Spending hours on YouTube is a fun way to waste time for many students, but for the actual video creators, or vloggers, it’s a way to inspire others and explore possible career opportunities.
Caitlin Corsetti graduated from The University of Alabama last May with a degree in telecommunication and film and is now living in her dream city – New York City. She said she owes a lot of her success to her time video blogging for CollegeCandy.com while she was in college.
“I started blogging for College Candy in 2009 when I became their freshman voice writer,” Corsetti said. “A beauty blogger position became open, and I jumped to fill the spot.”
Corsetti became the host of CC Beauty Live where she gave tutorials on makeup and other beauty products.
“It turned out to be one of our most popular columns,” Corsetti said. “We had over 200 episodes, and we developed a huge Twitter following.”
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Corsetti said some of the fans of the College Candy vlog began to follow her personal Twitter account and would tweet questions and experiences to her.
“Once I moved to New York, I started my own YouTube channel and I would vlog about my experiences in the city,” Corsetti said. “I wanted to branch out and do more than beauty, and some of my followers from CC Beauty Live also subscribed to my personal account.”
Corsetti said having a degree in telecommunication and film with a concentration in broadcast news helped her to have a natural camera presence when talking to her viewers.
“I am always extremely open with my viewers,” Corsetti said. “I share a lot on camera because I want them to feel like they know me, and they do know me.”
Corsetti said her experiences vlogging for College Candy also helped to get a new job with the website gurl.com. She said she plans on continuing to vlog for her job, as well as for her personal YouTube account.
“It’s important to remember you are doing this for you,” Corsetti said. “I never vlog just for the money or to get hits. I do it because I love it.”
Founded in 2005, YouTube now sees over two billion views a day, according to their company timeline. Vloggers upload everything from beauty tutorials to gaming-world commentary. And for many vloggers, it is a personal outlet.
Sophomore Kady Wohlfarth began vlogging after she broke her back last August to share her experiences and recovery process.
“After I broke my back, I had a lot of free time,” Wohlfarth said. “I started vlogging because I wanted to turn my negative experience into something positive.”
Wohlfarth’s first vlog received almost 1,200 hits in four days. She said she originally posted the video as a way for her friends to keep up with her while she was at home, and she was surprised at how popular it had become.
“I have no idea why it gained so much popularity,” Wohlfarth said. “If I helped even one person by telling my story, then it was worth it.”
Wohlfarth has returned to the University and does not vlog currently, but she said if given the time, she would do it again.
“I think vlogging is a positive thing because you are becoming famous for the reasons that you wish,” Wohlfarth said. “You are defining yourself and other people by what you have to say.”
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