Franta-who’s from a small town so deep into southeastern Minnesota that it’s basically in Wisconsin-began vlogging in August 2010. YouTubing becomes an extension of closeting.įranta, 22, provides perhaps the best example of YouTubing as closeting. In other words, for someone who doesn’t want to give the game away about his sexual identity, YouTubing is perfect. Strangers who, say, watch a YouTube vignette in which a young man talks about his perfect girl have no reason to doubt nor any reason to question the content of the video or the authority upon which the vlogger speaks. Vlogging also allows people to construct a narrative of their lives, a narrative that can go largely unchallenged-except in the comments section, of course-and, therefore, have only a loose grounding in reality.