I’m back; this time with a totally biased list that’s not about movies, but YouTube. Over the past few years, the amount of creators, viewers, revenue, and popularity on YouTube has grown exponentially. It has been one of the most used video-sharing platform for a while now, and people, me included, flock to the website day after day to indulge in the mass amount of content spewed out daily. Today, I’d like to divulge five “influencers” that I think people should watch. Love them or hate them, they’re here to stay, so why not watch a few videos and see if you like them?
4. Tana Mongeau
Although she has been embroiled in controversy for a lot of her YouTube career, I have always found Tana Mongeau’s videos and vlogs refreshingly raw. In her videos she is brutally honest, self-aware, and tries too hard to be funny in a self-deprecating way that I find (mostly) endearing. In her vlogs, she is the type of extra I’d find incredibly annoying in real life, but after scrolling through endless “family-friendly” vlogs and videos that are obviously only created to get ad revenue, it’s nice to see a 19-year-old record her life as it is -albeit a little more exaggerated for the camera- and not filter herself. She is as nice as she is a bad bitch, and in some ways I aspire to have her confidence. I love watching her videos because they remind me that there are a lot of people dedicated to making sure YouTube isn’t completely scrubbed clean. She just recently hit three million followers on her main channel, and I personally think she deserves every one, including me.
3. David Dobrik
I only learned about the phenomenon that is David Dobrik a few months ago, but I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every one of his videos. He is one of many Viners who transitioned to YouTube when Vine died (R.I.P), and is one of the few ex-Viners that actually creates quality content. David has been making videos for a couple of years, but the past two years every video he uploads has been exactly four minutes and twenty seconds, which I, as a child-at-heart (like many of his viewers) appreciate. I see David’s videos as a response to the curated family-friendly vlogs that saturate YouTube. Every video is a parody of a vlog and has fake skits and real pranks that make them hilarious and unique. Like Tana, his videos are unfiltered and sometime a bit offensive, but if you have an open mind and a sense of humor you’ll appreciate them as much as I do.
2. Fine Brothers Entertainment
Two brothers, Benny Fine and Rafi Fine, came together to create Fine Brothers Entertainment, a powerhouse YouTube empire that currently has, on their two channels combined, 24.8 million subscribers. Their main channel, FBE, is solely for reaction videos, and over time the channel has diversified so there are different react subsections, like “Elders React,” “College Kids React” and “YouTubers React.” The Fine Brothers are unique in that every video is high quality, and the people they choose to react are likable and have the best reactions. The Fine Brothers always try to stay current with what they have people react to, which keeps their viewers interested. Their REACT channel has a more varied array of videos, such as “Try to Watch This Without Laughing or Grinning,” “Do College Kids Know…,” “Kids Vs. Food,” and much more. This channel encourages you to play along and compete with the people throughout each video, which is something you don’t find a lot of on YouTube. Both channels produce consistent, entertaining videos that range from wholesome to X-Rated, so people of all ages can find something to watch and enjoy.
1. Cut
Cut is another channel that successfully manages to bridge the gap between serious and playful. They have an incredibly wide range of videos, from serious videos like ‘Kids Meet Guys with Felonies’ to funny videos like “100 People Describe the First Time They Had Sex,” and even in-between videos like “In-Laws Play Truth or Drink.” Their videos make people laugh as much as their other videos create awareness of people’s differences and the prejudices that we have and are subjected to everyday. Cut is an amazing channel that I think everyone should take the time to sift through, because they have hours and hours of quality video available.