COMM 150: Vlogbrothers, technology and community and art - from YouTube vlogging to young adult novels and a small record label

Thanks to MSenger for letting me know about this website ... actually a cluster of related websites. It's a perfect example of how advanced technology and new media allow people to express their own vision and connect with audiences more effectively than the "old" media.

It isn't exactly a mom-and-pop business. I'd call it something more like bro-and-bro ...

They're video bloggers John Green, who also writes young adult novels, and his brother Hank Green. Together they have the Vlogbrothers channel on YouTube, which is how they got started, and several related activities. I could write an introduction for the class, but MSenger's is very complete (and picks up on things I would miss). So here it is. better ...

They began on YouTube with Brotherhood 2.0 in which they went a year without any "textual" communication because they live in different states. They shared a channel and "vlogged" back and forth every day, hence their YouTube title, vlogbrothers. They gained followers (~600,000) and now use tumblr and twitter and have created multiple websites around their followers, called Nerdfighteria (nerds that fight worldsuck, which is what it sounds like). They have a record label, DFTBA (Don't Forget To Be Awesome) Records, multiple websites, and have founded other websites related to their program. John writes books and promotes his books in his videos. His latest book, The Fault in Our Stars, is an Amazon best seller and it won't be sold until January of next year. Hank has invented a few things (2D glasses). They founded and organize VidCon, the YouTube convention. It's kind of hard to list everything they do on the internet because they do a lot.

But the best way to learn about them isn't to read about them - it's to watch their FAQ video on YouTube.



There isn't a whole lot in traditional media about the brothers, perhaps understandably, but they're been written up in a college newspaper in Indianapolis and interviewed for local TV in Los Angeles, where they were putting together the F2F convention for YouTube users.

When John Green gave a reading at Butler University in Indianapolis, he got this writeup from Caitlin O'Rourke, arts and entertainment editor of the Butler Collegian. She described him:

Green has won an array of awards for his young adult novels, along with starting a YouTube channel with his brother Hank. It started the geek version of a cult following—just as Jerry Garcia had his Deadheads, the Green brothers have their nerdfighters. It’s a little much to take in. ...

When O'Rourke asked Green about his vlogs, he told her, "We are tremendously lucky to be part of this growing community of people devoted to finding ways to use the internet to make the world a healthier and more productive place to live."


At VidCon, they were the subject of a news segment by Gigi Graciette of local Fox News affiliate FOX 11. It contained this dialog (which is in all-caps because it's quoted from a TV script). Before she's interrupted by Hank Green, Graciette begins:

FROM YOU TUBE SUPERSTARS....

HANK GREEN/VIDCON
"MY CHANNEL HAS ABOUT FIVE HUNDRED MILLION TOTAL. THAT WOULD BE ABOUT HALF A BILLION WHICH, NO OFFENSE, IS PROBABLY MORE THAN YOU GET."

HMM... MAYBE. ; )

Cue a lesson here about the power of new media?