The Difficult YouTube Model

          People change. People and their interests change, rather. Who a person fundamentally changes throughout time. Just think about where you were 10 years ago. Who your friends were, what your passions were. For most people, a lot of change can occur in a decade, and while I am young, I can admit that a lot has changed between when I was 7, and when I was 17! But what if I wasn't allowed to change growing up? What if people yelled at me, called me names, got furious by my act of growing up? I would feel a sense of being shamed. I would feel like what I was doing was wrong, but I would also feel wrong not pursuing what I felt was right in my life.
          This is how PewDiePie feels right now. For those what are unaware, PewDiePie is the largest YouTuber on...well, YouTube. He made $7 million dollars off the platform last year, but when he started making video game videos back in 2006, he never anticipated he would be so famous one day. He was just an average Joe, looking to just share some fun with the internet. But thats what he still does to this day. Or, at least, is trying.
          You see, PewDiePie is loyal to his fans. However, over the last 10 years, his taste for video games, and the vulgar humor, has changed. His fans, however, still want the same thing that he had years ago. So while PewDiePie wants to change how he runs his career and life, the people on the internet rebel against such change. Millions of people do. That type of pressure would be too much for me. Its enough when my sister, or someone at school says something I'm doing is stupid, but to have millions of people actively commenting, saying that they don't like what you're doing would be extremely hurtful. Paraphrasing PewDiePie's explanation video, PewDiePie stated that it wasn't just mean trolls telling him they want change. It was his actual fans. The people he cared about most. So what does one do in this predicament, where the internet dictates how you live your life? Would you bend to the will of millions of people, or continue living your life the way that makes you the happiest? At what point did YouTube change from a video viewing platform, to a social media that dictates one's life?

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