nina.simon, Author at Radarr

Life of Pie: PewDiePie’s Reign Over YouTube

Dec 20, 2013 | Case Studies, Featured

He has been accused of having the IQ of a goldfish, going off on inane rants, trivialising the very serious business of video games, conversing with inanimate objects and being prone to moronic ‘psycho babble’. Yet, he is the biggest thing on YouTube. How big? Well, big enough to be a lot bigger than Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Rihanna and Lady Gaga. The year 2013 has been sensational for vlogger and video game commentator- Felix Kjellberg, whose channel on YouTube became the most subscribed to channel of all time, in August this year.

Reports state that the 24-year-old’s channel (which was established in 2010) quadrupled in 2013 and has an estimated YouTube ad revenue of anywhere between $1.2 million and $14.6 million. You probably know this guy as PewDiePie.

He makes money out of playing video games, ably aided by a beautiful Italian girlfriend and two extremely adorable pugs… in his pajamas, in front of the camera.

Who is PiewDiePie?

In his own words, he is, “just a guy from Sweden who likes to laugh and make other people laugh. Sharing gaming moments on YouTube with my bros!” He isn’t one of those aggressive, misogynist gamers, who are all about the fancy jargon and know-it-all ways. PewDiePie is an immature little boy stuck in an adult’s body. He makes funny videos of himself playing games- he favors ones with a horror theme- and shrieks and babbles his way through commentary. He can grate on your nerves (I say this at the risk of incurring the wrath of his devoted followers- the ‘bros’). But, for the most part his videos are hilarious and informative.

Additionally, it is said that gamers such as PewDiePie are part of the emerging Generation C, which is all about connection, curation, creation and community. His Facebook page has 1.7 million likes and he is followed by 1,929,297 people on Twitter. This apart, posts and fan art about his channel regularly appear on Tumblr.

Let’s take a look at PewDiePie’s reign over YouTube.

YouTube, PewDiePie: Fight for the Top Spot

You’d imagine that 2013 was undoubtedly Miley Cyrus’s year, what with all the twerking, nudity and sledgehammer licking. But, even she could hold on to the most-viewed spot on YouTube for a mere month before PewDiePiew knocked her off her Wrecking Ball-sy throne. In September, he had 215.6 million views on YouTube- 54.5 million behind Cyrus. In October, with over 192.6 million views, he was back on top.

By November, YouTube’s in-house channel bypassed PewDiePie as the most subscribed-to channel on YouTube. Even so, PewDiePie still reigns supreme when it comes to views and the Social Blade score. As of December 16, he had more than 17 million subscribers.

Soaring Popularity

So, why is this zany Swede such a hit? Surely, it cannot be his encyclopedic knowledge. A lot of other video gamers are better qualified in that department. Well, his scruffy good looks are not to be discounted… which is probably why most of his fans are female. Also, seeing as to how we live in a world in which weird humour is de rigeur- think rape jokes, mock superficiality, pseudo gay antics … this guy has got his act sorted out, replete with the generous use of the F word and in-your-face humour.

But, that’s just not it either. PewDiePie has an addictive personality. He is goofy, down-to-earth and doesn’t take himself seriously… not by a mile, if you watch his videos. And, he is responsive to feedback- when people got furious when he released his Rape me song, he took the video down.

He knows how to treat his followers. Watching his videos is like hanging out with him, and he has amassed a ginormous pack of fanatic followers. And, then, he has this whole likeability thing going, thanks to his charitable ways. He is the One Direction of video gaming, if one may dare say so.

No viral Virtues

PewDiePie is different from tons of other success stories in the recent past in so much that he wasn’t a viral rise to fame. Till mid-2012, his channel wasn’t even in the top 200. He didn’t have the top spot at the start of 2013 either… funnymen Smosh had that honor. Instead, his channel has been marinating and progressively growing. The vlogger displays brilliant consistency- he posts to YouTube almost every day.

So, at a time when hard work and passion are on their way out, these virtues are the very things that define PewDiePie’s success. Say what you will about his apparent silliness… fact is, this youngster has mastered the art of minting money, merely by intelligently manipulating social media.

So, what can you learn from PewDiePie?

Be consistent. Post something every single day. Make it part of your routine. You might see PewDiePie as a slacker who just goofs off all day with a bunch of video games. But, he\’s made a habit of it, and it has paid off handsomely.
Develop a personality. Gamers who probably know a lot more than this guy don\’t have even half the number of views. What sets PewDiePie apart is his style of playing… this has nothing to do with how well he plays. It’s more about the insane commentary, the facial expressions, the squealing, the lewd humour. So, work on creating a unique identity.
Humour. Always works. Find your funny bone! Then again – not all of us are comedic geniuses, so feel free to skip this.
Make yourself extremely accessible to your followers. While making his appearance at the Social Star Awards in Singapore this year, PewDiePie reportedly ignored security warnings to spend time with a horde of fans. Today’s non-traditional YouTube stars spend a lot of time nurturing their fans on various communities. If someone with 17 million followers manages to stay in touch with his fans, you can too!
Make it lively. PewDiePie doesn’t boast perfect English speaking skills or charming etiquette. But, he can contort his face and scream an awful lot, for an awful lot of time. So, I guess that means people are attracted to high energy levels.
Everyone likes a good guy. When the gamer won the 2012 Gaming King of the Web award, he donated all his winnings to the World Wildlife Foundation. He also runs a charity and raises funds for various causes. So, work towards giving your online presence a humane touch.
Don’t take yourself too seriously! Self-effacing personalities seem to be more trusted in social platforms. Open yourself up to criticism… you’ll be appreciated for your courage even if you don’t have all the answers.

If nothing else works, you know what they say… when in doubt: beautiful women and pugs, pugs, pugs. Kidding!

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Imgur Imprints on the Internet!

Dec 20, 2013 | Case Studies

A picture is worth a thousand words. Or, in Imgur’s case- $1,406,755,200… which is how much it was worth as of December 5, 2013, as reported by Worth of Web.

Imgur 101

Like any good entrepreneurial story, Imgur’s too was birthed in a university dorm room, when ardent Redditor and Ohio University student- Alan Schaaf, decided that the Internet was lacking in something pretty massive. In his own famous words, “An image hosting service that doesn’t suck.” So, he went about creating a platform that addressed exactly this issue… mainly to benefit Reddit users.

So, what is Imgur? It is to images what YouTube is to videos. Simply put: it’s a mish-mash of the web’s most popular image content, all under one roof. The site offers free image hosting to users and allows them to upload images, make albums and create their own accounts and manage images. Most importantly, it boasts a Meme Generator feature. (Imgurians are creating more than 100,000 memes per month.) The site’s public gallery is a hot assortment of the most viral images on the Internet.

Letting the numbers speak

How popular is Imgur? Well, absolutely everyone’s talking about it! But, if that’s not a good enough method to gauge its popularity, all you have to do is look at the numbers. Sometime in September this year, this meme-heavy site hit the 100 million (now 120 million, with 4.5 billion page views) unique monthly visitor mark. Currently, the image hosting service is home to a whopping 650 million images and approximately 1 million images are uploaded every day.

What’s more, it claims that more than a quarter of its traffic is direct. Its latest mobile app accounts for about 35 percent of traffic. Only naturally, advertisers are looking very keenly at this profitable start-up. Sometime back, the COO of the company- Matt Strader, revealed that among their advertisers are heavyweights such as Paramount, GE, Virgin, and Sony Playstation.

Imgur: the next big social network?

The platform, in recent months, has been exploring its more social side. Its chat facility allows its young community to interact in real time- one in many small steps in shifting from being an image host-to-user community to a public destination. Interestingly, it has been noted that the site’s young community even has a distinct personality now, replete with lingo et al. People flocking this service aren’t looking to connect with old pals and family, like on Facebook. Therefore, there is a lot less ‘peer pressure’.

Imgur is in direct competition with sites like Min.us, PhotoBucket and TinyPic. But, the founder is very clear that the company has no intentions of following in the footsteps of Flickr and Instagram, in so much that its images aren’t merely ones that come from a camera…they could be screenshots, something photoshopped, or even a gif. (While on gifs, there’s talk that the site is developing a gif generator tool.)

Imgur and Reddit, a fair picture

In a few short years, Imgur has built for itself a vibrant community that is very similar to that of Reddit’s, having undergone change that have made it resemble the latter more than ever before. Take for instance the new reputation system through which Imgurians can gain points for submitting good content and comments. There is proof that users are now treatingImgur as a destination now, as opposed to merely an image host. Reddit has almost become an alternative- a far less vibrant alternative, according to many.

But, the two sites insist that they have always had a mutually beneficial relationship. Why? Because, if people stop submitting Imgur links to Reddit, the Imgur gallery loses value. Besides, a large chunk of Imgur’s traffic still comes from Reddit.