Okay so one thing you should know about me I am addicted to Youtube. It helps me procrastinate but then it also makes me happy when I have a meltdown over being behind on university, basically it consumes my life.
So you’re probably wondering ‘jackie what the heck does this have to do with surveillance?’ welllllll I watch many different types of Youtuber’s, including daily vloggers. If you are unaware of what the means it’s basically one or more (group of friends or even families) who document their entire life no matter how ‘boring’ it might seem to some or how ridiculously lavish it might seem THEY VLOG IT ALL!
I knew I wanted to talk about social media in some way or another with surveillance and daily vlogging seemed like the right idea, especially since “Every minute, seventy-two hours of video is uploaded to Youtube” (Luttrell, R 2014, P. 28), so I knew there had to be some surveillance issues surfacing on Youtube.
For the purpose of this post i’m going to be talking about Youtubers that have a strong following and how they must surveil what is shown in their vlogs.
VidCon2014_LGBTPanel-5 by Michael Dunn, (CC BY 2.0)
The quality of videos today on Youtube means that any little detail can be seen up close by the viewer. This also means that Youtubers must watch out for any small detail in their shot that might leak their personal details and location. The detail might be a situation in which someone might have a delivery package in shot with their address printed on the box, and the viewer is able to screen shot, zoom in and discover their favourite Youtubers address. 
Blurred Addresses by Jackie Collins, 1 August 2017
And then all of a sudden they are being harassed by people at their front door that continuously rings their door bell. It can go as extreme as the Youtuber not even showing angles in which the viewer can see outside their house because it could leak their location.
It’s similar to how one knows they’re being watched by CCTV footage so they act accordingly, a vlogger knows they are being watched so they have to edit certain ‘scenes’ of their day to act accordingly, to protect their privacy. It brings into question ones free will and how much they have of it, in this case it seems that the vlogger has the power to control their content but there is precautions. The viewer has this weird power over the Youtuber in the sense that they must edit their videos in a way that protects their privacy, a protocol put on them by the viewer.
So while all we have to do is set our privacy to ‘only friends’ (most of mine is public but I act accordingly) these vloggers must edit each daily video to protect their privacy.
In retrospect it shows how excessive people can be online. “People increasingly live their lives on social media” (Trotter, D 2012, p. 1) but it only takes for one angle in a shot to ‘put your life in danger’. I’m not trying to scare you but show you the dangers and how one may be ignorant for something so small and how it can turn into something so big.
WORD COUNT: 517
SOURCES:
Luttrell, R 2014, Social Media: How to Engage, Share, and Connect, Rowman & Littlefield, Michigan.
Trotter, D 2012, Social Media as Surveillance : Rethinking Visibility in a Converging World, Ashgate Publishing Limited, Farnham.
Jackie Collins 
Very interesting blog! It’s super interesting to think about vloggers and their privacy, do they chose to share and what they do not. Also interesting thought for new vloggers whilst starting up and maybe the over sharing of their lives. It’s interesting to think about different vloggers and how much they do reveal about themselves (some a lot and some not much at all). The quotations from the scholarly sources are interesting, but maybe there needs to be some engagement with them. The blog could do with a once over in regards to spelling and grammar but otherwise good job!
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Such an interesting post Jackie! I completely agree with you on being addicted to Youtube as I also enjoy watching famous people’s lives a lot. Everything has bad and good side and being famous for sure will bring celebrities fortune, whereas their privacy, or basically every little things they show and do will be observed and judged. It is a norm now for famous people as some of them gradually accept it but comes to think of that, as we are living in a modern time, everybody is equal and has the same right, thus they deserve to have privacy as well. Thus, being a smart watcher is important now not just for them but for us as well. By the way, great use of integrated media in your post with various sources especially your own photo to to support the content! Your conclusion is also great as it improves you ideas nicely. Well done and I cannot wait to read more!
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I’m guilty of binging on vloggers too! (I can name 3 of 4 in the image) We definitely don’t think about the amount of work that goes into remaining anonymous or at least partly private. It’s almost harder than being public I’d say.
I love the layout of your blog too. My one critique would be that your text widget still has the default text in it (it appears on the side of the blog and can be changed in the settings).
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Thanks for the helpful critique i am getting straight onto it!
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Hi Jackie, I cannot say I know more about vlogging than just the word itself so I found your blog post to be a greatly informative piece. As someone who is quite private when it comes to social media it surprises me how much information some people are willing to share. I wonder if maybe some vloggers like Zoella which you mentioned in your piece, regret sharing some of the information earlier in their career that lead fans to figure out where they live and so much more about them. From the hyperlinks you used it seem like a tough situation, one that I would dread to be in. I really enjoyed your use of hyperlinks and the inclusion of the blurred pictures; I think that explained the tug of war between sharing your daily life and maintaining any personal privacy. A great blog!
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Thanks for the feedback! I feel like especially when you’re just starting out on social media you might presume that not many people will see your content, so you might accidentally let things slip that might give out your location then plus when your following grows you have to take extra precautions, must be exhausting but I am thankful these creators do what they do cause it is enjoyable to watch! If you ever need something new to distract yourself from work and uni try getting into some youtubers 😉
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Hey Jackie, first of all straight away I knew I would like your post because I relate to that first paragraph instantly. As soon as I saw your title I knew I would be reading and reviewing your blog post. The way you embedded your tweets in relation to your writing made sure that it made sense to your post. I love that you hyperlinked to a new tab of stories that relate to your post.
A couple of little things I noticed were a couple of times your ‘I’s’ weren’t capital letters and in one sentence you wrote that “…Youtuber not even showing angels…”, I wasn’t sure if you meant to write ‘angles’ instead. Nevertheless, only slight little errors that are easily fixed. Overall, I thought your blog was well written and I enjoyed it because I find myself always on YouTube too.
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i cannot believe the ‘anglels’ thing i’m gonna change that asap! thanks for that tip! and yes the I’s my weakness will get onto that too!
Thanks for the comment!!
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Hi Jackie! The title of your post immediately caught my attention but the first paragraph really made me go “Same”. I think your introduction is one of the strongest parts of the post because of the personal touch and how well you relate this personal touch to the topic of surveillance. Even though your blog is already pretty good, I would recommend to go over it once again to catch the slight grammar/spelling mistakes. Some of your sentences are also quite long and can easily be divided into more than one sentence. You did really nail the inclusion of hyperlinks and relevant tweets, so keep that going for the next blog (which I can’t wait to read!)
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thanks so much for the feedback! The longer sentences is something i haven’t picked up on so i’ll make sure to shorten them thank you! and thanks for all the kind words, definitely makes me know i’m on the right track hahaha
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WOW! I want to start by saying how creative you were by thinking outside the box and creating your own creative common. By taking this initiative, you have improved the post immensely! Starting the blog with such a personal “Okay” is risky, but it works well with the rest of the post. I felt like you were speaking to me whilst I read this – which is exactly what a blog should be. Your title drew me in and made me so excited for what was going to be said (and I was happily pleased!). One thing I would suggest is just to do a once over on the blog and read it out aloud to yourself. This may help with picking up on the nitty-gritty grammatical issues. Once you master that, your writing will be much more credible. I look forward to your next post!
– Kate 🙂
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thanks kate! the advice of speaking out loud is something i will take on board!
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Hi Jackie
I really loved your blogged post, I myself have what some people might say is an unhealthy relationship YouTube and YouTubers in particular, so I found you blog fun to read, as I understood your points you made throughout you blog. I think you did a really good job engaging with your audience, the tone throughout your blog didn’t sound like a report or an essay but instead sounded personal but still informative. Your quotation could have been integrated a bit better within your piece and there were some minor spelling and grammatical errors within your piece but overall you present a really interesting blog, with key points that were clear and concise and were summed up really well in the conclusion, looking forward to reading more of your blog.
Abbey
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hahaha thanks for the comment! i’ve realised through the comments of this post there is a lot of people who have an ‘unhealthy’ relationship with youtube too!
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Hey Jackie,
That was such a good read for me because I can really relate to your blog post! I feel like once I start one YouTube video I can’t stop watching another hahah. I love watching vlogs, and since they are constantly uploading and editing footages, accidents can happen. They should be careful because when they have a large fan base, their viewers might figure out where they live, maybe looking at clues from different vlogs etc… What if the Youtubers neighbour leaked where they live? It really is very difficult for them to keep their privacy while they still have to produce content for their viewers. Good job on the use the hyperlinks! They really add and give extra information for someone who might not know or want to know more about the incident! Also good use of the images! I love the Blurred Addresses one!
Jamie 🙂
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i have always thought about the neighbours thing! like they must tell their friends ‘guess who moved in next door’ and it would spread like that!! thanks for the comment jamie!
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Hi Jackie! I never knew how dangerous Vlogs can be if the YouTuber isn’t aware of the risks and the effort they must go to to ensure they don’t reveal personal information. I don’t watch many videos on YouTube, however I have seen 2 this week, one about a girl going to the shops to complete a prank and another one of a girl going to a makeup shop! Now that I think about it, I could probably workout which area both of these YouTubers live in (or at least filmed in) as they both showed footage of the shops, shopping centres, streets and even their cars! Do you think some YouTuber’s don’t realise they need to protect their privacy? Anyway, your blog was engaging, however I would of liked to see more examples also there were a couple of grammatical errors and some repetition but overall I loved it 🙂
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I feel some youtubers might not realise how intense subscribers can be, in the sense that they can go to great lengths to find details in the background of a vid or snapchat etc. But then another point is if it is a youtube video it isn’t live, so maybe it was a one time visit to that store? or maybe because it’s public area they don’t mind? Maybe they just don’t followers knowing their exact address? thanks for the comment!
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Hey Jackie,
I thought this was a very interesting piece and you’ve really opened my eyes to just how careful vloggers have to be about what viewers can see in their videos. I loved how you began with some light humour, it really captivated me from the very beginning and your humour continued to shine throughout your entire piece which kept me engaged until the very end. The way you write makes it feel like a conversation and your punctuation really enhances this by emphasis the really dramatic points you make which make it so easy to read and remain interested. A quick point I will make though is to proofread and to check the few grammatically and errors in your writing (with close attention to capitalisations) – it would make your blog post even better!
Thanks, Courtney
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This was so nice! My confidence has definitely boosted hahaha thanks! I look forward to writing more captivating blog posts in the futre!
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Thanks for a great post, Jackie! I was interested from get-go because I’m also a YouTube addict! It’s crazy to imagine how much effort these YouTubers go to in order to protect their private information. When editing their videos, they must pay such close attention to what they are exposing to their viewers. Some YouTubers in the past have had to move houses because their fans had found out their address and were breaking acceptable boundaries of privacy. Some houses even get broken into and robbed, all because of what is being shown in these daily vlogs. It’s scary!
You’ve done a great job of embedding tweets and including images that relate well with your discussion and engage your readers. Perhaps you could maybe engage with your scholarly references a bit more and add more depth to your writing.
All in all, this was a nice read, awesome work!
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Thanks so much for the comment monique! It’s crazy to think how far subscribers will go to ‘meet’ their favourite youtubers! Hence why it’s important to surveil your content 😉
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This was so much fun to read Jackie! Although the blog can be scene as being written in a language that is a little informal, in my opinion, it worked very well because you have gone in a different direction with your writing. The tone for me felt very real and frightening even though I’m sure you don’t intend to be like that, although it made the blog so good because you didn’t sugar coat the facts in any way. You should be very happy with your blog, as it’s very insightful into the sad truth that individuals fall into a deep obsession that they feel the need to hunt down these vloggers. I suppose these are the risks you now need to consider when vlogging in this digital age. Excellent job and looking forward to more!
Jayden Denke
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Jackie
This blog post is a great balance of informed and opinionated, colloquial and interesting. You write in a style which is effortless to read and the integrated media throughout compels the reader to engage. A website consisting of clean lines and a good layout assist with getting your interesting point across.
72 hours every minute. Unreal. Tidbits like this really enhance texts and certainly make me want to read more content from you in the future. Maybe if you wanted to take your blog to the next level you could include tweets too and from some vloggers with their opinion on privacy – who knows, they might like the prying eyes!
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Hi, Jackie.
I do not often watch vloggers on YouTube, so your article aroused great interest in me. I usually like to watch the video on other channels, but sometimes I cannot stop to watch the next one. At the same time, I will notice the message below the video, some fans will guess the vlogger’s personal life, even through some details to guess the owner’s specific residence. I think any vloggers do not want fans to know some of the private affairs. For me personally, I am a person who does not like to disclose too much personal information on social media. As you said, our privacy should be set to ‘friends only’ and I often do so, except for some unimportant information. Hope bloggers can be aware of the dangers of social media. Thanks for writing a great blog post!
Siuching
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Hey Jackie, excellent post here! I too usually fall into the deep procrastination trap that is YouTube, it’s pretty crazy how much content is posted and then consumed every day on that site. You have a good blend of opinionated and informed writing within this post, which creates an interesting and relatable read. It seems that you have found a topic that draws in a wide audience (due to the amount of comments here).
All your referencing of scholarly articles and images seem to be great, but it may be helpful to engage with your references a bit more. I also noticed that you have used hyperlinks to articles and tweets in the middle of the blog, which adds some very welcomed extra information about the topic. Other than those small points and maybe a quick proof read, your blog seems to be up to scratch, great stuff!
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Well Jackie, you’ve touched on some issues that I certainly think about! It’s incredible the info some people can find out by noticing details in videos or images that we share online (have you heard about 4chan alt-right trolls finding and shutting down the ‘He Will Not Divide Us’ video stream in less than 24 hours?). Honestly, I think this is the most polished and well written post I have read so far; your inclusion of appropriate images and tweets makes it really *pop* and you clearly possess a strong understanding of your topic. Keep up the good work and I will keep reading it!
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Hi Jackie,
Your blog post is so relatable. You have such a fluid way of writing which I absolutely adore and it makes your post so easy to read. Your tweets are the same, absolutely adore them and your sense of humour. I thought the content of your post was really interesting, I’ve never really considered the lengths a vlogger would have to go to protect themselves. The only suggestion I could possibly make is maybe engage a bit more with some sources (but also, it’s a 500 word limit and I know I’m struggling with that myself). In any case, fantastic job. Love your work. 🙂
A.J.
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Hey Jackie,
I found your blog post to be super fun and relatable. I too am guilty of spending way too much time than I should watching vlogs. Your post was engaging yet still informative. I really liked that your personality came through your piece, which made it unique. Your blog really opened my eyes to the precautions vloggers take, which is something I wouldn’t have known before reading the post. The There was a very minor spelling errors I picked up on- I think you wrote ‘rings’ and one point when it should have been ‘ring’ and you wrote your name in lowercase. However, overall this has been one of my favourite blog posts I’ve read so far. Good work!
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Hey Jackie,
I really enjoyed reading this because of your use of humour. It was fun to read and it helped keep me stay engaged with this post. You also referenced YouTubers my little sister watches so I could somewhat identify with them. I thought your blog was very relatable as a lot of people enjoy binge watching Youtubers vlog about their lives too! One thing that you could improve on is definitely to use more sources to back up your points. The formatting of the post and and the tweets and images that you had provided were great besides that.
Awesome work!
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