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YouTube is basically going under the assumption that there's this community in place to blindly create content on YouTube's behalf without much in the way of compensation."

What Uncle Miltie and the Super Bowl and Survivor have always offered is something to talk about at the water cooler, at the nail salon, or on IM.

For instance, if you are, say, Meow Mix, and you bought ads adjacent to cat-related videos, how surprised and disappointed you might be to learn you have sponsored a YouTube video uploaded by someone named mrwheatley and titled "exploding cat." Or the one from qu1rk89 titled "exploding cat." Or this one: "ma907h eats dead cat," which shows a guy … oh, never mind.

Will advertisers risk associating themselves with violence, pornography, hate speech, or God knows what lurks out there one click away?

#2 Will advertisers risk associating themselves with violence, pornography, hate speech, or God knows what lurks out there one click away?

that so many people are already on YouTube

Everyone else wants to see what everyone else is seeing and enjoying."

Advertisers and brands are enormously risk averse,

Supan insists that YouTubers have done an excellent job of policing their own space

Will advertisers risk associating themselves with violence, pornography, hate speech, or God knows what lurks out there one click away?

Will advertisers risk associating themselves with violence, pornography, hate speech, or God knows what lurks out there one click away? " Advertisers and brands are enormously risk averse, "

And with a $177 billion total domestic ad budget at stake, nobody wants to be monkeying around.

And prosper, despite everything, for one overriding reason: 100 million streams a day.

"What it has going for it is its sheer size. In a fragmented world, there is a need for community and a need for massness."

"There's still a desire to have a shared cultural context. We hunger for things we can discuss."

waiting for a technological solution

that ask members to rate each video against various quality and suitability criteria.

but also to make much of it available to amateur video makers in exchange for a split of ad revenue.

What Uncle Miltie and the Super Bowl and Survivor have always offered is something to talk about at the water cooler, at the nail salon, or on IM.

Her character is also deliberately crafted to target the Web's most active demographics. Nerds geek out on the idea that this beautiful girl lists physicist Richard Feynman and poet e. e. cummings as heroes. Horny guys respond to the tame but tantalizing glimpses of her cleavage. Teenage girls sympathize with her boy troubles and her sometimes-stormy relationship with her strict parents. Early on, viewers started emailing to offer advice and sympathy. Others wanted to talk dirty and discuss mathematical equations.

As Bree, she struck up friendships with people in Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Australia, Mexico, and all over the US.

Now Beckett and Flinders had made her sign a nondisclosure agreement and, clearly pleased with themselves, told her that they wanted her to play the lead in what they billed as the future of entertainment.

The title of the video was "My Parents Suck …," and she explained that her religion prevented her from doing things that other kids did. Still, she felt that her parents had gone too far when they said she couldn't go on a hike with Daniel. It was the first time Bree was emotional on camera.

In fact, Beckett and Flinders hadn't even found an actress to play the part.

It was exactly what her acting coaches at Universal Studios' film program had warned her against: unkempt producer-types hawking shady deals.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT JESSICA ROSE that the webcam loves. Her distractingly large eyebrows and small round face are bent and stretched by the fish-eye lens into a morsel of beauty that fits perfectly in a pop-up window. That's not to say she isn't pretty off camera – she is – but every step she takes closer to the cam multiplies and enhances her looks. It's a face made for the browser screen.

As Bree, she struck up friendships with people in Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Australia, Mexico, and all over the US. > She never offered much information about her character. Rather, she'd research an emailer's

The previous week, one guy had offered her a part in a movie if she would use her student ID to buy him discounted film at Kodak

A day or two after that, a new user named Lonelygirl15 posted an animated scene of a dinosaur stomping on a house, intercut with Emily's original videos.

Emily's fans loved it and offered a deluge of comments, giving Lonelygirl15 instant cred. Viewers praised this funny, creative new vlogger, encouraged her to keep the videos coming, and signed up to receive her future clips.

. #15 The previous videos had gotten between 50,000 and 100,000 views after a week, but this one logged 50,000 in its first

The previous videos had gotten between 50,000 and 100,000 views after a week, but this one logged 50,000 in its first two hours.

Goodfried's advice was simple. "If anyone asks point-blank if you're real, don't answer the question," he said. "Don't lie to people. The answer is no answer. In my mind, it's the equivalent of not lying. But if people talk to Bree like she's Bree, that's fair game."

#8 The previous week, one guy had offered her a part in a movie if she would use her student ID to buy him discounted film at Kodak

It sounded a lot like porn.

they could claim false advertising and sue.

commune-raised screenwriter a green light to unleash Lonelygirl15 on the world.

(one called her an "attention whore" and another a "video slut"),

But this first clip laid the groundwork for everything that was to come.

A day or two after that, a new user named Lonelygirl15 posted an animated scene of a dinosaur stomping on a house, intercut with Emily's original videos.

9 The previous videos had gotten between 50,000 and 100,000 views after a week, but this one logged 50,000 in its first two hours.

"If anyone asks point-blank if you're real, don't answer the question," he said. "Don't lie to people. The answer is no answer. In my mind, it's the equivalent of not lying. But if people talk to Bree like she's Bree, that's fair game."

JESSICA ROSE WAS SUSPICIOUS and frankly a little pissed off. She had come to this organic-tea shop to discuss what she thought was a feature film called Children of Anchor Cove.

a hand puppet named Purple Monkey

Rather, she'd research an emailer's MySpace page and ask questions about their life. They responded enthusiastically and helped spread the word about the amazing new YouTube vlogger named Bree

Don't sell merchandise and don't use any copyrighted music without a license. If people buy Lonelygirl15 stuff thinking she is real

Teenage girls sympathize with her boy troubles and her sometimes-stormy relationship with her strict parents.

The previous videos had gotten between 50,000 and 100,000 views after a week, but this one logged 50,000 in its first two hours.

Rather, she'd research an emailer's MySpace page and ask questions about their life. They responded enthusiastically and helped spread the word about the amazing new YouTube vlogger named Bree .

For Amanda, it was a welcome departure from her day job, where she answered phones and handled the demands of high-powered stars.

In short, they were planning to exploit the anonymity of the Internet to pull off a new kind of storytelling, and they worried they were on shaky legal ground.

Plastic surgery might be an essential part of the entertainment industry, but he wanted more. He wanted to direct.

Now, as a result of Lonelygirl15, he's represented by a top-tier Hollywood talent agency and has been interviewed on MTV, CNN, and NBC Nightly News. He even has business partners: a former doctor named Miles Beckett and husband-and-wife lawyers Greg and Amanda Goodfried. Together, with next to no budget, they have created a show that illuminates the future of television.

So today, two weeks after the revelation that the show is fictional, Flinders is filming the 45th two-minute installment of the series and pushing into new territory. What began as a quirky story about a religious girl fighting with her strict parents and her boyfriend is poised to break out of the bedroom and into a full-blown international thriller.

Last week, he spotted his neighbors – two Playboy playmates – and invited them in. They glanced at his room, got suspicious, and quickly left.

It's all the more engrossing because viewers can correspond with the characters and even affect the plot.

Welcome to the set of Lonelygirl15, the breakout Web hit that, in September, was unmasked by fans as a work of fiction. What nearly a million people thought was the room of a sweet, charismatic teen named Bree is actually the Beverly Hills bedroom of Lonelygirl15's cocreator Mesh Flinders, an unshaven 27-year-old who is fighting the flu and running a fever of 101. He hasn't left this room for more than 24 hours. "I've got no reason to leave," Flinders says, rubbing his bloodshot eyes and then blowing his nose. The room smells like sweat. "I write the scripts here, we shoot them here, and I sleep here. Why leave?"

A Hollywood movie is understood to be fictional. Vlogging on YouTube is not.

But this isn't what it appears to be: Almost everything in the room was bought from Target on the same day, and the price tags are still hanging from some of her stuff. The closet is filled with men's clothing, and in the corner two guys huddle around a laptop and stare at the webcam feed.

When the show started in June with a two-minute YouTube posting by Bree – played by actress Jessica Rose – Flinders would rearrange his room after each shoot.

When the show started in June with a two-minute YouTube posting by Bree – played by actress Jessica Rose – Flinders would rearrange his room after each shoot. >

So today, two weeks after the revelation that the show is fictional, Flinders is filming the 45th two-minute installment of the series and pushing into new territory. What began as a quirky story about a religious girl fighting with her strict parents and her boyfriend is poised to break out of the bedroom and into a full-blown international thriller.

He'd take down the pictures of Rose as a baby, stash the stuffed animals, and swap out the girly bedspread for his more masculine blue-and-white-striped blanket. Now, three months into the project and with hundreds of thousands of regular viewers, he doesn't bother

He wrote short stories about her, and when he tried to make it as a writer in Hollywood, he put her in his screenplays.

As a camp counselor, he told fireside tales about her experiences.

Welcome to the set of Lonelygirl15, the breakout Web hit that, in September, was unmasked by fans as a work of fiction. What nearly a million people thought was the room of a sweet, charismatic teen named Bree is actually the Beverly Hills bedroom of Lonelygirl15's cocreator Mesh Flinders, an unshaven 27-year-old who is fighting the flu and running a fever of 101.

He got picked on for being small, and there was no escape: The children attended classes taught by the adults of the commune, which was isolated in the windswept hills of western Sonoma County. When he turned 14, Flinders was sent to a Catholic high school, where he was regarded as a hippy devil worshipper, beaten up, and thrown into a dumpster.

He thought that a dramatic story from the point of view of a video blogger would be more captivating. Flinders, it turned out, had the perfect character.

Beckett ordered a pitcher of margaritas and explained that they wanted the vloggers of the YouTube community to believe that Bree was real.

commune

Plus, to fully harness the medium, they intended to carry on email correspondences with YouTubers while posing as Bree.

Flinders rationalized the deception, noting that viewers wouldn't expect Mark Hamill to point out at the beginning of Star Wars that he wasn't Luke Skywalker.

Flinders shrugs it off; the room is an upgrade. Six months ago, he was living with his 96-year-old grandmother in rural Central California. Now, as a result of Lonelygirl15, he's represented by a top-tier Hollywood talent agency and has been interviewed on MTV, CNN, and NBC Nightly News. He even has business partners: a former doctor named Miles Beckett and husband-and-wife lawyers Greg and Amanda Goodfried. Together, with next to no budget, they have created a show that illuminates the future of television.

"It's the producers from Law and Order," she says. "Do you want me to answer it?" "Let it ring," Flinders tells her.

Beckett says. After four years of medical school and a year of residency, the 27-year-old dropped out of the

Lonelygirl15 is a mashup of homemade video diary, soap opera, and mysterious, hint-laden narrative like Lost

it's a thrillingly uncharted creative landscape, and he has no interest in abandoning it for the tired conventions of film or television

Flinders himself is startlingly uninterested in traditional TV. He grew up without it and rarely watches it now.

Plus, to fully harness the medium, they intended to carry on email correspondences with YouTubers while posing as Bree. In short, they were planning to exploit the anonymity of the Internet to pull off a new kind of storytelling, and they worried they were on shaky legal ground.

But nobody bought his scripts: Agents and producers didn't think much of the character he had created.

The room behind her could be anywhere in America – there's a pink floral-print bedspread, a half-dozen stuffed animals, and a framed picture of a rose on the wall.

It's too much work, even though it has blown some great opportunities for him.

After working a few years as an assistant to an independent director

After working a few years as an assistant to an independent director

The clip, which was viewed nearly 2 million times in two weeks,

And there they are, in the bedrooms and dorms and cubicles of the world, uploading their asses off, more than 65,000 times a day on YouTube alone.

which stars a chubby young man in his New Jersey bedroom lip-syncing to an insipid but weirdly fetching Romanian pop song.

The price tag for YouTube, just to put the investment in perspective, is what Target paid for 257 Mervyns department stores and four distribution centers in 13 states, and just a bit more than WPP Group paid for the Grey Global Group advertising network with 10,500 employees in 83 countries generating $1.3 billion in revenue. Those, of course, are both profitable enterprises with vast fixed assets.

Or try the accurately titled "Noah takes a photo of himself everyday for six years." A time-lapse documentary of Noah Kalina over 2,356 days, it's a little thin on plot, but it nonetheless racked up more than 3 million views in six weeks.