By 2018, this was a viable, scrutable social enterprise, in the same way that it became a viable enterprise for Jon Stewart to make comedy shows that were no longer focused on comedy. “People will look at this and say, ‘Oh, this is beauty content — like, the purpose of this content is for people to learn beauty tips,’ ” Kevin Allocca, YouTube’s head of culture and trends, told me. But the truth is, once people who grew up watching makeup tutorials began creating their own makeup tutorials, the form started to morph. “You peel back a layer, and the beauty stuff becomes this convention that allows you to have another set of interactions and discussions.”
By 2018 this was viable because of the Web 2.0. Web 2.0 provided an era of the internet that offered user-generated content and the gig economy. User-generated content is content that users produce and post on social media platforms that emphasizes the idea of users coming together and interacting. The gig economy is technology-enabled work where individuals are paid per gig and tend to have some freedom over their work. An example of a worker in the gig economy is a YouTuber. In this passage, the gig economy makes it possible for YouTubers to create their own businesses and user-generated content helps users create connections and interactions with others.