People want to be part of things. Most of the webseries, like Quarterlife, Control TV, Being Victor and popular Youtube channels like The Phillip DeFranco Show, =3 (Equals Three), Charlie is so cool like I have looked at build upon creating and maintaining a community that will participate in the show. It gives the viewer a sense of being part of that world or being part of a bigger thing.
Quarterlife is about a group of friends and acquaintances revolving around the main character Dylan who has created a social networking/blogging site on which she vlogs about her life. Throughout the season this site evolves into a widely used portal for people to talk about themselves and to other, much like Facebook, only mainly via video. At the time of "airing" this series used to have an actual Quarterlife social network site on which real people could interact, just like in the TV show, making them part of the show and the show seem like real life with real people.
Control TV is a kind of Big Brother/Reality TV type webseries set in a semi-unrestricted environment (meaning: the participant has access to the outside world) where the viewer influences what happens to the participant. What I have gathered from the recap episodes of this show is that the participant is a volunteer, selected for the show to live in a flat, being filmed 24/7. For every decision he has to make a poll is created on the website, live while the show is running (assumable via live-stream). According to the audiences poll results the participant has to do what the audience wants. On top of that, he also gets tasks set for him, he has to solve. This show was awarded "Best Web Show of 2010" by clicker.com. Conrol TV is also basing it's entire success on it's audience. There has to people watching it, for it to work and enough people taking part for it to move forward, which automatically creates a strong community.
Being Victor was a short series produced for MTV which is now available online. I don't think this show was produced solely for the web but has certainly had a web presence. The main character Vinnie, maintains a blog, calling himself Victor, talking about his life. This blog was a real blog and maintained by said character, simulating a real person blogging about, just about anything, making the audience feel like the character was a real life person. The audience could interact with the blog by commenting on his posts and therefore being part of the series' universe.
The Phillip DeFranco Show is a classic YouTube Presenter-Audience show. The Presenter, Phillip DeFranco talks "about some of the stuff that mattered in the news to" him. This includes a mix of but not limited to world affairs, politics and entertainment news. Some news pieces are sometimes suggestions by the audience. He relies heavily on a strong community, tying the audience in with give-aways, comment questions and addressing them as "The DeFranco Nation" appealing to the sense of community. People are invited to discuss the topics brought to the table and therefore made part of the show. This is increased with the recent addition of viewer introductions to the show, at the start of the show.
=3 is a YouTube video selection show in which the presenter, Ray William Johnson, presents a selection of entertaining, shocking or generally interesting videos from YouTube and other user generated content sites that are either suggested to him by the audience or selected by him/his team. The show evolves around the videos but also the presenters humorous delivery, much like a usual bloopers or caught on camera show would. The viewers are invited to leave comments on the comment question of the day and also suggest videos for review. The again establishes and maintains a community, which includes the viewers in the video and makes them part of one world. In the next video Ray describes perfectly what exactly the show is about. It is one of the older episodes and I think it's a classic.
Charlie is so cool like is from what I have gathered an entertaining informational/educational show. Sometimes it is less serious than others but the few episodes I have watched have been about some sort of delivery of information. He talks directly to the camera, as the other two YouTube shows I have mentioned, establishing a direct and almost personal connection to the viewer. Adding to this connection are the user comments and suggestions taken on board for following episodes.
Although YouTube is in general considered a community, with the vast amount of channels and videos out there followers are still likely to feel like one of many. Due to techniques like comment questions, give-aways and viewer suggestions - common, well-established broadcast TV techniques - the viewers are made to feel special and make a personal connection to the presenter and ultimately, the show, guaranteeing a continuous viewer base.
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