I have crappy confidence. I often imagine myself doing videos on YouTube the same way I imagine myself winning the lottery: A nice diversion and nothing more. My self-doubt hisses, “No one cares about your blog, why would they care about your videos?” I’m uncertain if I have an answer.
But, I think it would be fun and interesting. It might bolster my ego a bit to do something flawless and bold, new and “out there”. It wouldn’t be for fame, so why hold back?
The webcam I’ve been eyeing is on sale. Still more than I’ve ever paid for my “writing business” expenses, but better than the $100 that rendered it pure delusional fantasy. I have to be sure I want to do it before I buy it because I don’t have enough income to waste on things, even if I can save up.
People stumbling upon my videos might not be civil towards me. The Internet allows animosity and volatility to flourish with little consequence. A blog allows me to not be “visible” the entire time. And, if I’m honest, a lot of trolls will search out videos where they wouldn’t normally scroll through hundreds of individual blogs. Covering what most people consider boring subjects might help me, though.
Would you get a webcam and make videos? What is stopping you? If you have done it, did you like it? What advice can you give?
I use YouTube VERY infrequently, and I've never really considered vlogging. I did enjoy hosting a radio show while I was at Ripon, though—different medium than video, certainly, but nonetheless a way to put one's voice "out there." My biggest concern with making videos would be exactly what you said: civility can be lacking. But it is another venue to consider—and I'd be more likely to watch YouTube videos from someone I knew!
ReplyDeleteI do fear how people can be, especially with how "different" I am.
DeleteI forgot you hosted a radio show! Were you nervous about it, at first? Did you use any specific trick to feel more comfortable?
It's definitely a way to connect with a younger audience. Women my age aren't so much random YouTube browsers, but we'll follow links presented to us on Twitter or Facebook. But my daughters (ages 17 and 10) both go there just to look around and see what they can discover.
ReplyDeleteI've played around on YouTube a little, posting some short videos where from readings, one where I talk about a poem I liked. I am not generally what you call body-confident, and I've had to push past internal voices criticizing my jaw line. So far, no one has trolled me hardcore, so I don't know how I'll react when that happens. We'll see, I guess.
I'm all for pushing ourselves past our comfort zones to try something new. It can spark creativity and make the magic happen, so I say go for it!
@mirymom1 from
Balancing Act
I'm not sure I'd necessarily WANT to attract younger viewers... unless they love poetry. What do people use to share videos if not YouTube?
DeleteWe all have things about ourselves we're critical of. Unfortunately, I have a lot of unique features that I'm not sure would be well-received. Poetry isn't popular, so... maybe I'd be safe!