YouTube Life

When I was 15 I started this YouTube channel using the pseudonym ‘Zoronita.’ How I came up with that name is kind of funny; in year 8 Religious Education we were set the homework task of making up our own god or goddess. I remember thinking of what to name mine, and I used my name and the ‘ita’ bit as many women in my family have this suffix, what with me being half Indian. Originally I named her ‘Zaranita.’

When I later made Facebook, I called myself ‘Zoronita Diamond.’ I used ‘Diamond’ because I was looking at the periodic table above my desk. Diamond isn’t actually an element, it’s made of carbon, but I think I was going ‘Zoronita Gold, Zoronita Platinum, Zoronita Silver – Zoronita Diamond!’ It sounded cool so I ran with it. I don’t know why I didn’t use my real name; I think I just thought it would be cool to use a nickname.

I started a YouTube channel because I thought it would be a great way for me to film myself singing songs and putting them up there. I researched a lot of other people that put videos of themselves singing on YouTube. I made it into this huge thing, calling it my ‘YouTube Summer Plan 2012.’ Yeah! I was gonna become a YouTube star! And with red hair, what fun! (That’s the same summer I started dying my hair).

 https://www.youtube.com/user/Zoronita

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChuqkwf-6OrafP53ZaWANlw

Anyway, I started making videos, and I also did comedic sketches and ‘rants’ and talked about stuff. Sort of a prequel to my blog, I guess. I prefer blogging because I find writing easier and faster to do; with videos you have to edit them and look decent in front of the camera and all that. I also don’t really like the sound of my voice (which is ironic because I’m VERY talkative). Making videos sort of fizzled out whilst I was in sixth form due to me being very focused on my A levels. So I made them ‘religiously’ all through 2013 and parts of 2014.

I’m not a ‘YouTube star’; I only have 158 subscribers and my blog, which has only been up for nine months, has more than half as many views as my channel which I’ve had for years has. That’s probably to do with me finding it easier to maintain a blog rather than a YouTube channel. But I loved making videos; it was a lot of fun, and I still occasionally post although now I mainly post ‘music’ related stuff (I’ll link a vid here).

Most of my posts only have a few hundred views, but I have a few that have over a thousand. One has nearly ten thousand. That video is quite interesting.

I made it in late 2013, and it was a response to a video by someone called Lilly The Legend. The video was ‘Why black girls hate white girls.’ Around this time I was researching a lot about racism and I read Malcolm X’s autobiography (a great man, though he had very racist views up until his later years. I prefer MLK’s philosophy). I had found so many videos on YouTube (mainly of Americans) talking about why ‘interracial dating’ was wrong and ‘white girls going with black men.’ I found this seriously weird – I mean I’m a product of interracial dating; my dad is African and my mum is British-born Asian.

Anyway, so I watched the young woman’s video – unfortunately it’s no longer up – and it wasn’t what I expected. I found myself agreeing with a lot of what she said. Essentially she called out being anti-interracial dating for what it is – racist bullshit. What I found more interesting about her video wasn’t what she said, but the comments. On my own video, there are so many awfully racist comments all over the place. It shows the attitudes of people, as well as the power of ‘anonymity.’ On the internet it’s so much easier for people to shoot their mouths off and be as foul-mouthed as they like. They have something to hide behind.

I actually have two channels – I made another one because I somehow thought that that one would become ‘more popular’, and also I wasn’t yet old enough to start monetising so thought it I made a second channel I could link my first channel and monetise them both. Doesn’t matter anyway; I’m not ‘big’ enough on YouTube to make money from it, and from what I’ve seen a lot of major channels are suffering. Nevertheless, YouTube was a fun platform, and in a way prepared me for blogging. I don't necessarily have all the same views like I did at the time of making these videos (like when I was making videos I identified as a feminist, and now I no longer do). But we all grow up and mature, both emotionally and intellectually.

From second channel.