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Re-Thinking our YouTube Channel

2020-01-03 (said on 2020-01-02 — implied: date said in the video; uploaded 1 day later) · letter vlog · Hank · 3:57 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Internet & YouTube) · mode: Personal essay · tags: civic or action cta, self promotion

Ten years after his day inside a Target, Hank says the brothers have stopped optimizing Vlogbrothers for growth (harder, YouTube wants longer videos, and growth past a point gets worse): like too many nails, more audience adds stress, and the channel is about doing and thinking things together as a community; he then plugs the 2020 Census, a $3 Kindle deal and the tour.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Ten years since the Target day; how much Hank and the channel have changed

  • ★ Hank says that ten years ago today he knows exactly where he was: inside a Target for 15 hours. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says the last ten years have been big: he has changed a lot, and so has what the brothers do on the channel. — 00:00:09 · Vlogbrothers

00:00:26 — Three reasons the brothers no longer optimize Vlogbrothers for growth

  • ★★★ Hank says that over ten years he and John have grown less interested in optimizing the channel for growth and new audiences; newcomers are welcome, but they aren't trying to grow it. — 00:00:26 · John Green, Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Hank's first reason not to chase growth: it has gotten harder, and the brothers' skills are less suited to it. — 00:00:42
  • ★★ Hank's second reason: YouTube's recommendations would like 8-to-12-minute Vlogbrothers videos, and he doesn't want to make them; he likes four-minute videos, and those are the rules. — 00:00:45 · YouTube
  • ★★★ Hank's most important reason: past a certain point growth gets less interesting and worse, depending on your goals, but specifically for this channel. — 00:00:57

00:01:07 — How many nails does a carpenter need: too many nails add stress

  • ★★★ Hank's analogy: a carpenter's nails depend on the project; too few is bad, but too many add stress, until you think more about your nails than about building the house. — 00:01:07

00:01:35 — Vlogbrothers is about doing and thinking things together, not the biggest number

  • ★★★ Hank says Vlogbrothers at its core is not about entertainment but about doing and thinking about things together. — 00:01:36 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Hank lists what that togetherness has produced: Life's Library, the Project for Awesome, the work with Partners in Health, the ideas that helped him understand the world, Dear Hank and John, SciShow and Crash Course. — 00:01:47 · Project for Awesome, Partners In Health, Dear Hank and John, SciShow, Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says SciShow and Crash Course long ago eclipsed Vlogbrothers in subscribers and views, but Vlogbrothers, without which they wouldn't exist, has had more impact despite a smaller audience. — 00:02:00 · SciShow, Crash Course, Vlogbrothers

  • ★★★ Hank says he and John gradually realized you don't need a million nails to build a house: the channel isn't about the biggest number under the video but about doing, creating and thinking together. — 00:02:13 · John Green

    “you don't need a million nails to build a house”

  • ★★ Hank says doing and thinking things together is both a goal of his and when he is happiest. — 00:02:32

  • ★★★ Hank says there are limits: he wants a group of people who recognize the humanity of all the others, and as the numbers get too big you lose track of that. — 00:02:36
  • ★★ Hank says the channel is personality-based, and having too many people hold opinions about your personality turns out not to be great. — 00:02:45
  • ★★ Hank says Crash Course now has over ten million subscribers. — 00:02:54 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank says Crash Course should grow as much as it can because its goal is to reach people with educational content, but Vlogbrothers doesn't need to. — 00:02:54 · Crash Course, Vlogbrothers
  • ★★★ Hank tells viewers they are part of something that helps stuff exist in the world: sometimes real things, sometimes ideas they wouldn't have without thinking together as a community; he is really happy about it. — 00:03:04 · Nerdfighteria

00:03:23 — The 2020 Nerdfighteria Census, the $3 Kindle ebook, and next week's tour

  • ★★★ Hank announces the Nerdfighteria Census is out and asks viewers to take the 10 to 20 minutes to fill it out. — 00:03:25
  • ★★ Hank says they have run the census every year since 2013, and it is vital to how they decide what to do. — 00:03:33
  • ★★ Hank says the Kindle ebook of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing costs three dollars right now. — 00:03:43 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
  • ★ Hank doesn't think the cheap ebook price will last much longer. (hedged) — 00:03:46 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
  • ★★ Hank invites viewers to come see the brothers in Atlanta, Raleigh or St. Petersburg next week (week of 6 January 2020). — 00:03:50

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says a cut part of the video, about how mindlessly acquiring something once valued beyond its utility creates more stress than it alleviates, became mostly about money, so Hank is saving it for later. — video description
  • ★ The description says Hank made the video the day before and is no expert on Iran: it's OK not to know what is going on now, and it will take a while before anyone knows. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Projects: Crash Course · Dear Hank and John · Life's Library · Nerdfighteria Census · Project for Awesome · SciShow

Works: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Organizations: Partners In Health · Target Corporation · YouTube

Places: Atlanta · Raleigh, North Carolina · St. Petersburg, Florida

Products: Amazon Kindle

Only in the description or credits: Iran

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