How to Catch up on the Lastest YouTube Drama

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Let’s face it. It’s hard to stay in the loop when it comes to the vast community that is YouTube. You can easily leave for a day and come back feeling confused when you find your favorite creators in disarray. Here are some places to turn to when you have no idea what’s going on.

This is the most obvious and possibly the easiest way to catch up. It will also take the most time. To hear directly from a creator is the sure-fire way to make sure that other sources haven’t twisted their words or taken information out of context. In other words, this is a good method of detecting false claims as well as being critical of the information you consume. you might enjoy filtering through your subscriptions to find what all the fuss is about, but keep in mind this is not the only way. There are channels that specifically cover the major stories of the week. Here are a couple of channels I would highly recommend:

Philip DeFranco covers both real world and YouTube news. His channel has a more serious tone and is open to discussion about the topics he covers. He usually uploads a special morning video as well which allows you to do your morning routine while also getting up to date on the latest news. Tea Spill is a drama channel so there is a possibility that some of its content may be speculation and should be approached with caution. However, they bring up emotional stories and feuds that are otherwise left uncovered by other sources and channels. I believe these topics are important in their own rite by showing the relationships between YouTuber and audience and YouTubers with the rest of the YouTube community. You can decide to go with the more factual line of news, the juicier drama filled version or both. Whatever the choice, these channels are sure to catch you up on what’s happening after a busy work week.

The Verge

The Verge is a good place to visit if you don’t have the time or patience for a video and would prefer to read to get up to speed. They are one of the few media outlets that report very often on what is happening on YouTube, I’m talking within hours of something happening, they post about it. I promise. In fact, here’s their latest article about Youtube infiltrating the Super Bowl. It is a pretty entertaining read you might find worth your while. However, it is important to refer back to the original videos that are being discussed because they provide context, which is vital in critical consumption. They also have their own Youtube channel that you can check out for more content and information.

CNN

CNN is a reliable news source, more reliable than the Verge, but they don’t always report on YouTube and focus on a variety of topics such as technology, world news, health, politics, business, and entertainment. With so many significant categories, YouTube typically only gets its moment in the spotlight when it has content that goes viral, has real-world consequences, or highlights an important issue. This makes CNN a great place to find the stories with the most impact because they have to compete with several other groundbreaking stories.

If you are interested in informing your parents about a story on YouTube, CNN would probably be the best bet. Older audiences are most likely unfamiliar with a news source like The Verge and rarely if ever, use YouTube. This source allows increases the number of participants in the world of YouTube by providing a larger platform for YouTube to stand on. Arguably, CNN is the best platform to try to inform a vast audience about the prevalence of YouTube in today’s digital age.

For Further Reading…

Why the Impact of Logan Paul’s Content Matters

~ Rachel__B__ ~ Leave a comment

The “Suicide Forest” Incident

Imagine a kid no older than 10 opening YouTube to watch the latest videos from their favorite creators only to witness a guy in a silly hat laughing at a corpse. That guy is Logan Paul. He is known for his controversial content that he pumps out for his young fans. Including but not limited to, promoting gambling, being gay for a month, pranks that terrorize his “friends,” and of course his suicide forest vlog. He has garnered an audience of almost 19 million and markets himself as a fun, crazy kid in Hollywood living life to the fullest. Like many of his thumb-nails, this image is click-bait designed to pull in 8 to 14-year-olds.

Logan Paul’s Click-Bait Content

Participation in the YouTube community can yield beneficial information which can be shared with a variety of people, that being said, there will always be people like Logan Paul to disrupt that dynamic. 

The Consequences of Posting Inappropriate Content

Logan Paul knows precisely who is the audience is and even with that knowledge decided to upload a vlog featuring him laughing at the corpse of someone’s loved one who committed suicide. This is incredibly disrespectful and disgusting for numerous reasons.

  • Showing graphic images relating to suicide has been demonstrated to cause an influx in the overall number of suicides. People who struggle with depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems are perhaps the most negatively impacted by this content. Logan Paul did not take this into consideration, or at least if he did he chose to upload the vlog anyway.
  • What others saw as horrific, Logan saw as profitable and something he could use to gain views from shock value. For the younger viewers, a video like this can influence how they think about death and suicide. Witnessing one of their favorite YouTubers laugh at a serious situation may give them the impression that it is something that is ok to joke about.
  • Depicting a victim of suicide in a video is disrespectful to both the victim and their friends and family. Those close to the victim may have been previously unaware that their loved one committed suicide. For them to find out what happened through a disrespectful viral video is heartbreaking to imagine.

Logan’s Defense

When a YouTuber understands what their demographic is and the size of their audience, they have a greater responsibility than most when they decide to participate in the YouTube community. Logan Paul disagrees. When confronted on his content he placed the blame on the parents of the kids that watched him. He has a point but only to a fault. Parents can monitor some of the content their kids see but not everything. However, Logan Paul is in full control of his material and fully aware of who is watching. This knowledge gives him a great deal of power and influence over his viewers and blaming their parents is a poor excuse compared to the types of videos he produces. If Logan actually cared about who was viewing his content, he could implement an age restriction for his videos to better protect younger audiences.

How to Fight Back

Luckily the YouTube community and several other media platforms collaborated to bring about awareness for people suffering from mental health issues. Several YouTubers with a significant amount of influence called out Logan Paul, explaining why what he posted is unwelcome on YouTube and the consequences of his content. The collaboration of the YouTube community served as a type of damage control to try to undo the damage that Logan’s vlog had done before YouTube had a chance to remove it. When online communities collaborate, they generate the power to decide what is acceptable and what is not.

Twitter reactions to Suicide Forest vlog

Unfortunately, the damage caused by Logan Paul’s influence cannot be entirely undone. Fans will defend their favorite creators and make excuses even if that creator has done something most would see as unforgivable. This is where the real danger lies, even with damage control people will dig their heels in and support wrongdoing to defend their favorite YouTubers from “the haters.”

As long as this type of content is being produced, people will always defend it. It is crucial that Logan Paul and other creators understand the responsibility that comes with uploading content for millions of viewers. Even though inappropriate content is deleted, it will be re-uploaded and leave scars on impressionable viewers that will not fade any time soon. The only way to combat the spread of harmful content is to collaborate as a community to discourage its creation in the first place. Logan Paul is a great place to start.

For Further Reading:

Local Communications Expert, Lelia King to join Furman University

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Lelia King

A Greenville resident and a respected professional with ten years of experience in communications, Lelia King, will be joining Furman’s communication studies department as a professional-in-residence. Her experience and locality will provide students with further knowledge about networking and how what is learned in the classroom connects with the real world of the communications industry, especially here in Greenville.

Experience

Lelia’s career first started in both public relations and corporate communications, later on moving into the non-profit sector where she served as the communication director for Goodwill before coming to Greenville. Currently, she is the executive director of Build Carolina which is a non-profit housing program located in downtown Greenville. Lelia’s success and action within the community has garnered a great deal of attention from locals, as she has been on several panels to discuss her experiences.

Furman’s Professional-in-Residence Program

The program that Lelia King will be joining at Furman has the goal of connecting students with experienced professionals in communication fields in order to help students understand the real world application of the skills they have learned. This program seeks to engage students with collaboration, skeptical analysis, and practical applications of their studies. This program has two specific goals:

  • Embedding professionals into classrooms so they can provide specific course content pertaining to a real-world application of communication studies
  • Provide valuable networks for students to access through professional-in-residents

Learn More with Lelia King

If interested in hearing more about communications studies from Ms. King, she will be participating in a CLP on Wednesday, January 30, at 5pm in Furman Hall 214. She will be visiting classes during the week as well as hosting a lunch on Wednesday, January 30, from 12:30-1:30 in the Watkins Room. Individual meetings with Ms. King can be scheduled by contacting Erin Frist at erin.frist@furman.edu or in Furman Hall room 135.

For any further questions contact Erin Frist in the Communications Department