For my Digital artefact i chose to do a Youtube Channel. This is my first semester at UOW, so i was a little bit confused with the whole DA concept. I created a brainstorm of ideas and it was pretty easy for me to decide on an idea. From looking at the BCM114 tweets I saw many great ideas, and i thought mine was quite basic and boring. But in the end i chose to do a Youtube channel creating vlogs, challenges and beauty related videos.
I chose to do a YouTube channel as my platform because I enjoy watching Youtube channels like Bretman Rock, The ACE Family, Desi Perkins, Jeffree Star and many more successful YouTubers. I wasn’t really sure if I would have that much of an audience that would be interested in my DA… but i stuck with it anyway because it’s what I enjoy doing in regards to filming, editing and watching other YouTube videos. I have always wanted to be “YouTuber” as cringe as that sounds, I actually made a YouTube channel back when I was in year 8/9 creating videos that I enjoyed watching from morning routines, makeup tutorials, vlogs and challenges. I had some videos up and gained a small amount of viewers and subscribers, but people from school started to watch them and I eventually got embarrassed so I took my whole channel down. However, that inspired me to do this DA because now i have a reason to make a YouTube channel to be myself in front of a camera and do what I enjoy doing.
This is my YouTube channel and I have only posted 3 videos but I did notice my viewers and subscribers grew as I promoted my channel on Instagram, Twitter and told family and friends. After posting on Instagram I definitely gained more subscribers and viewers compared to Twitter where I maybe don’t have as much people that are interested.
To interact with my audience i created polls to have an idea of what videos they prefer watching. (I also mentioned that in my DA pitch) This gives me the chance to know what my audience actually prefer watching rather me posting random videos. I film with my Iphone 8 but if I want better quality I use my dad’s Canon DSLR camera, I find it quite hard trying to find the best lighting I either use my desk lamp, but that makes me look too orange and for my most recent video “my everyday makeup” I used natural lighting but that just added a blue hue, although now that I think about it, it was a pretty gloomy day and really cloudy. I still have yet to film and edit what got voted most on my Twitter account (stay tuned). Also since my Instagram poll was 50/50 i have decided to post the beauty related video first and then eventually I will post a challenge video.
I have considered changing my DA to the Instagram page but I feel like I wouldn’t have as much followers and people wouldn’t be as interested in just posting random photos of ‘Fashion trends throughout the decades’. So I guess a YouTube channel is a little bit more interesting and entertaining. My FEFO moment would probably have to be not coming up with name for my channel (it’s literally my first and middle name) but I can’t really come up with a name when my videos are just about vlogs, beauty related etc videos, I would rather have my name than a weird username. Also I wish I had more feedback or comments to kind of see where i’m at with my whole YouTube channel. I should also start to post more videos… BUT we shall see how my DA goes.
JustMia 
Hi Mia! I think this is a really good DA idea, especially considering you are doing something you are really interested in. I am also glad that you feel ready to create your channel now as opposed to when you were younger, which shows that you are still passionate about your career as a Youtuber! My tutor pointed out, regarding my own DA, that we needed to define our audience in order to know how to appeal to them, and I think it would be a good idea for you to go onto other Youtuber’s Instagram accounts and follow their followers, or people that interact with their account. That way you have people that are specifically interested in your topic. I think a video where you review/only use cheap make up products would be really helpful as well, especially for university students.
Good luck with creating your project! I’m excited to see its development as the semester progresses!
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Hey! Thank you so much ! This was really helpful considering this is my first semester at UOW, it’s nice to hear feedback from another student xx all the best with your project too! xx
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Hi Mia! Doing what you love and have always wanted to do is great as it will make the Digital Artefact less work and promote you to keep going even after this subject is over. Remember #FIST (Fast, Inexpensive, Simple, Tiny) so if you’re finding youtube to be too much work and are thinking of just running an Instagram page that could be a great idea. As you could still post makeup looks and challenges but the videos would just be shorter. I like that you’ve incorporated polls on twitter to find out what your audience is looking for within your DA. Accessing an audience can be hard but by engaging with other people eventually your audience will grow. The ideate stage is the time to observe and grow from these observations. Loving what you’ve put out so far and I’m excited to see where your DA goes from here.
Best of luck, Naomi.
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Thank you so much!! i really appreciate it! xx this was actually really helpful for me :)) All the best to you too ! x
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