Marketing sophomore Chris Ryan said he has been an avid video blogger on YouTube since his middle school years, when he was just beginning to learn about the Internet and social media.
“I was just looking for more ways to express myself online,” Ryan said. “I thought this was my way to become a celebrity in seventh grade.”
Ryan said video blogging and social media marketing became more than a hobby as his content improved and his following grew — it became a career.
“I grew up doing it, I learned young ... I’m ahead of the curve,” said Ryan, who landed a teaching assistant position as well as several local freelance branding campaigns with his self-taught experience.
Ryan said he learned how to profit from his vlog by using Google AdSense and forming relationships with his businesses sponsors.
“I have been making money off of YouTube and web shows since I was 14,” Ryan said.
He receives paychecks from Google and goodies like headphones, shirts and albums.
Ryan said he is grateful his hobby turned into something he can do to pay tuition and pursue as a career because he enjoys doing it.
For some students, blogging is about securing a sense of identity.
Interdisciplinary studies in social science junior Imaan Abbasi said both she and her roommate identify as Muslims and as feminists, and they began their blog after realizing young Muslim American women were not included in conversations regarding Muslim women in media.
“This blog was a way to take back our voices,” Abbasi said. “This blog is to show the different dimensions of Muslim women in a world that paints them as unidimensional.”
To other students, such as professional writing and theatre junior Kendall Kotcher, a blog is a creative outlet.
Kotcher said the creative freedom of blogging and vlogging continuously draws her to create content.
“Ninety-nine percent of why I blog and vlog is for myself and for expression,” Kotcher said. “It’s a plus with technology that I get to share it with others.”
With social media leading online activity, blogs are often overlooked as a source of buzz. However, blogging numbers continue to grow.
According to a 2010 study conducted by publisher advertising platform Technorati, a new blog is created every 7.4 seconds and 10,800 updates are posted every hour.
But maintaining a blog can be time consuming, especially on a student schedule.
“I don’t think either of us realized how much time it takes to run a blog,” Abbasi said of herself and her roommate. “Ideally, we want to have posts at least once a week, but with juggling everything else it gets very difficult.”
In the tornado of assignments, credit hours, social time and crammed planners, blogging and vlogging can make college life a bit more tolerable.
Abbasi said blogging “has been a really cathartic avenue” for both her and her roommate.
Kotcher said although she doesn’t have time to blog as much as she would like, if she finds her mind racing at night, typing out her thoughts or worries helps her move past them.
“It makes life interesting and fun,” Kotcher said. “Blogging is a good coping mechanism ... (blogs) keep me sane, they’re mediums of expression, they’re fun, and they document my life.”
