The Vlogger Interviews: Will Massenburg [CreativeSoulTV]

Viginia-based Will Massenburg, known on YouTube as CreativeSoulTV is today's Vlogger Interview - my blog and webseries looking at the world of vlogging, from the vloggers themselves.

Will Massenburg is, indeed, a creative soul.   His Twitter account describes him as "Director/Cartoonist/Geek/Flawed Genius/Blogger/Tech Enthusiast/Apple Fan/Video Maker/Podcaster/Movie Lover."  By day, he's a professional graphic artist - by his own description, he's naturally quiet and reserved. It's almost like Clark Kent and Superman - Superman being his YouTube personality. Superman was on full display during my recent Vlogger Interview, as Will greeted me in a full Halloween disguise. 

On his YouTube channel, Will is UNreserved, outward, funny, irreverent - and sometimes downright wacky - he's clearly having a great time.

"Vlogging waas something that I got into that sort of opened me up, and exposed me to the world, I guess - and here I am!"

The Vlogger Interviews: Ken Goldstein [Kenrg]

"The Vlogger Interviews" is an ongoing series of vlogs and blogs exploring the definition of vlogging – from the vlogger's perspective, If you like this interview, I would appreciate your subscription to http://youtube.com/worldaccordingtorich on YouTube.  

2006 is only five years ago, but in the world of YouTube, it's practically an eternity.

"It was a magical era," says Ken Goldstein, known as KENRG on YouTube and across the social media landscape - he's one of YouTube's early vloggers.   He was already a long-time blogger when he first came across the site - in fact, he was looking for video footage to supplement a blog post, and then discovered that YouTube offered the video equivelent of what he was already doing.  He discovered Renetto, one of YouTube's earliest "stars," a spritied, outspoken raconteur, among other things, "and I thought, well, if he can do this, just sitting in front of a camera and talking to a camera and sharing it, I can certainly give that a try." 

The idea of a social network was still new, then.  MySpace was primarily for kids, Facebook was in it's earliest stages, and Twitter didn't even exist.  In you wanted to interact socially online, YouTube was the best place to be. 

"I think one of the most brilliant things that YouTube did in the early days that helped the community and the art of vlogging...was the video response...not just that you could comment, but I could comment on your comment."  Through their videos, directly attached as comments to another's vlogger's video, a video conversation followed,  "That's really where it stated, and that's the magic of where it started in 2006, when there was a limited universe of us vlogging back and forth with each other."

The Vlogger Interviews: Josh Rimer [JoshRimer]

"The Vlogger Interviews" is an ongoing series of vlogs and blogs exploring the definition of vlogging – from the vlogger's perspective, If you like this interview, I would appreciate your subscription to http://youtube.com/worldaccordingtorich on YouTube.  

In my latest "Vlogger Interview," I had the opportunity to chat with Vancouver, Canada-based Josh Rimer.  Josh is both a successful YouTuber (4.4 million views; 9120 subscribers), and, as of earlier this year, a YouTube Marketer.

Huh, what's that?  If you've never heard of the term "YouTube Marketer," that's probably because the concept really didn't exist until just recently.  As YouTube becomes more and more popular - and vloggers and other YouTubers being to see what they're doing as potentially a profession, knowing how to actually bring those videos out to an audience has become something of an art.

The Vlogger Interviews: Richard Reynolds [BusterSenshi]

"The Vlogger Interviews" is an ongoing series of vlogs and blogs exploring the definition of vlogging – from the vlogger's perspective, If you like this interview, I would appreciate your subscription to http://youtube.com/worldaccordingtorich on YouTube.  Contact me if you'd like to be considered for the next interview!

In this forth installment of "The Vlogger Interviews," I spoke with Richard Reynolds, a Maine-based vlogger whose YouTube channel, BusterSenshi reflects, as he calls it, the "zeitgeist," or spirt of the time. 

Though Reynold's videos provide information, they're not like broadcast news, "the trick behind web video is that it's got to be funny.  If you're not funny, people are going to leave your video."  Unlike watching news on television, "People don't say, oh the YouTube video is on, let's watch that."   In a very short period of time, a YouTube video has to capture an audience.

Reynolds mentions several "tricks" he and other vloggers use to "catch" his audience, beginning with "I make sure that the first five seconds is something you're going to love."  Other hints include make certain your video includes an embedded subscription button, and perhaps having a short opening intro clip.

The Vlogger Interviews: Andy Gunton

"The Vlogger Interviews" is a series of vlogs and blogs exploring the definition of vlogging – from the vlogger's perspective, If you like this interview, I would appreciate your subscription to http://youtube.com/worldaccordingtorich on YouTube.  Contact me if you'd like to be considered for the next interview!

As AndyMooseman on YouTube, Hastings, U.K. resident Andy Gunton has been vlogging since 2006.  He’s seen the online community grow from what was essentially a small village into online metropolis it is today.   Though YouTube is only about six years old, Andy things of his own videos as “old-fashioned vlogs.”

“I tend to do unedited videos. Sometimes it’s a stream of consciousness thing.  It’s usually based around some sort of topic…. things I see in the news, or whatever, just something that springs out of something that might have happened to you, that type of thing, maybe trying to get people to thing about things a little bit.”

In the past, he’s also done scenic or historical videos, taking his viewers on guided walks, or sharing a local occasional festival or event.

Though the public generally doesn’t perceive YouTube as a social network, Andy recalls that in 2006, it was just about the only game in town,  “In that time, Facebook was in it’s infancy. There was no such thing as Twitter, so it was the one place where you could more or less meet up and speak to each other and see each other as well.”

Why We're All Like Steve Jobs

I was a bit under the weather this past week, more Vlogger Interviews  next week!

On October 3, 2011, my niece's sci-fi e-novella, "Echoes," was published on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.  Obviously, I'm a proud uncle, and I'm hoping that the untold multitudes will plunk down their $2.99 to give "S.P. Blackmore's" sci-fi book a try.

I'm also happy and inspired to see the latest example of what I think is going to turn into a wave of newly-empowered entrepreneurs venturing into the world and creating futures impossible without the power of social and mobile technologies.

Just a couple of years ago, most people I knew really weren't sure what or even if online media, social media or "new" media was relevant to their own personal dreams.   Today, many of those same people are beginning to understand the potential, and are hard at work finding - or perhaps inventing - their own way through a brand new, intimately accessible business model.  Just as one can't build a house with a gift of untested tools,  most are still figuring out how to build their world - learning and improving day by day.  It's no longer a question of "if" there's a way to succeed digitally - it's a question of how. 

Success still takes talent and hard work - it's the access to opportunity that has changed. 

The passing of Steve Jobs, I think, says it all.  It's a massive passing of the torch.   His vision, innovation and enthusiasm created accessible technology that, in turn, is making it possible for a near constellation of dreamers to innovate and create as he once did - and making a living doing what they love to do.

And it's all just beginning.