team of writers. Bree and her best friend Daniel were played by actors. YouTubers and the media had been duped. Yet this was no mere flash in the pan hoax—this was YouTube’s first web series. This was the first time someone proved you could actually make money on YouTube. And that changed everything.”
And that changed everything, if everything is the nature of how to profit from being on the internet, being that you too presumably could have a go at duping with scripted reality too—with ads and GoogleTube promoted ad revenue for yourself. Oh, you mean Google doesn’t like people to sign up who are not real and not using an ad-targeting RealName policy—unless you are already paying your way of course—or did all that get slung when Google’s plus turned out a F’book-facing minus that had them redouble their efforts on those long managed revenue “make money on the internet yourself” coffer fillers.
And what of those, generally met on social media or chatrooms who demand unabashed honesty, verifiable reality and proof you really are wearing those while seemingly expecting a puppy snap or perhaps even pre-googled hunk or babe piccie and a kind, “honest” word will do for you?
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