Okay, I'm going to be the first to admit this wasn't my idea. The title, in fact, is stolen entirely from my English doppelgänger Will Dixon, who has written several blog posts on the topic himself. But it's something that I can't help but mention, especially in the month leading up to VidCon.
My YouTube friends and I have a wonderful community going and we really have a lot of potential in the vlogging community. There, I said it. I can see us taking over YouTube without breaking a sweat. If you think about it, we're like the Super Friends of vlogging: we have talented script writers, fantastic musicians, highly skilled (and accomplished!) artists, community leaders, community ralliers, and, best of all, good friends.
Let me emphasize that last part. We are all there for each other. We spend hours on end talking to each other on Skype, using Twitter like a chatroom (and that's a good thing, friends!), and we will TinyChat until the wee hours of the morning. We have so much fun with each other that it's contagious. And anytime something happens where one of us gains attention, we're all there to honestly celebrate and congratulate each other. Those of us who receive the benefit are always humble about it, too--we say things like "Well, this wouldn't have happened if so-and-so hadn't done such-and-such!"
What I'm noticing more and more, though, is that we're getting noticed again and again by the people up top who really hold some weight in the YouTube community. I mean, heck, Dan Brown is one step short of being another one of our best friends; Will is *currently* featured in Alex Day's other channels box; half of us are subscribed to by the Vlogbrothers. And in no way is this meant to brag--I'm more in awe of it all. It was just under a year ago that I was filming with my poor little Sony Cyber-Shot camera in the dorm room where I was counseling high schoolers on a summer camp, celebrating the landmark of 50 whole subscribers! It was a big deal to me that JB Dazen had subscribed to me for having done VAGED. Now, people make videos fangirling over me for subscribing to THEM. It blows my mind.
So what I'm really saying is that I think all of us who are friends should stay friends and enjoy the ride. We have a great thing going, and there's a lot of love being tossed around. Let's never, ever forget that, and most of all, let's share that with as many hackin' people as we can!
And yes, I just made a reference to Fred. Deal with it.
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You've summed it all up right there, although Dan Brown and I used to be friends, we're not anymore. Popularity changes some people.
ReplyDeleteSteve, I remember gaining 100 subs and doing a 100 subscriber celebration where I emptied a can of silly string over my room and myself by accident, some of it is solidified into the wall, and I still have the exact same party cups I made hats out of and whistlythings from that 100 sub celebration, and I can see us all in the next year celebrating 2,000 and more.
You, son. Rock!
You speak the truth in this blog Steve. The community everyone has developed through vlogging, or just by being a subscriber, on youtube is really quite amazing and something to be proud of.
ReplyDeleteBeing a part of it is great! But being involved in the community is even better.
This is officially awesome. I love getting on Tinychat with you guys, not because you all are famous, but because you're all hilarious! I'm trying to get into vlogging, but I won't be able to do much quality stuff until I get a new camera.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on everything, Steve. It's been great watching you (and Travis, and Natalie, etc...) grow this entire community, and I'm so glad to be a part of it.
Ich findes es total gut, dass Du und Deine Freunde soviel Erfolg haben. Ich sehe es aber auch als berechtigt an, weil Eure Videos einfach tierisch gut sind. Ausserdem bin ich froh, dass Ich Euch alle kennengelernt hab, bevor die Abonentenzahlen in die tausende gingen, so wisst Ihr wenigstens wer ich bin. Ich werde Euch auf dem Weg begleiten und mich mit Euch mit freuen.
ReplyDeleteI can see amazingly what you mean. I might be more on the observing side of this but I know from experience that youtube is an amazing place to make and keep friends!
ReplyDeleteSteve, you managed to sum up my thoughts better than I ever could. One thing I was going to clarify if I ever did another Next-Gen Nerds post, is that I'm not sure we're the next A-list of YouTube as a whole, but we're certainly going to be at the top of Nerdfighteria, which is where I think we all want to be.
ReplyDeleteIt is great to see all these competitions and things being won and done by our friends - it certainly gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that I'm part of something special :)
It certainly has been fun watching all of you grow in the community. I do have a request for you all. I hope you guys just strive for good CONTENT and for your COMMUNITY. People who strive for the top of the chain can turn into something not of themselves. I've seen it in many others, hell I've seen it in myself(and it appears much more pathetic as mine was a failed attempt).
ReplyDeleteI know I probably just preached to the choir, but it's always a good reminder. All of you are amazing youtubers and PEOPLE,and I really see all of you making a huge difference around here.