Since getting his start in 2007, Oakley has become a bonafide sensation, with more than 900,000 likes on his Facebook page, almost two million followers on Twitter and almost four million YouTube. Oakley uses these mediums to entertain, connect and gain corporate sponsors and advertisements.

“I think I fell into it,” Oakley said. “I feel like it wasn’t (a generational movement) when I started … but it evolved into something bigger that I never had the intention to join.”

Oakley recently was featured on “Generation Like,” a recent PBS Frontline special that elaborated on the social media game of amassing fame.

“The control is now in the hands of everyone,” public relations and social media professor Saleem Alhabash said. “Anyone can post a YouTube video, a blog … the shift in control has created this sense of empowerment and the illusion that the road to fame is very easy.”

The PBS special also took a look at how young people identify themselves by how much validation they receive online. In short, the special claimed young people get gratification and evaluate themselves by how many likes, retweets and views they get.

Psychology professor Linda Jackson has extensively researched the effects of technology use on young people and claims more young people use it as a mode of expression.

“Social media is a way (for young people to) express themselves in a “safe” environment,” Jackson said in an email.

“It’s anonymous, you can say anything without negative repercussions and you can leave if you don’t like what’s being said,” she said.

For Oakley, the Internet was never an avenue to find or validate himself.

Oakley said he simply documented his adventurous life and the outcome has had positive effects on him. Because of his video-making, Oakley now considers himself more adventurous.

But Oakley said the mass attention also can be detrimental. Viewers online can be quite cruel, he said.

Alhabash iterated some of the dangers of expressing oneself online and relying too much on online validation.

“If we rely too much on these evaluations, it can be devastating and frustrating to a person,” he said. “The negativity can stay, the evaluation can stay and the effect of the positive does not hold for a long time. We always want more.”

Although relying on the Internet can be dangerous, it offers people a great mode of self-expression, giving young personalities like Oakley a chance to be themselves, Alhabash said.

And that’s the point, Oakley said. The overall goal of his YouTube channel was to be a personal diary documenting his real-life growth and experiences.

Even his viewers take note of his authenticity and likability. Psychology freshman Sarafina Apolloni is an avid fan of Oakley’s, as a YouTuber and as a fellow Spartan.

“I think he’s a great role model, especially if you watch the videos of him explaining why he started his YouTube channel in the first place,” she said. “I really like that he is so positive about everything.”