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How Does This End?

2018-07-03 · letter vlog · John · 3:46 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Nerdfighteria, Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: civic or action cta, community lore, on location

On vacation, John asks how things end online: his Myspace survives only as nostalgia, YouTube has big problems but is amazing, and his real concern is how Vlogbrothers ends, which he wants to keep sustainable and fun; he asks viewers what they get from the videos and, via a survey, for three weeks of unpunished vacation a year.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — On vacation, filming outside a house full of children; three days offline raise the question 'how does this end?'

  • ★ On vacation, John has spent three whole days away from the internet, which has left him wondering how this ends. — 00:00:12

00:00:19 — How things end online: Molly Lewis's Myspace song, John's Myspace museum, whether YouTube could fade, its problems and strengths

  • ★★ A great Molly Lewis song from about ten years ago, whose chorus hopes you forget your MySpace but that it stays up for the next generation to find, has proved stunningly prophetic. (hedged) — 00:00:19

    “I hope that you forget about your MySpace,”

  • ★★ John's Myspace is still there, a minor museum to his 2007 self, with a profile picture advertising the forthcoming Paper Towns. — 00:00:39 · Paper Towns

  • ★★★ John asks whether that is how things end online, still present but relevant only as nostalgia, and whether it will happen to Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. (speculative) — 00:00:52 · Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
  • ★★ YouTube has survived and thrived through hard times: the sub feed has always been broken, the new design always reviled, the creator-platform relationship always fraught. — 00:01:04 · YouTube
  • ★★ John doesn't think YouTube is about to go the way of Myspace, but one never sees the future coming. (hedged) — 00:01:15 · YouTube

  • ★★ Philip Roth called history 'the relentless unforeseen', which John finds true of much of life: we don't know how it will end, or even how it will middle. — 00:01:19

    “the relentless unforeseen”

  • ★★★ John thinks YouTube faces big problems: it relies too much on flawed algorithms, and its monetization system often values advertisers over audience. (hedged) — 00:01:29 · YouTube, recommender system, online advertising

  • ★★ John also thinks YouTube is amazing, with more good stuff being uploaded than ever. (hedged) — 00:01:37 · YouTube

00:01:42 — How our YouTube ends: saying goodbye online, 11 and a half years, the 12th season, a smaller audience of nerdfighters

  • ★★★ John's real concern is how 'our YouTube' ends: someday the channel won't be here, as we won't, and he wonders when and how to say goodbye online. — 00:01:42 · Vlogbrothers, YouTube
  • ★★ John is not unhappy and does not want to stop making Vlogbrothers videos. — 00:01:54 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John doesn't know whether he wants to be making YouTube videos at 80 — or maybe he does. (unsure) — 00:01:57 · YouTube
  • ★★ In 2007 John would have been incredulous and horrified that 40-year-old him still made videos; yet he is grateful for 11 and a half years of conversation, hopes it long continues, and hopes it ends well. (playful) — 00:02:00 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Hank recently pointed out that if Vlogbrothers were a TV show it would be in its 12th season, a long run for TV and for a YouTube channel. — 00:02:23 · Hank Green, Vlogbrothers, YouTube
  • ★★★ Over time even good shows become less broadly relevant and serve a smaller but deeply engaged audience; John feels that happened to Vlogbrothers and it has been really good news. (hedged) — 00:02:33 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★★ These days viewers want to be here, not pushed by the trending page: they are here because they are nerdfighters, which is what makes it fun for John. (hedged) — 00:02:45 · Nerdfighteria

00:02:55 — Keeping it sustainable and fun: the question for viewers and the request for three weeks of unpunished vacation, with a survey

  • ★★★ Thinking about how the channel will end, John mostly thinks about keeping the conversation sustainable and fun for the brothers and the audience. — 00:02:55 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★★ John asks viewers what they get out of Vlogbrothers videos, what makes them meaningful, what makes time with nerdfighters valuable, and what the brothers should change or keep. — 00:03:06 · Vlogbrothers, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ Having worked for 'this company' for 12 years, John requests three weeks of unpunished vacation per year, not to be used now or all at once; that, he says, is why he made the video. (playful) — 00:03:21 · Punishment
  • ★★ A survey is in the doobly-doo, and John will abide by its results. — 00:03:40 · doobly-doo

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description calls Molly Lewis's song 'My Hope' brilliant and links it. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Myspace · YouTube

Also: People: Molly Lewis · Philip Roth

Works: My Hope · Paper Towns

Organizations: Facebook · Twitter

Rituals: Punishment

Terms: doobly-doo

Concepts: online advertising · recommender system

Also centred on Myspace: Brotherhood 2.0: February 20th: Computer Trouble

Later videos replying to this one