I met a few fellow "Spoonietubers" through social media and began to also watch their videos. I noticed during the time I was making videos I came to realise why I personally believe spoonies will never be "successful" on Youtube.
For the purpose of this post I refer to success as a subscriber count for Youtube (as I think mostly these days that why people make videos).
- Spoonies flare- When we flare there is no way in hell we are going to whip a camera out and document how shit we feel. I have done a flare video once or twice but that wasn't when it was a severe flare I don't think.
- We can't set a routine upload schedule- because the nature of being chronically ill is so wishy washy there is no way we can know our good days and our bad days. In fact the stress of needing to think of a video to film could possibly cause said flare so its a vicious cycle.
- Our lives can be very bland. Take flare days for instance. Mostly its just in bed watching movies/tv, doing craft stuff etc. It's not as entertaining to watch when all we are discussing is how much pain we are in and how we struggle.
- People can be assholes. All social media can be a nasty place but I find Youtube has its own kind of awful. Imagine making a video on how your feeling, pouring your heart out, and then having a hateful/ignorant comments like "you just sound unhappy" or "if you excercise you'll feel better" written.
- Youtube is an escapism- I know personally I stated to watch and continue to watch videos as part of my distraction each day. Watching videos about how spoonies are feeling takes away from distraction and brings you back down to reality (and lets face it- no one wants to deal with reality when you can watch a video about all the latest products at Sephora or what who's announcing they are gay). Watching the latest Shane Dawson Popin' Cookin' will make you laugh for five minutes whilst a spoonie update may leave you feeling low. Sad- but true.
- Creating quality videos (in regards to production and editing) is hard. A lot of time and effort goes into making a decent video. I know I was always annoyed at my iPhone camera quality videos and would have loved an expensive camera and some lights. But even with those things filming for a few hours and editing for a few more to make a video is too much hard work for someone who is confined to their bed most days.
In May a few of my amazing friends created a video for M.E Awareness Day (all credit to Holly for the editing and script!). We shared the crap out of it hoping that it would raise some awareness for M.E sufferers and to educate people on what life with it is like. Whilst it did ok, in terms of "Youtube success" or "going viral" it really didn't do as well as I personally expected it to. I'm still wondering why as it was a brilliant video- is it just that people won't spend their precious five minutes watching a video on an illness when they could be watching cute animals doing adorable things?
I don't think I'll be making as many Youtube videos anymore. I found it more like hard work in the end because of factors I've mentioned above. My advice for any Spoonies out there wanting to make videos is please be aware that the videos you make are really more for family and friends to learn about your struggles and not for 100,000 subscribers. Don't get sucked into the notion that you'll be successful on Youtube. For those already making videos and wondering why they aren't getting many views on Youtube- maybe this will shed some light on why. I may cop some hate from Spoonietubers for this but as both a Youtube creator and watcher I've realised what people are interested in watching and what makes for entertaining viewing.
*I don't want any of my spoonie youtube friends thinking I'm not supporting them (I still watch all my friends videos!). This is just my personal thoughts and opinions on the matter*
*I don't want any of my spoonie youtube friends thinking I'm not supporting them (I still watch all my friends videos!). This is just my personal thoughts and opinions on the matter*
This is so well put. I had a you tube channel that I was able to regularly post on for about two years and while it wasn't huge, it was a nice little community and I felt it had the potential to grow. Then I had a major flare of my illnesses (Fibromyalgia and M.E. or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,) due to suddenly being pulled off the pain medication I had been taking for years. The ensuing severe withdrawals threw me into a horrific and seemingly never ending flare; and for the past two and a half years has been almost as bad or worse as when I first became sick in late 1999. What made it even worse was that I had been feeling so much better. I had actually been able to walk ten blocks and back to my pharmacy (with rest stops at each block, but before this I wasn't able to walk more than half a block,) I was standing up for longer and longer periods of time, I was busking in the tube station near my flat regularly, going out several times a week, visiting friends and having visitors, doing things creatively and was in a romantic relationship. Overnight all the progress I had made seemed to be gone, and the withdrawal symptoms never went away; so it took me months to get back to the Doctors office for any sort of help. Since then my channel has nearly stopped dead in its tracks; and while I still answer any comments I get, I've only posted one or two videos since the relapse began. My subscribers try to be understanding and they are pretty good, but I can tell it is hard for them to conceive that just replying to their comments takes all the energy and concentration I have. I've tried to figure out a way to still do even one or two of the activities I used to love, but with the exception of reading, (which took six months to come back,) I haven't really been able to do much more than lie in bed and binge watch things online. I can't even really keep up with Facebook enough to maintain my relationships. So I understand what you are saying here. I'm still trying to figure out a way to do it; do them without editing, make notes, keep them short, have a friend interview me? Still haven't solved it. But I hope I do because I do sometimes find watching videos about illness can be easier than reading about it. I think it's hard, but we use you tube for info and how to; so I think for that it is useful for us & people who want to understand.
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