Content is king: A growing industry
Popular creators, especially on live-streaming platforms, utilize professional equipment like boom mics and webcams to stream themselves and their actions to viewers. However, it does not take expensive hardware or equipment to start creating content. One can use OBS, or any other screen-capture program, and editing software to record themselves playing games and post edited footage. Dozens of activities like cooking and sports only require a phone to record and an internet connection to upload.
September 14, 2020
Amidst changing times and transformation in the world every day, hundreds of millions continue to enjoy others’ creations on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch. Content creators share their passions and hobbies with millions of viewers worldwide every day using cameras and microphones.
Even in quarantine, entertainers continued to provide their viewers with content to entertain and indulge their unquenchable thirst for more. Their success in crisis demonstrates user-based content creation’s flexibility and how it will continue its reign over the internet for years to come.
Stability within instability
Only a few can create entertaining and long-lasting YouTube or Twitch channels, but successfully doing so provides a loyal following. After the US announced a COVID-19 state of emergency and most states issued quarantine protocols, Twitch, a live-streaming platform for content creators, experienced a viewership spike from 1.6 million monthly viewers in March to 2.5 million viewers in April. The site’s attendance remained strong at over two million monthly users in the following months. Twitch serves as one of many creator platforms that allow ordinary people to earn ad revenue and sponsorship deals. Traditional office and in-person jobs come with unstable work conditions, including unemployment from the current pandemic, but streaming and uploading allow one to earn money without ever leaving the house.
Access to an audience
Billions open YouTube monthly to enjoy videos made by ordinary people. Sharing niche tastes and interests on such a huge platform opens opportunities to create friendships and communities based on a single topic. From comedic gaming channels like Markiplier and Pewdiepie to film and show related channels including CinemaSins and The Film Theorists, people with niche tastes can find videos and other content tailored to their interests. People enjoy ten of thousands of different activities, and content platforms provide the easiest way to meet and interact with people who share interests.
Influences through influencers
With streaming and live-streaming platforms being available for younger generations, many kids and teens can discover new ideas present in our modern world. A limitless world awaits within the internet and content creators sit at the forefront of its influence towards elementary schoolers and college students alike.
“YouTube and TikTok platforms help connect our society through music, videos, and interests. [They] awaken our hidden hobbies and interests that kids and teens learn they want to do as they grow older,” senior Jmen Seso said.
The world experiences increased connectivity every time someone posts, comments, shares, and likes. Content creation sits at that growth’s apex, with new trends and concepts coming to light every minute. With easy-to-access internet in high urban populations and viewers worldwide searching for unique hobbies and pastimes, anyone with a camera and a microphone can project their voice to the ends of the Earth.
