Staring into the camera, senior Hannah Phipps begins filming the first part a new YouTube video titled “7 Most Annoying Things EVER,” a satirical video in which she discusses ridiculous pet peeves, followed by a promotion for her friend Brooke Bennett’s fundraiser for an underprivileged famlies. After several takes, Phipps then edits the video on her computer before posting it on YouTube for her nearly 14,000 subscribers to view.

Phipps is one of many students who have made social media an integral part of their lives by using it to express herself, share opinions and offer advice to her viewers.

Phipps originally began using YouTube last December with the intention of posting original skits for fun. However, after posting a video response to famous YouTube personality (YouTuber) Nash Grier’s video “What guys look for in girls,” her channel caught the attention of thousands in only about a month.

“It was a popular topic so it got a ton of views,” Phipps said. “It has over half a million views.” De Soto High School sophomore Maddie Wegner, who helps Phipps produce her videos, said she supports Phipps’ endeavors. “It’s pretty cool that [Phipps] has a voice and is able to share her opinion with 14,000 people,” Wegner said. “that’s crazy.”

Phipps’ fan base grew as thousands of viewers continued to tune in to her videos. She gained popularity on other social media websites as well. Her Twitter has a little less than 1,000 followers and her Instagram has 14,000 followers.

“My Instagram is like all my friends Instagrams,” Phipps said. “[It’s] just pictures of [myself] and what [I’m] doing and stuff. I don’t really do a lot of inspirational stuff on there [like on YouTube].”

Some of those who follow her on social media websites also communicate with her via direct messages.

“It’s kind of weird,” Phipps said. “Some of them will DM me on Instagram and be like ‘Oh my gosh, Hannah! I love you, you’re my favorite person in the world!’”

Phipps’ videos usually do not require a script since her inspiration for them comes from her personal experiences.

“Most of my videos are not scripted. I just kind of sit down and film it,” Phipps said. “But most of the time, I just think of [what I’m going to say] right off the top of my head or from experiences. Like something will happen that day and I’ll be like, ‘Ooh, I wanna make a video about that.’”

If used correctly, she said social media can be constructive.

“I think social media can be a positive thing if it’s used in the right way, to promote positive thinking,” Phipps said. “But I also think it can definitely be a negative thing if it’s promoting bad choices and just negative thoughts.”

Phipps said YouTube offers its users a gratifying form of expression.

“It’s a good outlet for creativity and it gives you a lot of options to create a lot of different things,” Phipps said. “You can express your opinions and beliefs more on YouTube, rather than just tweeting a short sentence or posting a caption on Instagram.”