Who did we watch on Youtube and what does this say about the population today. we all know that Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, or 'PewDiePie' is the most subscribed to Youtuber, with an enormous 33 million (roughly) people committed to him and his videos. this also allows him to have a net worth of roughly $12 million. this is someone that has dropped out of a college in Sweden to focus on this hugely successful channel.

This can be said to say many things about those who watch it. of course we could apply the Uses and Gratifications theory (Blumler and Katz) to this striking story and suggest that the audience could either subscribe to him due to entertainment. They may enjoy the idea of escapism it gives them as the observer can feel more a part of his (PewDiePie) life and less apart of theirs. they could also watch due to social reasons. The audience may be telling their friendship groups about him and they too subscribe possibly due to said person taking the role of a mainstream audience member. Another way to view this is that they watch due to educational purposes. The audience member may watch as they are an aspiring Youtuber and are interested in becoming just as successful in this area as PewDiePie. lastly, the audience may watch the channel because it gives them a clear self identity. This means that they observe the videos as the either see personal qualities in PewDiePie that they can apply to themselves or it means that they get a clearer view of their own likes and dislikes when it comes to gaming etc.

Another way we can view the success of this channel and the amount of people dedicated to it is by observing what really matters in our society in the latest generation. If we assume the target audience (derived from the amount of his videos referring to games that have a certified age of 15/18) is roughly 15-25 then we begin to uncover problems. The age of the target audience is relevant to my concern of our generation as this (if correct) shows that the people who are either studying for exams or in the early years of careers are the ones most dedicated to these videos and the games they refer to. Another way that this could affect the audience is if we look at the desensitization theory. This suggests that if the younger audience observe PewDiePie playing a game where killing is normal and he laughs at it then we gain youthful people who see killing as not wrong and can see occurrences like http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/25/us/louisiana-boy-kills-grandmother/ from happening.

It is also clear to see that Zoe Sugg (or Zoella) has also had a huge impact on the British Public. She is the creator of videos that show girls and young women (target audience of 13 - 25 year old girls) how to do various things like make-up etc in very entertaining tutorials. With a respectable 7 million subscribers and her own book "Girl online", the public have shown signs that they are interested in her work and what she stands for. This, like PewDiePie, can be seen as both good and bad. It is a good thing due to the fact that it shows again that girls are interested, not only in the content of the videos but possibly getting involved in that sort of thing. However, it is possible that this shows us that the 7 million (mainly) girls that enjoy her videos are a group of the population that worry so much about their appearance that they feel the need to have assistance in making them look (what they deem to be) acceptable. This is a sad thought indeed.