With over 300,000 profile views and 3,400 subscribed, Caitlin’s channel is one of the most popular on You Tube. As a Power User, she’s one of the most recognized video bloggers. I interviewed her via email and asked her to share key insights.

Q&Q: Why did you start video blogging?
Caitlin: I started video blogging, because I had been visiting YouTube for a few months just to look at other members like Brookers and LonelyGirl15. Then one day, I really wanted to respond to one of LonelyGirl15′s video about her and her friend Daniel having a fight. I clicked on the Directors account, got it straight away, and then posted a couple of videos. I was mainly just bored though

Q&Q: Why do you use You Tube as your video blogging platform?
Caitlin: I had posted a few random videos on my Buzznet account, but the site didn’t accept many kinds of video files, and YouTube accepts all the ones I have, so it worked better than Buzznet.

Q&Q: What’s your favorite vblog entry that you’ve produced?
Caitlin: My favourite vblog entry? The one I’m working on at the moment. Somebody asked me to tell them why I chose my Sign-In name TheHill88…but I got distracted as I was telling the camera about it, and started dancing and doing ballet tricks. It just seems to be showing the real me, finally…not rapping, not making soppy movies…just being me.

Q&Q:What other video bloggers do you read?
Caitlin: I have subscribed to quite a few. I love the awesome ones like Lonely and Brookers…but some of the coolest people, that others dont see to much of is arrwctchr and showmanROT, Arrwctchr is an excellent film maker and showmanROT is hilarious!

Q&Q;Your video blog has been viewed over +300,000 times. What makes people want to watch tune in to your vblog?
Caitlin: Well, it was featured, so that helped get views. I think so many people view my channel because of the rap video and my lonelygirl video – they are pretty popular, so people will see their video first (the one they really wanted to see) and then see me. People view it also because for some reason they either love me or loathe me. They enjoy tearing me to shreds and others enjoy posting nice or sleazy comments.

Q&Q: How do you feel about name brands using You Tube to distribute their commercials?
Caitlin: I don’t like brands using YouTube…they must of realised that people are on YouTube because it is more interesting than TV, but they can’t let people escape the ads on 24/7 and have to follow them to YouTube as well. It’s really just pathetic. This is a place where the little people can escape the big people of everyday life and become big themselves in their own right…we don’t need more product placement than we already receive every day.

I interviewed Morbeck, the producer of one of the top 20 most subscribed to channels on You Tube. His content is funny, sexual and surprising. He published this video yesterday, viewed over 40,000 times in the last 24 hours.

Q&Q: Why did you start video blogging?
MORBECK: My first attempt at video blogging was a spoof of a famous youtuber. Everyone seemed to enjoy it so I kept going until I came up with my own characters.

Q&Q: Why do you use You Tube as your video blogging platform?
MORBECK: I decided to post videos on youtube because i saw the potential it had since the beginning and noticed how the videos can reach such a wide audience.

Q&Q: What’s your favorite vblog entry that you’ve produced?
MORBECK: My favorite vblog is a tribute to all videobloggers. I can be found at this url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCzIIERHZKw

Q&Q: What other video bloggers do you follow?
MORBECK: I follow filthywhore, littleloca, bowiechick, therealnewsguy and other random ones that i see on the most discussed list.

Q&Q: Your video blog is one of top 40 most popular on You Tube. Why?
MORBECK: One of the reasons I got to the top 40 is because I try to come up with original content that is also entertaining. I set up a little studio in my bedroom for chroma key effects and people seem to be enjoying my creations so they keep coming back and telling their friends about me.

Q&Q: How do you feel about name brands (Paris Hilton, Nike, etc) using You Tube to distribute their commercials?
MORBECK: I dont mind that big celebrities use youtube as a resource as well. Although im glad that even though Paris Hilton is on the first page she doesnt have as many subscribers as me yet. This means the youtube community is here to watch everyday people that have something to offer besides mainstream entertainment.

Q&Q: If a company like Adidas, Pepsi or Puma wanted to sponsor your channel, would you accept payment in exchange for promoting them?
MORBECK: Yes I would accept it because I would be able to keep doing what I enjoy and still deliver what my fans expect of me.

I spoke recently with You Tube power user, Joy (screen name xSJPx). Over 70,000 people have viewed her profile and hundreds of thousands have viewed her videos. She has +1400 people subscribing to her channel. She attributes her success to her “realness.” Have a look, this video alone was video was video 40,000 times.

In a conversation with Joy, she describes her YouTube habits:

“I started putting videos online for my friends back in my home town, because I never see them anymore and they miss me. I’ve always made fun short videos with friends throughout high school it’s a great hobby!

Youtube is very easy to use, I love that I can have my own “channel” and it’s easy for people to view my videos. I also like that more then just my friends can watch my videos and I can meet new people. I like the commenting and rating system as well. Their flagging system is flawed but I hope the sites staff will fix it soon.

Of my videos, my favorite is probably “Bob Marley painting” that is the favorite of all my friends as well.

Youtube videos I like to watch include allstarbritti, she makes short little videos that always make me laugh and boh3m3 he has a great video blogging style. There are many channels I subscribe too and I tend to flick through videos randomly. I don’t always have time to watch whole videos.

I think that people watch my videos based on the fact that I’m not trying to be anything or anyone, I’m real. I like to have fun and be silly I don’t take things to seriously. I have a strange sense of humor as well, and people who share this enjoy my videos.

It’s unfortunate that YouTube is turning into a commercially exploited site.

I suppose with many things that distribute mass media, it quickly becomes all about the money. YouTube is not too over run by money hungry marketer’s yet, but I see it happening soon.”

Her favorite video (that she produced)

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

The number one video on Myspace currently, this cute little kitten, has been viewed over 1 million times collectively. I recently interviewed, “80s Tim,” the publisher of this video to get the story behind its success.

Here’s the details from Tim: “I found the kitten in the middle of quite a busy road near a town called Sarre in Kent, England. I was driving along with a friend called Lisa and I saw what I thought was a guinea pig on the road. After stopping and getting out, we saw it was a kitten. I picked the little guy up and we searched for ages for any sign of a mother or litter, but to no avail. I decided on the spot to adopt the kitten since I had just left the army and this was the first time that I had the chance to own a cat. The kitten was roughly 3 days old and would need a lot of nurturing. Luckily, my housemate, Gemma, is an animal care and knew her stuff about raising orphaned kittens. We started nursing him back to health and after one small scare, where he stopped eating for a couple of days, he started to develop as he should. It was about then that I made a quick video of him and put it on myspace to let my friends see him.”

Q&Q: Did you think it would be as great a success as it was?
Tim: I had absolutely no idea that it would be a big success, I only put the video on for a few friends and family, it was only after I started getting hundreds of messages a day that I was informed that the video had been on the myspace front page. I had no idea it had been used for this and it feels a little bit weird when look at peoples` sites and see my video on them, with my bed, my room and my kitten.

Q&Q: Why do you think so many people showed interest?
Tim: I suppose that most people are suckers for small, fluffly things and my video showed a very young, very vulnerable kitten that appealed straight to the hearts of certain people. In this case, those people were, on the most part, American and Australian women. Oh, and loads of gay guys too.

Q&Q: Why did you post the video on Myspace, rather than YouTube or other sites?
Tim: As I said before, I only stuck the video on here for a few mates, I never intended it for wide scale public viewing so it never occurred to me to put it anywhere else.