#yourtikken

Um.

(There is logic to this title. You're just not aware of it yet.)

So this week on sarcaschicks, the girls are discussing gossip about YouTubers. So far it's just been Becky and Lex, because I'm writing this on a Wednesday, so possibly this whole post will be made irrelevant by whatever Bryarly, Kim and Lindsey have to say, but you know, maybe not. And plus, I really need to write some blogsMAFIA blogs, or blogsMAFIA becomes a statement of false hope at the very best. Much like Kim's vlogsMAFIA.

Anyway, let's start off by summing up the issue for those of my followers who don't spend as much time as me on YouTube (I spend entirely too much time on YouTube, so I'm hoping this is most of you). Essentially, there's an odd culture of celebrity on YouTube. You know how magazines are always reporting about celebrities' personal lives, even when it's abundantly clear that these people might want to keep things private? Well, magazines don't tend to write about YouTubers. So instead, commenters ask for details about their private lives. They also assume things about their private lives. This is half-hilarious, half-disturbing from the point of view of an innocent (ish) subscriber, primarily because every time two people of differing gender appear in a video together, you can bet half the comments will be along the lines of "are you dating/sleeping together?"

(I could go on about heterosexual stereotyping here, but it's largely irrelevant and a whole different blog, anyway.)

The sarcaschicks are discussing this phenomenon in their videos this week, and so far, they haven't mentioned a factor that I think probably should be mentioned.

So far, it's been largely assumed that everyone who asks a question of a personal nature is being a terrible person. I'm not disputing the fact that many questions are highly intrusive and inappropriate. Some are frankly disturbing. And in these cases, it can be argued that they (they being 'the commenters') are treating these YouTubers as food for gossip. And that's all. They're not considering them as real people. That's horrible, yep. Don't like that group of people.

On the other hand, I think there's another group that's largely been forgotten, or misinterpreted. And that's the people who think of YouTubers as... Well. You read the title.

Last week on sarcaschicks, the topic was gatherings. And I think it was Becky who said that she doesn't consider herself, or the other 'chicks as being famous YouTubers. And the 'chicks (I think) all met each other via YouTube. Let's draw a conclusion then: YouTube is a great platform for making friends. And let's draw another: there is probably a large group of people who sort of consider YouTubers as friends they haven't met yet.

But here's the thing:

You can't be friends with someone you've never met, by which I mean you can't be friends with someone if you know them, but they don't know you.

It's an odd relationship that exists between YouTubers and their subscribers, particularly with people like the sarcaschicks who don't consider themselves famous. There's an illusion of equality, and there's also an illusion of friendship there. It's not real friendship in an IRL sense. But it's not quite the same anonymity as would apply to the relationship between a fan and an actor or singer, for example. YouTubers are accessible. They're there in the comments, on tumblr, on twitter. There is a degree of interaction. And so it becomes quite easy to convince yourself that it's a sort of friendship that exists between subscriber and video-maker.

And if I were talking to a couple of friends and I wasn't sure of their relationship status, I wouldn't find it all that weird to ask "So, are you two going out?"

I'm not seeking to justify people asking questions that make the recipient feel uncomfortable. I'm just seeking to explain what I see as possible motivations. Even the worst decisions generally have reasoning behind them. It may be flawed, but there is reasoning there. And I don't think those who consider YouTubers as friends - albeit misguidedly - are all terrible people. They just forget perhaps that it's not an equal relationship. They're just making mistakes.