Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? Back to 2005—not really that long ago, really. But in February of that year, YouTube launched its video-hosting services. It was originally envisioned as something of a dating video site. But it wasn’t long before people began uploading free videos of all sorts of things.
Fifteen years later, some two billion users watch YouTube’s constantly expanding video library every day. Among its most ardent users are tween and teen boys. In fact, studies show that they spend more time in this entertainment arena than any other—including video games.
What started as a simple idea 15 years ago has become a content colossus. Not only did it create an entirely new way to interact with user-generated content, it’s launched the careers of entertainers like Justin Bieber and PewDiePie.
What’s that, you say? Who’s PewDiePie? Ah, that brings me to the reason I’m writing today.
PewDiePie is—depending on which metrics you use—the first or second most popular content creator on YouTube. But he’s not necessarily a household name if you’re not pretty plugged in to the YouTube zeitgeist.
That’s why Plugged In is now reviewing YouTube channels. We want to help you have a sense of what you might expect to find in the videos of the site’s most popular and influential content contributors.
We realize there are limitations, of course. Someone like PewDiePie has posted literally thousands of videos. We’re not going to view them all. Rather, we’ll take a look at a sampling of videos from each channel that we focus on. Our goal is to give you a representative glimpse—not a complete list—of the kinds of content issues you (or you child) might expect to encounter.
Likewise, there are thousands—probably tens of thousands—of popular YouTubers out there. We won’t be able to cover them all. But we’ll do our best to identify and review those who are making waves, making news and making content that we think your family needs to know about.
On that note, we’d love to hear from you regarding which YouTubers you’d like us to review. Who are your kids into? Whose videos do you have questions about? Let us know below!
And be sure to check out our first batch of reviews—a collection that will be growing each week as we zero in on the YouTubers whose content is shaping the hearts and minds of kids growing up today.
Originally published on Plugged In
