The YouTube phenomenon: YouTube stars eliminating stereotypes in new media

As we move into an Internet generation, most viewers find their entertainment on YouTube, also known as new media. Like any platform, YouTube had their popular content creators and that is how YouTube star” emerged. Most of these “YouTubers” are 20-somethings who have built a following on the Internet based on consistent web-shows they created for their audience members. Ever since Google bought YouTube in 2006, the Google Adsense system allowed users to have ads on their videos to make a percentage of the ad revenue. If their videos were popular enough, they were able to do YouTube as a full-time job and make a living off of the monetization that their videos produced. Out of the top YouTube stars, around 20% of them are Asian Americans. Studies have shown that many Asian Americans spend time on YouTube and the Internet. However, Asian American YouTube stars say that they are popular because they can eliminate stereotypes in YouTube videos. Where as in mainstream media Asian Americans are type-casted as nerds or martial artists, and on YouTube, they can express who they really are. ❧ When YouTube emerged, these YouTube stars were able to talk about more taboo subjects and be who they really were, according to YouTube stars like Timothy De La Ghetto and Just Kidding Films’ Joe Jo and Bart Kwan. They also say that YouTube is the only platform that Asians could get famous at, and they say that because they can control their own content. These are just some of the ways that these YouTubers emerged as the new stars and what defines the “New Media celebrity.”步入互联网时代后，多数观众的娱乐内容均来自优兔（YouTube）——也就是所谓的新媒体。与其他平台无异，优兔拥有一众热门内容创作者，"优兔明星（YouTube star）"也由此应运而生。这些优兔创作者（YouTubers）大多为二十多岁的群体，他们通过持续为受众打造专属的网络节目，在互联网上积累了大量粉丝。自2006年谷歌（Google）收购优兔后，谷歌广告联盟（Google Adsense）允许创作者在视频中投放广告，并按比例获得广告收入。若视频足够火爆，创作者甚至可以将运营优兔作为全职工作，依靠视频变现所得维持生计。在顶级优兔明星中，约20%为亚裔美国人（Asian Americans）。多项研究表明，不少亚裔美国人会花费大量时间在优兔及互联网平台上。但受访的亚裔美国优兔博主表示，他们之所以走红，是因为能够在优兔视频中打破刻板印象。反观主流媒体，亚裔美国人常被定型为书呆子或武术家；而在优兔平台上，他们得以展现真实的自我。 ❧ 据蒂莫西·德拉盖托（Timothy De La Ghetto）以及《Just Kidding Films》的乔·乔（Joe Jo）与巴特·匡（Bart Kwan）等优兔博主透露，优兔兴起后，这些创作者得以探讨更多禁忌话题，展现真实的自我。他们还表示，优兔是亚裔群体得以走红的唯一平台，原因在于创作者能够自主掌控内容。以上仅是这些优兔创作者成长为新晋明星的部分路径，也是"新媒体名人"的核心定义所在。