focus
April 3rd, 2022 @ 6:33 pm
it’s so weird seeing how “content creators” compare to the bloggers and vloggers of yesteryears and seeing how their brains work when it comes time to what they put out, alongside their ever changing platforms and how they maneuver around with their content.
i am currently watching one of my favorite youtubers do a typical video that she routinely did for years. last year at some point, her focus and content started to change with her lifestyle. she was moving, having a health scare, some other stuffs. i guess she got inspired and ran with it. anyways, she seems so uncomfortable doing this video i’m currently watching. her natural flow is missing because she rarely does videos like this anymore. i hate how self-conscious she seems and it’s making me feel terrible watching how fidgety she is, how unfocused and it seems like she doesn’t want to even do it. it legitimately took her 10 mins before she just naturally dropped right back into her usual chatty, focused mode.
before i go any further, i just want to PSA that i’m not picking on her (I LOVE HER. i wanted to hug her watching the beginning of the damn video and tell her just to keep going, it’s fine) – but as a follower, i have thoughts. people we follow do have the right to change up their brand/mission/etc., and we get affected by stuff like that. i know it’s a very selfish/first world type of problem, but it’s still kind of annoying. also, i’m blaming attention spans (i’ll get to that part later).
i can’t imagine doing this for a living. i’ve seen some of my other favorite vloggers have breakdowns and just stop doing it altogether or go on hiatus. it’s hard enough to keep coming up with themes or type of videos, i’m sure – keeping people’s attention is tough – but when you figure it out – you capture it and have loyal followers… that’s awesome. that’s the point – why just cut off that content majorly?
there’s too much pressure on these folks to pick content and present it out of nowhere – so shouldn’t consistency be key? like blogging here, i try to have repeat category content so i don’t have to think, i just do. at least that might take some of the pressure off of them. it’s nice to just log in and add pics of someone i’m drooling over in my “hubba hubba” category or post a music video/song under “eargesting“. i mean, i don’t sit here pondering what to post anymore – i don’t run a content site anymore where i have like, 200+ readers per day… but even if i still did, i would still post the same way.
my brain wants to compare it to my favorite bands trying to switch up with albums they did right. i always go back to green day and weezer. like, you had it… the blue album, pinkerton, maladroit (okay, well SOME of maladroit), kerplunk, dookie, insomniac, even nimrod – then you switched it up and lost it and never found it again? i don’t even mean selling out, they just can’t seem to get back to the sound we all want again so badly. can they NOT get back there or do they choose not to?
once content creators stray or restructure their content, that’s usually it. ie: some other chick i used to watch on youtube used to dye her hair all the time is now like, boho chic w blonde hair vs dying it 870 “fashion colors”. she now only posts videos of thrifting and renovating her new house – a complete 180, and she gained so much more traffic that way. i just can’t relate to her anymore, so i stopped watching her videos.
anyways, the chick i was originally referring to used to average ~17k on the types of videos i’m referring to and then ~33k on the higher viewed ones (and even higher in some cases). she’s now down to like ~6/7k average on her videos that are like the old ones. if you’re gonna just go by the numbers as a creator, isn’t that kind of saying a lot? maybe do an extra one a week or every other week? why take a hit?
she’s on instagram (who isn’t?), and started concentrating on content there bc she was making photo filters and selling them through some app. like, shit, more power to you. that’s great – but it started bleeding into her posts and taking over. i really don’t care about that – if you’re going to concentrate on that, make another account and just post there (which she did but it was STILL on her main account). i am a multifaceted creator and do a bunch of things also – but i separate most of it. it’s hard to juggle it all, but it’s also hard to mesh it all, especially into an existing entity.
a lot of her videos switched over with her health and lifestyle change as well, which is good and therapeutic for her, but just different for us regulars. she’s maturing and growing, but it’s a bummer for someone who got hooked on the types of vids she used to do. i honestly stopped watching them bc they’re so long/dragged out and sometimes she’s really distracted while vlogging. it’s just not the same.
i know these people need to shift and grow and it’s none of our business when or why they switch it up. she hasn’t stopped doing these videos altogether, they’re just wayyyyyyy less frequent. at least if they were just gone, prob solved, i would be too. so as someone that’s still lingering, it’s frustrating. the reason i thought to post here about this, was because not only does she seem so unsure of herself during this video, it seems like she forgot how to do these videos. she’s been doing them for YEARS, so it should be second nature… it’s just been a while. also, she keeps bringing up tiktok. how she doesn’t think people watch the types of videos i’m referring to because she doesn’t. her direct quote referring to tutorials vs the tutorial/chatty vids was “when it’s just like, on youtube, i don’t have time for that“, so she prefers tiktok now. it’s almost like she didn’t want to make the video but did anyway? it’s confusing.
funny enough, as i’m writing this post, i’m still watching the video. here i am complaining about how she’s moved onto these new types of videos, she’s now talking about how she doesn’t do this particular type of video anymore, bc she doesn’t have anything to talk about while doing them, bc she just does outright video vlogs (which i don’t like watching). she also just brought up the photo filters and in my mind i’m like “iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii literally don’t care” :frowns:, but i digress.
the point of this post is about focus and attention spans. she keeps bringing up tiktok bc of her own attention span. over the years, we’ve seen how much this “job” takes up a “content creator’s” time. trying to get the best picture poses and videos, trying to think up new content, etc. – it seems like it’s a 7 days a week thing for most of them, and more than 8 hours a day. it’s gotta be mentally frying. so maybe tiktok works for you, but not *all* of your viewers feel the same way. i have enough bullshit to process with my brain all day and i only use twitter and instagram. i don’t need to add another layer.
***
while i’m extremely sympathetic to the hours of a “content creator”, these people chose this as their job. shouldn’t that not let their own lives interfere directly with their work? i feel like this type of “job” is so off-the-cuff, new, unstructured and not professional at all. isn’t the goal to build yourself up as a brand? why wouldn’t followers want consistency? this is where i lose my patience a bit – i feel like some twitch people take it more seriously than youtubers and find myself there more. it’s like you’re an entertainer but you’re not? it’s so much pressure, so much competition, people feeling self-conscious, inconsistency, etc. also: where does this career go once you’re in your 40s/50s/60s?
i get that the generations after my own think the world is so flexible and they can do what they want, but i feel like sometimes they really have no idea how to navigate this stuff. without structure, you have chaos. i feel like some need to set boundaries and have better routines.
maybe at the end of the day, she just wants to watch those types of videos bc she’s mentally exhausted from her work. that’s fine – but i feel like she needs to separate how she views vs. what she puts out. not everyone is going to magically align with that mindset.
for me, i have always preferred reading blogs, watching tutorials that include banter (i like twitch for that). i don’t thrive mentally on fast info – tweets (although i use twitter, i usually only use it while i’m working 9-5 as a distraction and mental reset) or fast videos. i find this extremely ironic, bc i mostly listen to punk music and on average, songs are all less than 2 mins, lol… but it’s true, i do prefer more in-depth web content. i find myself being so bored online sometimes bc i miss people WRITING or actually doing these types of videos, for example.
wtf was the point of this post again?
oh yeah… can content creators find structure and stick with the regularly scheduled programming?