Tyler Oakley
2015 was, like, packed from January. 2016 is simultaneously open and packed - but I'm trying to keep 2016 open as possible so I can do weird, crazy, kooky stuff.
My one guilty pleasure is, every airport, I will drop everything to get an airport massage at those kiosks.
Since the beginning, I have always tried to just be me. There have been moments in my career as a YouTuber where I've recognized that I'm trying to emulate something else, or I'm being heavily influenced by a YouTuber or something like that, and I realize that's not what I want to be putting out.
I remember a distinct moment when it was my junior year of college, and the content I was making was changing and not really myself, and I tried to switch back to just putting me out there. I'm happy that happened really early in my career, because that was before I started doing podcasts or writing.
When it came to 'Binge,' it wasn't my intention to get on a little soapbox and have a teaching moment. It was more, 'Here are things that have happened to me; here's what I've learned from it. If you'd like to learn from it too, great; if you just like the entertainment aspect, that's fine too.'
YouTube has always been a diary for me. I'm here to share what I do, share my life, and if people want to watch, more power to them. But regardless of my intention, if people are looking at what I do and am treating it like I'm a role model, it doesn't matter whether or not I want to be.
When I graduated from college, I got a 9-to-5 traditional job doing social media for a company, and I'd spend all day long fighting with the system of getting things approved and the fact that social media has such a quick turnaround. Things had to be very reactive and instant.
When I first thought about leaving the traditional route of a 9-to-5 career to pursue full-time YouTube, it was terrifying - not many people were doing it. The thought was I have to have money saved up, because this very likely might fail. From the start, I had to give it my all for it to work.
When I was first offered the book deal, I was like, 'I am not a writer. I haven't practiced this.' My approach has been completely stream-of-consciousness, and then edit down, because that's been YouTube for me forever.
With everything that I've done with YouTube and podcasts for so many years, it's been: you can record it, edit, and then upload that day. With the book and documentary, it's been such a longer process.
I really like Nick Jonas. I think he is super-cute, handsome and talented.
Being misunderstood - that's the thing that scares me. Because my life is about oversharing.
Narcissism has existed for a long time; social media is just a new outlet to express it. Anybody who is going to record themselves and put that on the Internet, hoping people will watch, there is a degree to which that exists, yeah. I don't know if I would call myself a narcissist. I don't necessarily identify with that label.
Nowadays, if somebody in America is feeling alone and wants to find a coming out story, they just search 'coming out,' and they'll find millions of first-person examples of people telling their story.
I think social media has amplified a lot of voices that maybe traditional media hasn't perfectly portrayed.
I feel like everybody, whether you have one follower or a million followers, has an opportunity to either positively or negatively affect people.
I found a vlogger named William Sledd who talked about his life - it was very minimal edits. It was one of those things where I discovered him, and I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm obsessed with him.' I felt like I was friends with him. And he was a huge inspiration for why I made my first video.
I initially thought I was going to be a teacher. Maybe like an elementary teacher or something like that, which would be fun. Maybe someday.
Even if I never registered my YouTube channel with the intention of being a role model, if I am that for somebody, I can't help it. So I need to be conscious of it and realize that influence can be used for good or bad, and just try to do my best.
I think that it's really important to step back and to take breaks as a digital creator because every other kind of platform is kind of set up to have seasons or time off or at least a barrier between creator and consumer. You have these set-up boundaries.
There are so many voices on YouTube, and there are incredible creators that are popular for a reason. And although it's great to be inspired by them, nobody is going to subscribe to a second-rate version of them. It's really important to put your best foot forward and be your best self because you will always be the number one version of you.
I always think about the fact that PewDiePie, who has tens of millions of followers, started with zero. All of my favorite creators started with zero. And all it takes is one video to dive deep, and you are officially a YouTuber. So you've got to make that first video. It's not going to be your best, but you will learn as you go.
I used to joke that I wanted to go to the moon, but I actually do. Like, some day I think I'm going to go to the moon. That would be cool.
People just want to watch people live their authentic lives and share the good and the bad. You can have fun and be a positive influence and have a good impact. And it can still be entertaining.
I feel so lucky to partner with Awesomeness to bring my story to the big screen. I started out making videos as a way to connect and am thrilled by the opportunity to share one of the most exhilarating years of my life.
On YouTube, if anything, coming out as gay or bi or trans explodes someone's popularity.
To me, what's really an important difference between traditional entertainment and digital - on YouTube specifically - is that people thrive when they're authentic about themselves.
I was recording my audiobook, and it's so weird. You write things, but then to have to say them out loud in front of people feels so different. So when I was recording my audiobook, I was telling an embarrassing story in front of, like, a room full of audio-tech people that I don't know, and I was like 'Oh my God, this is so cringe.'
I could pick a favorite YouTuber, maybe I would say GloZell.
For any YouTuber, if you're too nervous to have somebody else document, it may be that what you're putting out there isn't authentic.
I want people to get a better sense of who I am, whether they've seen every video or zero videos.
Prior to 2015, I had kind of approached every year like, 'Let's hope for the best.' I always made these year-end videos with 100 things I did, and it would kind of build itself up throughout the year. When this year started, it was like I knew the 100 things before I even got to do them.
I'm trying to leave more of my calendar open for the spontaneous things. A lot of fun stuff that happened in previous years were things that were like, 'Hey are you available next week?' I wasn't really open unless it was planned months in advance. I'm excited to play it by ear and let a lot of stuff happen as it happens.
In 2016, one of the things I really hope to do is discover new talent and help develop it. Take what I've learned and what I can do and help amplify those voices.
I hope to introduce my audience to who I think is the next class of YouTuber.
I knew I could make a living doing my own videos instead of making them for someone else.
In my new book, 'Binge,' I share essays about everything I've never told my viewers - touching on the best and worst days of my life, some hilarious, some embarrassing, but all extremely personal.
I'm a fast foodie - like, a foodie, but with food courts. I'd love to go with all my friends to a food court that's also a buffet - with unlimited orange chicken from Panda Express, curly fries from Arby's, Hawaiian pizza from Sbarro, and Coke Zero. I'm a simple man with simple pleasures.
In elementary school, I loved the 'Bailey School Kids' series. It was about a group of classmates who would speculate whether adults in their lives were supernatural beings. I read literally every single book in the series.
In middle school, I was really into the 'Redwall' series, about anthropomorphic rodents in medieval times. I had a bowl cut, too, if you need the full imagery.
There's something about YouTube, where you're not being anybody but yourself. You have the opportunity to start as yourself from the very beginning. From the very first video, you choose what you say, and you choose what's right and wrong for your presentation of yourself.
There's no Hollywood tradition of maybe not telling people that you're gay to protect your future ambitions. The YouTube world is a little unprecedented. I think what people are seeing is that the more true to yourself you are, the more an audience will connect with you.
A lot of YouTubers get that mainstream celebrity, they get these big deals, maybe a book deal or a TV deal or whatever it is they aspired to do, and they kind of abandon ship on what got them to that point.
I'm essentially working from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. It's my biggest hobby but also my favorite career that I could ever have. Every single platform is important.
A lot of the education that I got at Michigan State I still use to this very day.
Every video I make, I want to make sure that it's doing something entertaining or hopefully inspiring or maybe teaching somebody something or sharing my mistakes so that they can learn from them or anything that will make a positive impact in the world.
All the money that's donated to the Trevor Project provides resources that directly affect the youth that actually watch my videos. It's a cool thing to see them basically provide resources for each other.
I think a lot of what I wanted to do in 2014 was build a repertoire or a portfolio for what I can do with traditional celebrities or with brands or whatever. Maybe 2015 is the year I start reaching out to people I always dreamed to do stuff with.
I definitely have aspirations outside of YouTube, but I think there's a lot of people on YouTube who want to leave YouTube. I don't want to leave; I love it.
I spend all day replying to tweets and reblogging posts and sharing fan art. I think it's the most important thing I can possibly do, to stay involved in the community as a part of the community, not ahead of the community. I'm very much the same level of them in it.