• Education

Get with the times

Octavia Tsibes

The world changes and the Namibian youth and more youth prefer digital platsfroms. YouTube allows its users to upload, view, rate, and share and add to favourites, report, comment on videos, and subscribe to other used of YouTube.

It is a user generated platform for its users.15 years ago YouTuber was not as popular as it is now, today be have more than 200 YouTube users in Namibia. Most Namibian young YouTubers like sharing their daily task which they call vlogging or share their opinion on trending topics in their community or the world. Most Namibian companies are moving digital to get more people to know their businesses and they mostly target the younger generation.

"Previously, it was difficult for the Namibian youth to use YouTube because most youth didn’t understand how it work and they also didn’t have as much exposure like they do now. YouTube has been around for some time now and it's becoming popular in Namibia now," Advent Mudimba an upcoming YouTuber says.

"Well, my channel is not like any other channel, because it's simple and attractive. I upload instrumental and songs on my channel, so I'm attracting people to the music industry and that's where my heart is," Mudimba says.

There are so many things that happen around us today, there is a lack of motivation in society, and therefore, he just doesn’t want to upload music-related videos, but he also uploads motivational videos for the young people in his generation," he says.

"I do not really have a specific time frame of which I upload videos or stream to my channel. I load when I'm inspired to do so by my family, friends or any of my surroundings," Mudimba says.

He decided to open a YouTube channel simply because he wanted to influence the world and create a voice for people around the world through music and also to create a platform where people can sing to the instruments.

"I also opened the channel to motivate and encourage people through the Word of God," he said.

Most YouTubers open a channel today for fame or to earn money, but it should not be the case. "Again, many people have different reasons for opening channels, but if you want to inspire, do not go for the fame and money rather change lives with your talent.

Many people, especially older people, think it's dangerous to be on social media platforms.

"It all depends on why you started the channel, and also look at the intentions behind your channel's run. I have good intentions for my channel, therefore, I really do not have a problem getting a small number of subscribers as long as my message reaches the world as little as it may be, I'm still good at it, "he says.

“My channel is a place where I can post helpful videos such as (DIY`S which is do it yourself) for viewers and also a place where I can post my fun adventurous videos to look back on one day and see what I have done with my life. So right now I am trying to focus on these specific genres; vlogging, makeup, fashion and hair,” Hilya Iikuyu a Namibian Youtuber says.

She recently started her channel about two weeks ago. She doesn’t really commit to any specific date but she organized and tries to upload weekly videos every Friday morning.

“Well, someone that`s very special to me got me addicted to YouTube in 2016. They showed me that YouTube is basically like a television, where I can commit to different channels with different content that I like and that suits me. YouTube became my source of daily entertainment because being in the hostel you don’t really get time to watch television,” Hilya adds.

“As I watched more and more videos, I had this realization where I was like, you know what, if these people can do it then I can also do it. And if I fail and they hate it, then I can just delete my channel and move on with my life. With that at the back of my mind and some inspiration from fellow Namibian youtubers like “Theonlynatse, Angy Uumati and The Namibian crazy haired girl” I started my channel,” she adds.

“I just started and to be honest I personally haven’t found that “it factor” thing that can differentiate my channel from just another regular basic girl with the type of content I put out, but from what I’ve seen it all has to do with my personality, my confidence, the way I present myself on my channel,” she adds,

She further says that she works really hard on what she upload and don’t simply upload for the sake of uploading. She makes sure that she is happy with the content and that it is off good quality.

“I would hate to waste anyone’s time.” – Pull Out

“I don’t think it’s dangerous to be a YouTuber, that’s if you’re doing it for the right reasons which is yourself, your love for creating good quality content and your drive to be an entertainer. I just feel like if you’re on YouTube for subscribers only specifically then you’re not focusing on what Youtubers do. Because for me, if you’re doing what you love doing then people are gonna see the love you have and see you enjoying it and will subscribe to your channel,” she says.

Fact Box:

1. Every single minute, more than 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube.

2. YouTube has over a billion users, almost one-third of all people on the Internet.

3. First YouTube video was uploaded on the 23 April 2005.

4. YouTube was founded by 3 prior employees of PayPal.

5. Google bought YouTube 18 months after it was formed.

6. You can steer YouTube in more than 75 different languages, covering 95% of the Internet’s population.

7. YouTube is the second largest search engine, right after Google. It's bigger than Bing, Yahoo!, and Ask combined.

8. The most searched tutorial on YouTube is, How to kiss?

9. The total number of people who make use YouTube is 1,300,000,000.

10. Every single Minute a video is uploaded on YouTube