Bearcat on YouTube, Maddy Hanauer
Whether it’s drawing a mustache out of whipped cream or explaining how to survive middle school, the star of the YouTube channel BecauseMaddySaidSo, has been caught in the web of the website, YouTube.
When Maddy Hanauer was 10, she started making videos of herself for fun. Hanauer enjoyed making videos so much that when she discovered YouTube, she couldn’t resist but to create a channel.“I saw so many other people doing it and they all did different things, so I decided that I would try it and do my own thing,” Hanauer said.
Her YouTube channel has gained 410 subscribers and her most viewed and first video, “Messy Best friend Tag”, posted on August 11, 2014 has reached 4,376 views. The video consists of Hanauer and her friend, Trinity, asking each other five different questions. If the person answers the question wrong, they get a face full of whipped cream.
“Once I started telling all my friends, they liked [the YouTube idea] too. I didn’t really care about what people thought anymore…I enjoyed doing it,” Hanauer said.
A big supporter and best friend, Freshman Angelina Marziello, supports Hanauer 100 percent.
“[Maddy] is fun, always happy, and very loud!” said Marziello. Marziello has been featured in seven of Hanauer’s videos, including her “Whisper Challenge” and her most recent video, ”Emoji Challenge”.
Her channel ranges from truth or dare videos to trying foreign candy. It extends all the way to vlogs via the California Mid State Fair featuring Marziello and friend Freshman Kendall Caruana to giving advice on surviving middle school. Caruana has not been featured in any of Hanauer’s videos, but she has been in her vlog.
“I think my favorite part is getting feedback from the people who watch it, because it’s always just cool to see what they have to say about it and to see what they think about it, whether it’s good or bad, and it just helps for further videos,” Hanauer said.
This YouTube double life comes with odd experiences. Hanauer has had people come up to her about the YouTube channel and although they described it as “weird”, they also described it as “cool.”
“There was one person at freshman orientation and he came and like greeted me and I was like ‘I’m Maddy’ and he’s like ‘Oh I already know that. I’ve seen your YouTube channel,’” Hanauer said.
And that’s not all, the life of the YouTuber also comes with the fear of negativity.
“I felt scared of what people were going to say and what people were going to think because there’s negative and positive people in this world like they have their say in everything so I was just scared of the negative people,” Hanauer said, “But then the positive people came and it was just better.”
Although Hanauer said that she has had mainly positive feedback, she also said she has experienced some downsides of having a YouTube channel.
“Sometimes people ask me what I like to do and if I say I making youtube videos, they kind of take it the wrong way. They ask if I’m sitting there and not doing anything but I actually try, and I don’t think that they see that…” Hanauer said.
But for every video, it takes Hanauer thirty to forty minutes to record and about one to two days to cut and edit the video with either iMovie or Final Cut Pro. It takes another couple of hours trying to come up with an idea for an original video and finding a way to put her own original spin on it. As a precaution, Hanauer often makes five videos in a day just in case she does not have time to record and post a new one for that week.
“There’s a couple YouTubers that inspired me like Jennxpen and other people like that. I’ll sometimes get my ideas from them and make different videos coming off of their videos,” Hanauer said.
Hanauer has also started to make around $5 per YouTube video by letting YouTube use her videos for advertising.
“For every couple of views you get five cents, so the more views you have, the more money you get,” Hanauer said. So far, Hanauer has made around $50.
Trying to balance school, YouTube, and extracurricular activities has proven to an arduous task for Hanauer.
“It’s very hard [to balance]. That’s why I haven’t posted for so long cause it’s really hard to just balance all the homeworkand then all my sports cause I also do soccer and I have just everything going on so it’s really hard to find extra time,” Hanauer said, “I feel like I might discontinue since i have no time.”
Since then, Hanauer said she has decided to continue her channel, but says that the channel may not be as consistent because of school and sports.
“My YouTube channel impacted my life by giving me so many opportunities to make new friends…it’s also helped me learn how to get out (of) my comfort zone.”
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