[SIDE POST] - Are Content Creators Being Treated Fairly?

This isn't something I would usually write about on my blog, and as you can see I have never done anything like this, unless it has been to discuss my own lack of content based on health and other things that have been going on recently.

First of all, I just wanted to state that, although this is about content creators, I wanted to make this blog post a sort of open letter to Callux (Callum McGinley) and his recent tweets about his YouTube channel and content.
It is no news that YouTube has become somewhat "industrialised" and has started running mechanically between YouTubers and creators. As so many people saw success through YouTube in previous years, it pushed so many people to strive for a career through the website, which has ended in a very "dog-eat-dog" community, rather than the friendly, laid-back one it was when everyone first started out. The content levels have changed dramatically, so it is understandable when YouTubers are stating that they are struggling making content that they believe will do well, that they are proud of themselves, and what will get them views. Watching Zerkaa's podcast featuring Callux, I've never been someone that could sit through a podcast as long as that one was, however I watched the whole thing as I completely agreed with everything that Callum had said. Saying that he had deleted so many videos and content because he did not believe they were good enough, investing so much money in to video ideas just to not post them because he found them unoriginal or not engaging enough is something that so many content creators feel, myself being one of them. As Callum stated in his tweets, he never wanted YouTube to be solely about money, but the hard facts of it is that if it is your main source of income, obviously you are going to be beat up about the money situation it puts you in. It's like working your full time job and them cutting your pay, not receiving the money for your usual working hours and the effort you have put in, and then having people say "well this is your dream job, you should be happy you have it"; that is not how it works at all. Fair enough if, like me, you create blog posts or videos or anything on the side and you may not be earning much, but when it is your full time job and career it does knock you and affect you tremendously.

With Callum also mentioning that he has a lot of money coming out with not enough going in, I totally understand how that feels. At the moment for me, I am having to move back home and leave university for a while to support my family as well as myself, without a job to go home to. Having the responsibility of not only having yourself relying on you, but also others that you well and truly care about with no income coming in and your funds slowly shrinking is extremely stressful and hard to take on board, because you end up feeling like you're letting others down as well as yourself. If you are creating videos that are making no money at all, losing views on a regular basis, having the stress of other's reliance on you, not knowing what could come of the future and what money situation you could end in is extremely stressful and you can only imagine what that must feel like.

I am happy to see that, for someone like Callum that is being openly honest about his current situation, that there has been no negativity pushed towards him as you often see with big YouTubers and online influencers. It baffles me that some people are "famous" for so many wrong reasons, are such bad role models, and create some terrible content that probably took two paid assistants to put together in 5 minutes (no shade), making millions, when so many great content creators are struggling, even with such a large audience. Don't get me wrong, I cannot name one British YouTubers that I don't think deserves every bit of fame they have got from YouTube, as they all seem to put in so much effort, but it is sad to see so many people reaching the point where they are HAVING to give up; not just because they feel like it is too much, but because it is reaching that point where they feel nothing else can be done as nothing they are trying is working.
One thing I am extremely sad at (and it is a little embarrassing seeing as I am a 21 year old university student with way too much time on her hands) is that I actually got pretty invested in Callum's daily vlogs and the fact he is not able to create them anymore is sad. I have NEVER in my whole life been a vlog watcher, and I have never been interested in content like that, hardly keeping up with the YouTube scene, so god knows why I care so much about Callum's or why they interested me so much, but they did, and it is a sad day to see them go.

I am hoping that, for many YouTubers, including Callum, the community will gradually become a lot better and we will see a growth in more content being created and more support for the YouTubers that deserve it. It is not even just YouTube that I see it on, even on blogging sites there are so many creative individuals that I believe deserve so much more attention that do not get it because people are getting so caught up in fads and trends and things that, in my opinion, have no depth to them. There are so many people that support online influencers and spread positivity and try and help as much as they can, however, sadly, at this point in time, it is not enough. I think all that there is left is to hope that it will continue to grow, rather than the inevitable fear that greed will take over it all.


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Sorry if this blog post is a lot different to my usual content, I just felt pretty strong about the message that I have been seeing a lot of content creators talk about recently and wanted to have my own say on the situtation. Might be a bit heavy as well to hear (hahaha) but I just wanted to shed light on the situation and kind of explain how I completely agree with what a lot of people have been coming out and saying. I was going to write a tweet about it but I thought I'd only end up writing about 50 tweets that would just end up annoying everyone and filling up time lines, so a blog post seemed like the best idea lol (also the header of this post is the only one that kind of fit the best so just ignore it, had to keep my blog theme going because I'm that extra...)