It’s no secret that one of my goals in life is to gain some form of attention online. At some point when I was a young’un, I saw a film where someone was described as more or less a legend in the interwebs. This struck a chord with me. I wanted to be an internet legend.
However, internet legends are few and far between, unless you go on Youtube’s top subscribed lists and top viewed lists. On those pages, they’re packed together like little boxes of web-famous joy.
What I’m starting to realise, though, is that it’s just not something I’m cut out for. I don’t know anything about programming, and my video fare is just good enough for my friends to enjoy, but not fun enough for them to share with their friends (and for their friends to- You get the idea).
I mean, I get it. I have friends whose stuff I’ll compliment, but would never associate myself with professionally, which in many ways is what you do when you share a video link online. You’re saying “This is something that I like. I’m sharing it with your because I think you’ll like it too.” with the addendum “if you don’t like it, and if I keep linking shit like this to you, you’ll ignore me forever.” There’s nothing WRONG with it, it just took me a while to realise that being good is separate from your friends SAYING it’s good.
So yeah. I have a thousand subscribers on Youtube, which means that a thousand people will be told whenever I upload my videos (Not including suspended or closed accounts). Sounds pretty cool right? Right. Until you take into account that most of my videos flatten out at less than half that.
So, which are the ones I get the most views on? Yup, you guessed it. The more skin, the more views (not counting Animal Attack and Irish Accent, which are videos that survive on search terms) I get. I used to think that was a female thing, but it isn’t. I can still raise my views by 2-3 times simply by taking a shirt off for the thumbnail.
Where am I going with this?
Oh yes!
My life will never amount to celebrity status of any kind, and I probably should be happy about that. I’m not witty or incisive enough for people to go “that’s good, I should share that”, and I’m not stupid or crazy enough for people to go “That’s terrible, I should share that!” either. I’m just some sad sack making videos and shit online.
Of course, I can’t forget you, my loyal few. You folks who DO watch my videos and read my posts really deserve my thanks, and my concern. You might have brain damange. ^_^
I’m tired. I want my bed.
EDIT, NEXT MORNING:
Huh, amazing. I wrote this when I was kind of drunk, got up, went to bed and promptly fell asleep… Considering the alcohol and just how tired I was, I did not expect to find this post as close to being coherent as it is, and I certainly expected more typographical errors. Oh well.
Yesterday was a tough day for me, mentally, but I got through it laughing by the end, thanks to Marit. If it hadn’t been for her, I would probably have sat around sulking and shouting abuse at people online for the rest of the evening.
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Shouting abuse at people online = Everyones new favourite passtime. But dont worry baby, you´ll always be a star in my book. Now get back to your webcam stall, so i can get back to fapping.
You will always be my number one! Keep it up old fellow. Even if you never become a big hot shot, you’re friends and family will still love you. For us, you have always been a star.. with all the downsides to it
Anyway: Keep working those Abs and do you´re push ups. It´s all about the look. For the rest of the stuff.. Lets keep in touch!
Aww, and I was totally in the mood for shouting abuse back at you. :’(
Now this post sounds very reasonable and all and I kept nodding my head as I read it, agreeing with every point you made. Then I realized who wrote this.
Dude, are you out of your mind? (You can see by my worse of the word “dude” that I am a tad worked up about this) Who’s the one who was lecturing me about having a defeatist attitude again?
I’d say your stuff is very close to being shareable. Even borderline shareable, so much so that I think I’ve shared one or two videos of yours in my time – and with time, you only ever get better and wittier. It’s true that friends aren’t an accurate judge of your ability, but that’s not because they’re just trying to be polite. It’s because your friends are the ones who know who you are better than other people do. They know how to consume your media, how it was meant to be seen, and that makes it possible for them to see the potential behind your stuff. We’re trying to encourage you because we think that you really could be an internet legend (if that’s really what you want to be
), if only given enough time. After all, you need only one idea that’s above average to make it.
Keep trying and keep coming up with more ideas. And don’t sit on them. Those things don’t grow better with age. They just grow mold, become icky and take up space in your head.
Cheers!
(Oh, and I said “we” up there, but I didn’t ask any of the others, so I guess it might be just me. I don’t think so, though
)
Egil: Heheh, thank you. Really, it does matter to me what my friends think, and I’m very thankful for what support I get from my inner circle.
FTH: When I said you were defeatist, it was because you were saying you wouldn’t be able to do the first week of a push-up programme you had barely started yet. I’ve been a consistent presence online since the mid-nineties, and a Youtube presence for three years now with 138 videos uploaded. There are people who gain more subscribers than me within a WEEK of signing up to Youtube (Daxflame, for example, got 8000 in a week, thanks to aggressive self-promotion and an original idea).
So I’m not defeatist when I say that I will never succeed at this rate, because I have the experience to be able to say that. ^_^
I love that you call my stuff “borderline shareable” and then say I “really could be an internet legend”, since I would have to be VERY shareable to be even close to slightly well known on the internet. Two videos in three years that are considered shareable by my FRIENDS is not good enough, I think we can agree on that. ^_^
All the same, I would like to thank you and everyone else for your support. ^_^ I really am fine with not expecting any kind of celebrious status in my future. I’d only end up thinking I didn’t deserve it anyway.
Bah. Humbug. I betcha once you’ve done the push-up program you’ll garner a bajillion girl subscribers because of your mad specs!
I just want to tell you that one of the first things I decided to show for my girlfriend online, was your website. That`s because I have such a cool friend as you! And she just keeps saying she wants to go to Edinborough now… :O
I decided not to show her all of your videos (because you are too damn hot), but I couldn`t avoid showing your Paris Hilton! Nice one!
Even if you feel you haven`t reached your goal yeat, you still have many years to go. So anything could happen.. Rome wasn`t built in one day, you know..
And I would feel awesome if I some day get to see your name all over for example the TV-screen/cinema/big internet site, and get to say “That`s my good friend Magnus”. But I know I feel just as awesome now, when I type in http://www.magnulus.com , and get to say “This is my friend Magnus` site.”
Cheer up number 1!
We will visit you guys as soon as we are able!
*Damn woman, stop asking for nudies!!!*
@ every party/social event, you are the center of attention – that counts for a lot more than you would think
but by all means, more skin !!
Awe, you guys are so cute! ^_^ Thanks a lot for always having been supportive of who I am and what I do. Though of course, Krister, you and I both know I’m just the center of attention because I’m always so bloody loud. ^_^
But that`s just because we all love to hear your voice.
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