Skip to content

NERD FACTOR! (...And Why I Fear for Tumblr)

2013-05-28 · announcement · John, MagicTurtle643, Sabrina Cruz, Ruby Day · 3:54 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Internet & YouTube) · mode: Announcements · tags: recurring series, guest or collab, community lore, song or performance, self promotion

A three-part video: John answers Hank's startup video by blaming advertising's focus on view counts and asks Hank to fix it during his paternity leave; he announces the Nerd Factor 2013 winners who will stand in for him; and the TFiOS special edition audiobook returns.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; John realizes Tuesday is named for Tiw

  • ★ John says he has probably said 'Good morning Hank, it's Tuesday' many times and only now learns Tuesday is named not for 'the second day' but for Tiw, the Proto-Germanic war god. (playful) — 00:00:02

00:00:16 — Part 1: response to Hank's startup video - advertising values views over viewers (Thoughts From Places vs giraffe sex); ask Hank to fix it during paternity leave

  • ★★★ Responding to Hank's Tumblr and startups video, John thinks the underlying problem is that almost everything online depends on advertising, and advertisers are terrible at valuing the creator-viewer relationship. (hedged) — 00:00:16 · online advertising, Tumblr
  • ★★★ John says advertisers value the number of views over their quality: Thoughts From Places videos are the channel's least viewed, yet Nerdfighters say they are among their favourites. — 00:00:32 · Thoughts from Places, Vlogbrothers, Nerdfighteria, online advertising
  • ★★★ John wants a broader internet and worries that Tumblr, Facebook and even YouTube can support that breadth only as long as they are willing to lose money. — 00:00:59 · Tumblr, Facebook, YouTube
  • ★★ John asks Hank to fix this problem during his paternity leave. (playful) — 00:01:09 · Hank Green · also in: Introducing Subbable

00:01:13 — Part 2: Nerd Factor 2013 winners with clips (MagicTurtle643, Nerdy and Quirky as stand-ins; singers Ruby Day and the Swot Sisters)

  • ★★ John thanks the more than 1,600 people who posted videos to the Nerd Factor competition; he is sad only two can replace him. — 00:01:13
  • ★★★ John names Nerd Factor winners MagicTurtle643 and Nerdy and Quirky, who will stand in for him on Tuesdays during his paternity leave. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John says MagicTurtle643 has made videos for over five years, took part in the Project for Awesome, has fewer than 700 subscribers and is hilarious, so 'let's change that'. — 00:01:53 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★ John calls Nerdy and Quirky one of the best YouTubers he has come across in years and shows a clip from her video about fangirls. — 00:02:24 · YouTube
  • ★★ John declares two more winners, both singers: Ruby Day and the Swot Sisters, whose whole song he calls amazing. — 00:02:51
  • ★★ John asks viewers to check out and subscribe to all the winners' channels, linked in the description. — 00:03:27

00:03:38 — Part 3: TFiOS special edition audiobook back for pre-order; sign-off joke (Friday named for Stephen Fry)

  • ★★ The special edition TFiOS audiobook narrated by John, with a bonus DVD, previously sold at DFTBA.com, is back for pre-order. — 00:03:38 · DFTBA Records

Humor (significant)

  • The ad model says to drop Thoughts From Places for giraffe sex, which viewers love less — 00:00:59

    “I dig giraffe sex, but I want a broader Internet.”

  • John 'quotes' Tiw, the Proto-Germanic god of war: 'There must always be a victor.' — 00:01:24

    “That's not really a quote.”

  • In his clip, MagicTurtle643 reviews odd tea packets, ending with an untried 'instant chrysanthemum beverage' — 00:01:47

    “I wound up with packets of Chinese rat poison.”

  • After 'I will see you on Friday', John offers a mock etymology for Friday — 00:03:51

    “Little known fact, named for Stephen Fry.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: MagicTurtle643 · Nerd Factor · online advertising · Sabrina Cruz

Also: People: Ruby Day · Stephen Fry

Projects: DFTBA Records · Project for Awesome · Thoughts from Places

Works: Major-General's Song (“I am a very model of a Nerdfighter Eclectanerd.”) · The Fault in Our Stars special edition audiobook

Organizations: Facebook · NBC · Tumblr · YouTube

Groups: The Swot Sisters

Rituals: Good morning greeting

Concepts: giraffe

Myths: Týr

Also centred on MagicTurtle643: The World Needs More Magic

Also centred on Nerd Factor: Outtake Insanity and NERD FACTOR · NERD FACTOR · TFiOS Movie Casting, New Books, and Groundhog Wars: An Old School Vlogbrothers Video

Also centred on Sabrina Cruz: The Ghost of Teenaged Future · Stress and Joy

Replies to

  • continues · What's Up with Start Ups — “A quick response to your video about Tumblr and startups and the monetization of cool things.”

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 4 videos, 2013-05-10 – 2013-05-31.