Analysis of the Unspoken Change to the Fundamental Video Blog Structure

[Arka]

I know a lot of nerdfighters are concerned with how John and Hank's videos have kind of changed lately. By lately, I mean in most of 2009, and probably starting in 2008.

In the original Brotherhood 2.0, when John and Hank were vlogging on their own, with mostly themselves and not the huge nerdfighter community (at least for the first few months) their videos were daily and pretty personal. They didn't have much time to make videos, and didn't really do much fancy; it was just them sitting in front of a camera/computer and talking about their lives. Neat.

Slowly, though, their videos have been getting more idea-based and thematic -- more about entertaining and sustaining the massive community they've built. It's not that the videos are impersonal or of lesser quality or not them; it's just that it's different. I think John and Hank feel that it's their duty to entertain and maintain certain standards for their videos, so that people still watch them, and the nerdfighter community never dies. I love how concerned they are for the community, which is really one of the best products of their project.

But that's the thing: it's a product. A by-product, rather, from them talking to each other personally through video: being nerdy and awesome and intellectual and concerned about the world. Community is and has been something that just springs naturally. I mean, I know from experience that derivatives of the videos have inspired blogs and youtube channels and skype conversations at 3 a.m. like the one I'm currently in and discussing the very matter of which I write now. Entertainment is just something these two brothers are insanely good at, and have mastered, too.

I know they talk about stuff that matters and that they aren't going to, like, blow our minds by documenting every aspect of their personal lives, but I just want some of their 2007-style. 2010 is upon us, and John and Hank have a new routine and probably new changes, so let's see if it's all for the better :D

I want this thread-thing to be a discussion, because I've seen the small comments or tweets, like the mutterings in coffee-shop corners before the French Revolution. I know nerdfighters are concerned, or at least kind of aware of this slow, subtle change that was never addressed, so GO AT IT, GUYS!!!

[Chip, A Former Ningmaster]

"and the nerdfighter community never lives"

I could be wrong, but I think you mean never dies.

[Arka]

ah yes, thanks. I should not be entrusted to write stuff like this at 3 in the morning :P

[Jonathan Hawkins]

hey, all my papers for school have been written at 3am, the morning they are due, and I get fairly good grades on them, but then, I've mastered the art of pulling stuff out of my....hat...ya, hat....at the last moment.

[valerie2776]

Yeah what I like best is interaction between John & Hank, them communicating communicating through the things, the riffs on random topics, and silly feuds and challenges. It's kind of weird that they still say "Good morning John/Hank" instead of nerdfighters cause most of the vlogs are more directed at us nowadays than each other, updating us on goings on and projects more than being laid back videos about going to Mars or Norbert Weiner. It's more professional and business-y now. Of course a community and dynamic's going to change and grow and evolve with time and exposure and so on. But yes I miss the old more informal style of things!!

[Martha]

My sister recently watched all the vlogbrothers videos from the beginning to now over the course of four weeks. When she was caught up, I asked her to share her reflections with me. Of course, she shared how blown away she was by the awesomeness of John and Hank, about how she had fallen in love with nerdfighteria, and about how through seeing the awesomeness in John, Hank, and nerdfighteria, she could more easily see and accept it in herself.

She also said that she noticed a real shift from the videos being a conversation between John and Hank to videos directed mainly at us, with almost no discussion, commentary, questions, or reflection between them on the topics and material in each other's videos. And she said she missed that part of the videos, that sense of it being a conversation between them. I actually recommended to her that she e-mail John and Hank to share this insight, because I thought it might be unique to someone who has watched all the videos in a short period of time and therefore can perhaps more starkly recognize the differences and changes (as opposed to those of us who have watched the videos unfold over time, and perhaps have experienced the changes more incrementally), so I'm super happy to see you writing about it here and interested to hear other nerdfighters' reflections on this change.

I agree that the forms and styles of the videos are going to change, it's inevitable, as the community grows, as their popularity grows, as their comfort of sharing their private lives might change, and particularly since they're able to communicate in other ways. In what ways was the fact that they weren't textually communicating during B2.0 somehow compelling the conversation to unfold on video? I am interested in thinking about what great stuff we are missing out on as that sense of the conversation unfolding between them diminishes.

[valerie2776]

This is pretty much exactly what I was trying to get at, only you've said it much better!

[Arka]

Yeah, this is basically what I was trying to say. The videos used to be something of an ongoing conversation, and now they're just, well, videos.

I'm glad that there might be some conversation and breakdown of what's been going on in the videos :)

[Daniel]

Well the first year of videos they were not communicating via text in anyway, and they used their youtube channel basically to catch up with each other like one might with an e-mail. Obviously after the year was up, they wanted to go back to being able to communicate more regularly, so their channel no longer serves as a communication platform between them, which many of us enjoyed watching. No, like many of you said, we have more entertainment videos from Hank, and plenty more political issue inspired videos from John. I mean, they have this platform with so many viewers, many of which are in position to make some change in their community and decrease worldsuck, so they're going to seize their opportunity. But i think what would be most beneficial and entertaining, is if they would keep the dialog going on these important topics, so the videos would be slightly less scripted. But it's also up to the nerdfighters to keep those dialogs going themselves.

But this is the state of new media. They have to continue to reach their major audience, and they're doing what they believe the audience wants to see.

[lilyenc]

although. The vlogbrothers might feel that have a responsibility to the community to make scripted, issue-based videos. Now that they're watched by tons more people than in 2007, would they feel they need to appear more professional? Especially since we want people to see the nerdfighters as an organised group of people with direction, as opposed to people with having nothing else better to do than watch john and hank chat aimlessly in front of their cameras.

[John Green]

Thanks to whoever linked me to this in the livestream chat. This is a great thread, and very important, and you've all done an excellent job writing about it.

I think you guys have nicely elucidated a lot of the reasons for the changes--since we have the audience, we want to *use* the audience--to inform, to raise money for charity, to find red balloons, and also to laugh and everything. And I do think we want to entertain you, and we also want the chance to talk with YOU about stuff that matters to us--whether it's ulcerative colitis or the political situation in Iran. Because the community is bigger, the main we we can talk with you is through videos and comments in those videos. And that leaves less time to talk to each other. (Also, we talk to each other now, on the phone and on IM and etc., A LOT.)

Also, in the interest of full disclosure, there is the job part of it, which we try to ignore to the extent possible, but this has become a huge part of our lives, and we want it to be a huge part of our lives, and if every video we make only makes sense if you've seen every other video we've made, we really limit our audience. Ideally, we want there to be a way for there to be casual viewers (those people click on the youtube ads that fund the ning, for instance) to participate in the videos while still offering something deeper and more lasting and hopefully more transformative to people who are really invested in the community.

We've heard you on this, and that's why in 2010 we're going back--for the first time since 07--to a video response format. It will be me then Hank then me then Hank all year, which hopefully--if we do it right--will foster the conversation you've been missing. (Also, we're hoping the theme weeks will help on this front.) It can't go back to being just me talking to just Hank or just Hank talking to just me, but hopefully the things it *can* be will still be great.

Don't be afraid to press us on this, because you--the people reading this thread--are the audience we most want to have.

Thanks for being awesome.

-John

John

[Arka]

Thanks for responding, John. I've seen your new video, and I'm glad that you guys are kind of opening up that conversation again. I understand that a lot has changed, and that there are new factors that affect your videos, but I felt it was something that needed to be addressed. I'm interested and optimistic about 2010, and your videos never cease to be amazing, so I'll keep my expectations ;)

[Hank Green]

This is fascinating stuff, and it's exactly what John and I were talking about as part of our year end meeting. We decided that going back "back and forth" videos with no one double posting would help.

I want to keep making videos that get viewed by more people, but we also both agreed that we should talk to eachother more, take eachother (and the community) into our lives and outside of our offices more. And, yeah, that's part of what John's video today was trying to establish.

So, yeah, we're hoping to change back. We still want to be snappier and funnier and work harder making our videos look good and be interesting, but we also want to bring back some of the personality and discussion that defined early vlogbrothers videos.

Really glad this thread got started up...thanks Arka.