According to YouTube, over 6 billion hours of video are watched on the website every month. That is equivalent to about an hour of viewings for every person on the planet. Crazy, right? First off, this means there are a lot of people out there watching cat videos. Secondly, it means the promising audience for any video is huge.

On one side of the argument…
YouTube is a job
Just as a preface, there is no reason to shut down someone’s dream of becoming a full-time YouTuber. Though, it may be hard to develop a large audience like Pewdiepie or Shane Dawson, it is still possible to make a living off of YouTube if it is truly what you wish to do. The possible things you can do on YouTube are endless but some examples are: Sponsoring; you can sponsor different clothing companies, makeup brands etc. YouTube is also a great way for people to be noticed. Some people are really good at what they do but they don’t work for a specific company or even on their own so instead they upload videos of them doing whatever it is they’re good at and they get an email from a promising business who wants to hire them.

Now on the other side…
YouTube is a hobby
There are a couple reasons as to why people argue creating content for YouTube should only ever be considered a hobby. One of these is the simple fact that things change. What is popular today may not be tomorrow, so is it really sensible to base your job around something that relies on keeping people interested? What if your audience, the audience in which your income relies on, get bored of you and move on to the “next big thing” leaving you behind in the darkest places of the internet. (A dark, scary place mostly populated by former internet memes and people doing the Harlem Shake.)

My final thoughts
Personally, I watch videos on YouTube almost everyday, if not everyday. Whether they bring a smile to my face or they bring tears to my eyes, Videos on YouTube have gotten me through a lot. Some people might find it dumb that a complete stranger making gaming videos or even a vlog from their daily life can make us feel better. I get it… But there are people who feel very alone and some YouTubers actually try to make themselves seem like an “Internet friend” to their viewers. It actually helps people tremendously. It’s like they actually have someone to turn to in their darker times and help them smile. Some people are on YouTube to make a living while some others may care more about wanting to reach out to people and tell their story to help others out with similar issues. The facts remain but difficulties aside, it’s technically possible to make a living from creating videos and uploading them to YouTube.