In five years on YouTube , Francesca Ramsey says , only one of the nearly 200 videos she 's posted has been explicitly about race . Yet when the actress , comedian and video blogger hosted a meet-up with fans here at the South by Southwest Interactive festival , only three out of about 150 of them were white . Of course that one video , `` S**t White Girls Say ... to Black Girls , '' has accounted for nearly 10 million of the roughly 18 million views her videos have gotten , combined . `` It 's a double-edged sword , '' said Ramsey . `` It 's opened a lot of doors for me , but I know that because of that video , there are some people who are never going to watch my videos and are never going to give me a chance and see that I 'm so much more than that video . '' Ramsey spoke Sunday on a panel addressing racism and race issues on YouTube , the Web 's No . 1 video site . Viewing of online video has surged , with YouTube attracting 800 million unique visitors a year . In 2011 , the site saw a mind-boggling 1 trillion-plus views . But among the content creators posting to YouTube who are ethnic minorities , race remains a troubling issue . Drawing a large fan base is a challenge , and commenters on YouTube videos can be vicious . Of the top 100 most popular YouTube channels that are n't industry-sponsored , there is one black creator , four Asians and one of Middle Eastern descent , according to Web researcher Jenny Unghba Korn . Expanding that to the top 200 adds two more African-Americans , two Asians and one user from India . `` Everyone gets hate comments on YouTube , '' said Andre Meadows , the creator of the Black Nerd Comedy channel . `` You can make the most wonderful video in the world and you will get 'Fake ! ' and 'Gay ! ' '' But for minority creators , `` when you get comments , it seems to be targeted toward race almost immediately . A lot of people get 'dumb video , stupid video ' -- but with mine it immediately goes to racial slurs . '' YouTube has the reputation of hosting some of the nastiest comments on the Web . YouTube says it 's mindful of its users ' concerns , and works to help them manage , or remove , hateful comments on videos . `` YouTube 's guidelines against hate speech and harassment apply to comments as well as videos , '' a YouTube spokesperson told CNN . `` We encourage people to flag inappropriate comments using the Help & Safety Tool so that we can remove anything that breaks the rules . We also give video owners tools for managing comments on their channels -- they can moderate comments , remove individual comments , or disable commenting completely . '' But Korn , a researcher who focuses on cultural issues online , said the site is not unique . `` YouTube in and of itself is n't some special device , '' she said . `` It 's actually a reflection of the culture that we 're in right now . There 's a reason that folks feel empowered to say things online that they would not say in person . In person , you almost want to dare them to say something like that , because they would n't get away with it . '' Ramsey thinks the nature of YouTube just makes the hate easier . `` On Facebook , you have to like my page , '' she said . `` On Twitter , I get a lot of negativity , but usually it 's only if I 'm talking about top trending topics and people are just trolling those . `` ( YouTube ) is such a visual medium . If I have a blog , you do n't need to know what race I am . If you watch my videos , you know I 'm a black woman . '' Ramsey and Meadows both said their initial reaction was to respond to haters . `` I have a bad habit that sometimes I do fire back , '' Meadows said . `` I 'm a jokester . Someone will misspell something and it 's like I can not not say something . '' But ultimately , they both said that instead of trying to fight racist comments , they now just ignore them . Ramsey says she 's created an e-mail filter that sends any message with racial slurs directly to trash . Meadows called the `` block '' button `` the most amazing button '' on YouTube . Is there a solution other than just hiding from the hate ? Both say nurturing your own community of fans helps . `` If someone comes in with that kind of craziness , my audience will go after them , '' Meadows said . `` They police my comment section for me . '' Ramsey has begun posting the nastiest racial comments she gets on her Facebook page . `` We laugh at them , '' she said . `` We laugh at the bad spelling . We laugh at how stupid it is . '' Along those lines , she 's resolved to ignore the trolls and , instead , respond more to comments from her loyal followers . `` My New Year 's resolution was not to feed the trolls , '' she said . `` For every time you respond , you 're taking time away from the fans who love you . How bad does it make my fans feel that I did n't take the time to talk to them , but I took the time to talk to this awful person ? ''
Among YouTube content creators who are minorities , race remains a troubling issue . The study found that the top 10 most popular channels on YouTube, which include PewDiePie, were all created by white men and women. A panel addressing racial issues on YouTube was held Sunday at South by Southwest .