While the vagaries of taste and timing determine which videos go viral and which YouTube channels develop large followings, it's easier to tell which videos will make viewers feel as if they can't click away fast enough.
It boils down to narcissism. It's all about who is watching you. Be conscious of your audience and its needs, rather than getting mired in your own egotism.
A hand-held video camera is nice and offers more features and flexibility, but your smartphone is fine.
The only additional equipment you might need is a lapel microphone for clearer audio. And if there isn't enough ambient light to illuminate your face, spring for a clamp lamp.
"If you can't communicate in an interesting, entertaining, energetic way — I don't care how much education you have, how brilliant you are, how many degrees you have — it's going to be painful to watch you," said Karen Melamed, a TV producer and online video consultant in Los Angeles.
Be comfortable in front of the camera, which is no easy feat. "There's something sort of horrifying and anxiety-producing about shooting when you are alone," said Ze Frank, who has more than 126,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel and whose quirky videos can attract as many as 20 million views.
The camera lens is a dark, bottomless void that doesn't provide the feedback you get in normal face-to-face conversation, like a nod, a raised eyebrow and utterances like "hmmm" and "aah".
Lacking that, people tend to focus more on themselves and, in their self-consciousness , become either bland and monotone, or hyperexcited and agitated.
Frank said he tended to "overgesticulate and mug too aggressively to the camera" when he first started posting web videos in 2006. Now he has another person in the room operating the camera. "It's wonderful to have someone else there to tell you if you are falling a little flat or that look was so cheesy it's just ridiculous," Frank said.
Buzzfeed bought his channel last year, and he is now the company's executive vice-president for video, while continuing to create his own content.
No need to be on camera
John Mitzewich, of the YouTube channel "Food Wishes," never appears in his cooking tutorials, which can attract as many as two million views. All you see are his hands at work in his San Francisco kitchen. Allrecipes.com bought his channel, which has 308,000 subscribers , last year, but he continues to have creative control.
Online video is different from television or film in that the audience is often watching on a small screen ( laptop, tablet or smartphone ). Viewers are up close, leaning in and may also be interacting with the content by posting comments, so it feels more intimate.
"The viewer wants to be spoken to as a friend would talk to them," said Ben Relles, head of programming strategy for YouTube, a division of Google. "They view these channels as friendships."
Creators are successful when they tap into "narrow but deep niches," said Steve Woolf, senior vice-president for content at Blip, a curated web video site.
Paul Klusman, an engineer in Wichita, Kansas, gained fame from his cat videos, in which he talks comically yet earnestly about the pleasures (companionship) and pains (kitty constipation) of cat ownership. The first video he made, "Engineer's Guide to Cats," was rejected by a short-film festival. But when he posted it on YouTube in 2008, it went viral with almost six million views and several marriage proposals. He has more than 33,000 subscribers.
Keep it short
While Klusman's videos can be as long as seven minutes, most online media specialists say it's better to crisply edit videos down to two to four minutes. That means getting rid of any vanity shots and self-indulgent rambling. "You want to be clean and concise, and if you don't grab viewers in the first 15 seconds, they're gone and aren't coming back," said Melamed, the producer and consultant.
Programs like iMovie and Windows Movie Maker, which come standard on many computers, are adequate.
Be consistent. Post at least weekly if your vlog is topical. If you are more interested in building a library of content like tutorials, the time between postings can be longer. "Be patient and realize you are probably going to be a bit terrible in the beginning," Mr. Frank said.
"If you don't end up making a living at it, there are other reasons to create online media. It's certainly a validation of life."
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