Chase Dillon is a 19 year old student at Salisbury University who’s building a YouTube channel about the random things that interest him. He’s used his channel to build a better mindset and uses humor to make people feel at home.
Her Campus: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Chase Dillon: So, my name is Chase Dillon. I make videos on the internet…. And that’s basically what I spend the majority of my time doing. I mean, I do my homework and stuff, but I put a lot of time and attention into making YouTube videos and I try to make as much quality content as possible. I actually grew up in this area. It’s a really small town to be honest. I feel like I really didn’t get an outlet when I was younger, like when I was in high school, to really express myself. I also didn’t really take advantage of anything online to do so, and now that I’m in college I’m able to express myself more with people who are from different places. I feel like this was a really good time for me to open up YouTube and start building my confidence in myself knowing that I am able to express myself better now. I just do it because it makes me feel really comfortable in my skin.
HC: What’s your year and major?
CD: I’m a sophomore. I was a Chem major trying to get into pharmacy school but I realized that probably isn’t the best route for me, *laughs*, so I’ve gone into marketing and I’m hoping this is a good major for me just because it’s very versatile and I can work for a lot of things; I can work for myself. I don’t know. I feel really independent with this major.
HC: What made you want to start a YouTube channel?
CD: I just, I wanted a platform I could express myself on. I really wanted to just be my true self. I can be that in person but when it’s just me in the room with a camera, it’s everything I feel, it’s everything I want to say because no one is judging me. A camera can’t judge me, and I can be 100% authentic. I also just wanted to make a YouTube channel just to see if there are people like me out there. I really wanted a place when I could relate to people and people could relate to me and build a little community.
HC: What does being a YouTube creator mean to you?
CD: Being a YouTube creator means having free reign of your image. You get to be 100% yourself, you get to put out things that you either say as honest, artistic, funny, serious, you get to control how people see you. All that is a good thing because first impressions matter and all impressions matter but on a YouTube channel it’s more like a journal. I feel like that’s a major part of what I see on there, me documenting not only my life, but stages of my life and how I’m feeling and what I’m thinking. I can look at it today and feel one way and look at it 10 years down the line and see how I changed.
HC: How do you think this channel will affect your future?
CD: I’m hoping in a good way. I just really like this whole thing about YouTube because I get to be so vocal and I do it in a fairly mature way. In the future I hope that people can see me as a positive influence. Whether that’s them realizing something about themselves or them being more open to diversity. I don’t want to say someone to look up to because that’s a lot of responsibility, but I just want to be an influence on somebody. I have a strong feeling that a lot of positive things are going to come out of this. I think the beauty is not knowing exactly what’s going to come out of it.
HC: What do you hope to see in the future now that you’re posting on YouTube?
CD: I would like to see my platform grow and not just for the sake of being able to say that I got big. But I feel like YouTube got me to build more connections and friendships and people are more open talking to me once they realize I put myself out there. I’d like to see that continue and I’m hoping this channel will put me towards a place where people will see me as a leader or influencer. I just want to say I made a positive difference.
HC: Who is your target audience if you have one?
CD: When I check my demographic on YouTube, a lot of it tends to be 17 to 24-year-olds because that’s around my age. But specifically? Anyone to be honest, I want people to see me and be more open to diversity. Anyone who likes a funny story time, into fashion because I’m definitely into that. My target audience is anybody who is willing to listen.
HC: Who are some YouTubers you look up to?
CD: I would definitely say in regard to being able to build a platform for themselves, Jenna Marbles and Shane Dawson. A lot of their stuff might seem inappropriate at times, but I definitely respect that they were able to dedicate a lot of their time to something they love and build a platform of people who love them and love each other. I would definitely say Troye Sivan as well. He’s not an active YouTuber anymore because he went mainstream, but he was able to go from being a random kid, building up a platform and then using that platform to create something more blows my mind in the greatest way. I respect people who are able to take their talents and abilities and use them for personal growth and reach out to people.
HC: What are some things you found helpful when starting out?
CD: A lot of the things I found helpful I had to find within myself which sounds corny but it’s honest. I would definitely say you have to find a little bit of confidence, you don’t have to have a ton, but you just need enough to turn the camera on and talk to it. Your first video isn’t going to be great, nobody’s first video is great. You definitely going to need to find something that you’re interested in talking about. You can’t start a channel that you love if you can’t talk about what you love. Something else is being loud and don’t care. Don’t be afraid to be a voice.
HC: If there’s anything you could change about anything related to YouTube what would it be?
CD: I don’t mean to be shady, but I would definitely change the community guidelines and monetization policies they just recently changed. Community guidelines wise, we all know what happened with Logan Paul, and things like that shouldn’t even be able to be posted. I don’t think that gruesome material should be posted and that’s common knowledge. I don’t think YouTube should have content that is unnecessarily gruesome, unnecessarily provocative, in the sense of displaying somebody’s dead body for no purpose. It’s not always going to be respectful, it’s not always going to be agreeable. It’s okay to be messy but there should be a knowledge of what’s fair play and what’s not. They (YouTube) are definitely working on that but they shouldn’t wait until something bad happens. With monetization, I understand why they made the changes, but I feel like it gives a push back on smaller creators.
HC: When someone visits your channel, what do you want them to get from it?
CD: I just want somebody to have a place where they can have a laugh, where they feel safe, where they have a friend and a family. I want someone to come to my channel and have a good time and know that they’re loved. I know that’s a huge problem in the world since we don’t have a lot of that love, and I know a funny video won’t change the world, but a smile is a first step.