I read this article about youtube stars who came to find a following of other youtube goers, and they ended up making a living. Michael Buckley is a self-made star who began his own youtube channel commenting on culture, and other topics of inters chosen by himself. He began posting youtube videos daily, roughly 40 hours a week for a year before he made any money at all.
Once he amassed a following, about 180,000, he was making roughly $20,000 every month.
His voice was primarily comedic, but there are many voices that have been brought to a larger audience because of Youtube.
Social activism, journalism, anonymous hactivism, and other critically important social voices have been brought to light because of the open format of youtube.
What I think is interesting about Youtube is that most contributors have virtually no intentions to make money from the site. They simply post content for the sake of content. I view this as fundamentally different than a capitalist motivation for being a productive, creative being. Though it must be acknowledged that Youtube itself is clearly embedded within capitalism. Seen in this context, I think I can get away with calling posting on Youtube a revolutionary act.
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