Should you talk about mental or physical health on YouTube?

Should you talk about mental or physical health on YouTube? There are reasons for and against and I honestly don't know how I feel yet.

Is a Second Channel on YouTube a Good Idea?

Is a second channel on YouTube a good idea? That's the question of the year it seems, at least it was the question of Business day at Playlist Live DC. Is the trend of having 'second channel' dead? Do viewers care anymore? Or is it just a poor decision to split your content up?

Playlist Live DC 2015

I attended Playlist Live DC this September. It was my first 'YouTube' related even since moving to the east coast and it did not quite fill the VidCon shaped hole in my heart but it was an overall good experience. I was on a panel for the first time and met new people, so it was not a loss. Did I enjoy ever minute or think that the conference was without it's problematic moments, of course not. I go into more detail about the differences and how I felt in my video I made. (at the bottom of this post) Overall I'm glad I went and I hope the people I met are willing to reconnect in the future.

Thoughts About Lo-Fi One-Take YouTube

Once upon a time, perhaps two years ago, a trend appeared on YouTube called 'lo-fi week.' From what I remember it was to remind people that you don't need high-end equipment to make videos. When YouTube was new no one was using DSLRs and fancy editing software and creative things were being made all of the time. Since I've been without my 'fancy equipment' this month I thought I'd return to YouTube via my husband's webcam in all its lo-fi one-take glory. I think it's something I want to do every so often, just to remind myself that YouTube was not always this race for visual and auto quality. The actual content is what matters. Below is my return video, thanks for watching! (as I say at least 3 times...not editing is really hard, ha!)

What do you think of lo-fi and/or one-take videos? Should they make a comeback or should they remain in 2006? Tell us in the comments below!

Do You Wanna Collab? | The Struggle of a Shy YouTuber

This is a topic I've been dealing with for the last three years; 'collabs' or collaborations between YouTubers.  I've always loved collab videos, the idea that you can get together with another creative person and make something together, regardless if you live in the same city or not. One of my early collabs was fantasy storytelling with someone on the other side of the country. [Don't Forget the Forest] I just love it when others share my passion and we get to do what we love together. (Like cosplaying with a group, or co-writing a fan fiction.) In fact I have an entire series on my channel where I just bring on a friend and we have an unscripted chat...because it's fun.

My current YouTube channel was started shortly after I got my job at Maker Studios. That's when I learned about 'cross-promotion.' The idea of cross-promotion or cross-pollination is promoting each other by collaborating. Makes sense, of course you're going to plug each others' channels, it's the nice thing to do; introducing your audience to them and theirs to yours. For me that was always the icing on the cake, but never the main reason for doing a collab. I just wanted to work with other creative people like I remember doing in film school. However, the longer I worked in the industry of online video, the more and more I saw that sometimes the promotion came before the creative. In business you make those choices. YouTuber X has the same interests as YouTuber Y, they have a similar subscriber number, they should collab.

Shouldn't the idea come first? I was learning that that was not always the case.

So here's my story, I have a teeny tiny channel but I'm working alongside some big names in the YouTube world, the temptation is always there. Just ask them to collab, you'll regret it if you don't! I'm a very shy person, so honestly asking a new friend out to lunch is hard enough...but asking a popular YouTuber to collab with me...even though we've worked alongside each other for months...It's just too much.  Hey, wanna collab? I respect you as a creator but I'm really asking so that your viewers will check out my channel. I knew that no mater what I really said that's what they would hear. So sleazy. So yes, I may have missed a lot of opportunities due to my paranoid shyness and self doubt, but at least I didn't feel like a complete jerk.

But what about my YouTube-y friends who are ready and willing to collab even though we've never hung out in setting that did not revolve slightly around the industry and YouTube? What of them? Is collaborating with that crowd desperate or completely normal? Is it the obvious next step or a path to fakeness. I'm not sure I have it figured out.

It's hard making friends with other YouTubers (especially ones with higher audience numbers than you) without feeling a little like a jerk when you ask to collaborate. (Even if you really do want to create something awesome together.) Awesome like tag video?!? That's just lazy cross-promotion and nothing more. Is it though? What if we just like making videos and want to do it together because that's what friends (even new friends) do? Am I just making excuses?

In the next few months I plan on doing a few collabs with people I've hung out with less times than fingers on one hand. I'd be lying if I said cross-promotion was not slightly on my mind. However, I only want to do collabs with people I like, people I enjoy hanging out with the few times we have, people who's videos are videos I love watching and want to be apart of. Am I a heartless business drone, or just an honest lover of online video and want to share my passion for creation?

Tomorrow I'm uploading a video featuring me and three other YouTubers, the context is not YouTube or industry related at all but of course I'm putting their names in the video title. I'm curious of what people will think of that, what those three women will think of that. I like hanging out with them and this is the first time I decided to vlog at the same time since the subject material was relevant to videos on my channel.

I was inspired to write this post after watching FranJustFran's video that touched on collaborations, I'll be honest with you, I saw the title of her video in my subscription feed and was afraid to watch it at first. I thought the video would make me feel guilty. It actually just made me feel different from Fran. She feels most comfortable talking to her camera alone in her bedroom whereas I feel creatively charged when I work with others. (The opposite of my social life I might add, being mostly an introvert.) Neither is better or worse than the other. Just different.

Maybe Trapped Mostly Troubled

I used to do 'Music Mondays' and 'Tuber Tuesdays' (YouTuber, not the vegetable) but I eventually stopped. Today I thought I'd bring both back with Tessa Violet's debut album, Maybe Trapped Mostly Troubled. It's a rare occurrence these days for me to actually purchase a physical album, but I've known Tessa for some time and here videos were some of the few that made me catch the YouTube bug years ago. Her album is great, I can't get the songs out of my head. Here is a video she made previewing the songs in her classic 'cloning' style. Any Meekakitty fans out there?

5 Quick Tips for Starting a YouTube Channel

So you've decided to start a YouTube channel. Whooo! I'm so excited for you! Let me give you a little help with 5 useful tips that I really wish someone had told me back when I was starting out.

1. Collaborate. Find YouTube friends who have the same amount of subscribers as you and see if they want to make a video together. You don't have to even live in the same city to make a it happen. Just write a script, shoot your part, send it to them, and vice versa. I've made some videos with friends this way and clear and frequent communication is key. The best way to make the most of a collab is to create two videos (one for your channel and one for theirs), link each other in the video description, and share both videos across social media sites. Their audience meets you and your audience meets them, therefor increasing both of your audiences as a result.

2. Production value. Not the most important thing but will defiantly help your videos look better. You can do this on any budget. If you don't have a professional lighting set up, shoot in front of a window during the day. Can't buy an external mic, shoot indoors when no one else is around/the dishwasher is not running/etc. You can always work your way up to getting more gear, but till then you can still find ways to improve.

3. Spend time on metadata. Did you know that the top three lines in your video's description are the most important? (It's what's above the fold!) Did you know your video's tags are for more things than your own organization? The 'title' 'description' 'tags' and 'category' for your video are very important. Do not ignore or under use these features of YouTube. (Trust me, this stuff is what I do for my day job!)

4. Be dedicated. If you want to be a YouTuber than be a YouTuber. Don't post your first video and abandon the site for months. If you want your subscribers to keep coming back and watching your videos you have to keep making videos. Sure, taking breaks is okay and even important, but be there more than your not there. Weekly videos seems to be the best for people starting out who want to gain a following. It's what I try to am for.

5.  Fame or Fun? Take a step back and ask yourself why you are making videos for YouTube. There's nothing wrong with wanting to get your videos out there to as many people as possible. There's also nothing wrong with wanting to one day be a full time YouTuber. However a problem arises when you are no longer enjoying the process. If the fame and fortune sound great but the actual video making, and video watching, and commenting, and participating in the community sound awful then maybe you need another 'get rich quick scheme'. Trust me, becoming 'YouTube famous' is not a quick or likely thing. Basically if you can't see yourself making YouTube videos purely for the fun of it, then you might want to reevaluate your motives.

If you'd like 5 more tips for starting out on YouTube, subscribe to my shop or blog mailing list here and get a free PDF! Also, don't forget to check out my YouTube channel! ;)

Subscription Feed Woes

I have just taken the longest YouTube break, possibly ever, since I started posting weekly videos on my YouTube channel. It's been four weeks since my last video (icanSOdorandom & MagicCatJenny | Vlogs with Friends | Hannah Moroz) went live. I took the break mainly for my trip and prep and recovery time. I also think taking breaks from demanding hobbies is smart.

I took tons of travel footage so expect a few Japan videos soon. (Also photos!) This long YouTube break has not only left me itching to make videos again, it also left me with a large amount of unwatched videos in my subscription feed. Eek!

I'm subscribed to well over 500 channels and at least half post regularly, so watching every single video I've missed is really unrealistic. (I don't really do that anyway.) So even if I wanted to watch everything in order the YouTube subscription feed only lets you go back so far. (You can hit the 'Load More' button up to 8 times.) I can watch those 8 pages of videos and forgo what came before or get caught up slowly. So far I'm focusing on narrative web shows, then I'll go to the pages of my friends and favorites and see what looks good. I'll have to suppress my completest tendencies and just ease back into the community.

However even if I was able to go through the entire feed and watch everything I missed, I'd still miss some things. The YouTube subscription feed is not as great as it once was. If you don't watch a channel's videos for a long time, their content will stop showing up in your feed regularly. It's not as inclusive and fool proof, which is why adding youtubers on twitter and facebook really helps.

How do you watch YouTube? Do you make sure to consume everything on your subscription feed? Do you watch what's on the 'What to Watch' tab and don't really worry about subscribing to particular channels? Or do you watch whatever your friends post on Facebook? I want to know what kind of YouTube viewers my blog readers are so speak up! :)

+5 Charisma - Are You Ready to Start a YouTube Channel?

I am the official YouTube blogger over at GeekGirlPenPals.com! The first Saturday of every month I'll be posting on their blog affectionately know as +5 Charisma What I've been thinking of doing is on the Friday before, posting an accompanying post here. How does that sound faithful readers? Tomorrow's post (spoiler alert) will be about how to know if you're ready to start your own YouTube channel. (Hint, age does not matter unless your under 13) So next time I'm going to post some tips for first time YouTubers both on +5 Charisma and MagicCatJenny, 5 tips there, 5 tips here.

I'm about to leave on vacation so there will only be three posts here in the next two weeks. All three are guest posts and are so so great, so be sure you're following me on Bloglovin so you don't miss 'em! And don't forget to head on over to +5 Charisma on GeekGirlPenPals.com tomorrow to see my latest post. Thank you so much for reading, sayōnara さようなら

My YouTube History Parts 1 and 2

I have not been posting my videos on this blog as much as I used to so today I thought I'd share some history and some videos. I have been feeling a bit down about YouTube lately, so I thought I'd relive some of that first time bliss when YouTube was still a new place. Today I posted a video talking about my short films I used to make before YouTube existed. I mentioned the "production company" my friends and I started in high school, Magic World Productions. (I still use the magic cat logo to this day.) I'd love it so much if you watched it and commented.


Here's the first video about my YouTube history I made almost a year ago. It was not meant to be a series but I did title it 'Part 1' so naturally, someone wanted a 'Part 2'. You can tell by the difference in the two videos, made about a year apart, that my vlog style has changed. Not to say that unscripted laying on a bed is necessarily a bad way to make videos, but having some editing, graphics, and music really amps up the production value when you're in the mood for production value that is.


Thanks for watching!
J.

(Stay updated with MagicCatJenny on Bloglovin)

My first post on the Geek Girls Pen Pal Club blog!

I'm doing a monthly feature about YouTube over at the IGGPPC blog and today is my first post! (If you are an Iggle, be sure to friend me there!) It's an introduction to the idea of 'YouTubers.' I talk a bit about my channel and about YouTube in general. Check it out here, I hope you enjoy it!

J.

Guest Post at Kitty and Buck!

This past weekend I wrote a guest post over at Kitty and Buck. I talked all about being a YouTuber. Go take a look, it was really fun to write! Also, if you are still curious about my YouTube history, let me know in the comments. I might write even more about it here.

J.