Can You Make a Career Out of Posting YouTube Videos?

Can you make an actual career or livelihood out of posting videos on YouTube and elsewhere online? And, if so, how exactly is this done? Yes, you can probably make a sustainable career out of becoming a YouTube personality, although the competition is stiff and the odds are not going to be in your favor. YouTube favors the most "outrageous" and "viral" content-you will have to consistently come up with intriguing, bizarre content to get the public's attention in the first place.

A degree in public relations or communications may be useful, or at the very least, some basic knowledge of past YouTube viral hits. Star Wars Kid, for example, garnered millions of views when he awkwardly "pretended" to be a Jedi knight engaged in a lightsaber duel-of course, he taped the performance, and the rest is history.

But has Star Wars Kid been able to turn his one-time success into a consistently popular online show or a profitable personal brand? No, he hasn't.

There are a relative scarcity of YouTube stars who turn their brands into anything profitable or useful. Ze Frank is an exception; he posted short videos and funny social commentary on his web site and built a global following over time. This led to paying opportunities in Hollywood and elsewhere.

Amanda Congdon, former host of the Rocketboom video blog, is another personality who eventually made the very profitable "leap" to the mainstream. In addition to being represented by Endeavor's Ari Emanuel (possibly an inspiration for the Ari Gold character in Entourage) and landing a gig as an ABC News video blogger, Congdon received some lucrative work as a paid spokesperson for various companies.

Achieving this level of online fame, however, is akin to winning the lottery or marrying rich-it could happen, but it does not happen as often as you might think.

Perhaps more important, once you become an established YouTube star, you face competition from a somewhat unlikely foe: yourself. You see, each video post has to be more outrageous and unusual than the last, or you risk losing the notoriously A.D.D. online audience that turned you into a celebrity in the first place.

This was the case with Chris Crocker of "Leave Britney Alone!" fame. After a teary-eyed defense of Britney Spears, there is not much else that can be done-short of killing yourself on video (that, too, has already been done by someone online).

If you feel as if you were truly born to become a Web 2.0 star or global online celebrity, don't let this analysis discourage you. Talent has a way of getting the recognition it deserves, sooner or later, and YouTube can certainly play a big role in developing your initial audience-in addition to maintaining the audience you already have. Even President Barack Obama uses YouTube to get his message to a wider and younger audience.