Today entertainment is available at the touch of a button. One of the quickest forms of entertainment available is YouTube, an American video-sharing website. Without the need for an account, YouTube puts content from the latest music videos around the world to everyone’s favorite cat videos at the easiest of convenience. But with over a billion videos on the site, it can be difficult to decide what to watch. The majority of YouTube channels can easily be split into specific categories.
Vlogs
Vlogs, or video blogs, have become extremely popular in the last few years. Vloggers on YouTube typically release videos focused on their daily lives. They discuss what is going on in their corner of the world and interact with their followers. Many vloggers collaborate with another in videos, often completing popular challenges or playing games. One reason why vloggers are so popular is they tend to be very with their audience; they display a side of themselves society does not normally see from celebrities such as personal issues, friends, and homelife. A few popular vloggers on YouTube include Dan Howell (danisnotonfire), Phil Lester (theamazingphil), Tyler Oakley, Connor Franta, Troye Sivan, Jenna Marbles and Alfie Deyes (PointlessBlogVlogs).
Gaming
Video game commentary has also taken ahold of the YouTube community as of late. These channels offer a chance to experience video games and their intriguing storylines and action packed fights without having to purchase expensive systems and games. Gaming YouTubers typically provide commentary of the game they are playing throughout their videos as well as the occasional facecam to show themselves and their reactions throughout their videos. It can be quite interesting to watch someone interpret a game for themselves, and depending on the channel, the commentary is often hilarious. Some notable gaming channels are Game Grumps, Cow Chop, Cryaotic, Rooster Teeth, The Creatures, Markiplier, Seananners, and CaptainSparklez.
Music
Almost everyone has used YouTube to listen to music at some point in their life, but the site also has a lot of lesser known musicians as well. Some music channels on YouTube focus on covers. Channels such as Sam Tsui (TheSamTsui), Megan Nicole, and Boyce Avenue cover mainstream popular songs featured on the radio to movie soundtracks. Artists such as Caleb Hyles, Nathan Sharp (NateWantsToBattle) and AmaLee (LeeandLie) cover the nerdier side of music including anime openings/endings and video game soundtracks. Besides vocal covers, Smyang Piano produces lovely piano covers of popular K-pop songs while Tasty and MonsterCat post dubstep, electronic, and house music.
Educational
Given the proper presentation, learning can be quite entertaining. The channel Crash Course creates visually appealing and educational videos ten minutes videos about numerous topics such history, science, literature, and philosophy. Channels such as Kurzgesgt – In a Nutshell and Vscauce focus on scientific subjects such as genetic engineering and space. BBC Earth Unplugged is the equivalent of nature TV shows on YouTube. This channel creates content with information on endangered species, interesting facts and adorable animal behavior. Channels such as HDpiano and JustinGuitar provide easy to understand music lessons.
There are many other types of YouTube channels such as beauty tutorials, unboxing videos, compilations, how-to’s, skits, food videos and animations. No matter a person’s interest, there will always be interesting videos to watch on YouTube. Just try to avoid the “dark side of YouTube”. A few clicks from the Suggested Videos bar, and you can find yourself starting with a music video and ending with a tutorial on how to survive a bear attack.