Who You Know Matters
So, when we discussed style and the kind of powerful impact it can have in moving an amateur into the next tier of digital storytelling. The question is, if you make entertaining videos and have a loyal line of followers, where do the followers for any popular YouTube user come from? Let's use KevJumba to illustrate the kinds of reverberating effects of having a larger network (of other rising or pro-am YouTubers) can have on one's success.
Kevjumba's "I'm not cool" video on the "Style" page of this website shows a short segment about how when he's bored he dances with his roommates. Another famed YouTube Star who goes by Nigahiga is easy to miss as he is shown as just one of the guys in the background. Likewise, Nigahiga "That Awkward Moment When" proves that this user frequently creates digital stories, music videos and even short movies with not only KevJumba, but other YouTube stars like JR Aquino as well.
Kevjumba's "I'm not cool" video on the "Style" page of this website shows a short segment about how when he's bored he dances with his roommates. Another famed YouTube Star who goes by Nigahiga is easy to miss as he is shown as just one of the guys in the background. Likewise, Nigahiga "That Awkward Moment When" proves that this user frequently creates digital stories, music videos and even short movies with not only KevJumba, but other YouTube stars like JR Aquino as well.
As Nigahiga makes references to JR Aquino's presence and contribution in this video (by adding a link to JR's YouTube channel in the info portion below the video), loyal fans of Nigahiga may become stragglers when they stumble upon JR's long playlist of uploaded videos. JR is a musical artist who recurrently posts videos of himself singing solo, playing the guitar, and occasionally singing duets with other famous YouTube artists—like with his rapper and comedian friend shown in this next video.
JR Aquino sings an impromptu cover of a pop song with Timothy DeLaGhetto and does not fail to remember to make his shout out and add the link to DeLaGhetto's YouTube channel. DeLaGhetto is a smooth transition back into the community of comedic YouTube stars like KevJumba (who are actually friends as well through mutual YouTube-affiliated friends).
This perpetuates a constant tagging, forwarding and networking culture within the YouTube world. By forming networks with people in all different fields, the amount and variety of people—from individuals interested in music, comedy, films, and in a user's audience is sure to multiply quickly. You need to collaborate with other pro-am YouTubers from other subcategories not only so that you can continually increase the number of subscribers and views, but also to grow as an artist by being challenged by people who are much different than you are.