On the first of 2007 John and Hank Green decided to stop talking to each other via text and alternate days creating Youtube videos instead. A Year and almost 300 videos later a community of 30,000 people formed around their discussion of Harry Potter, Awesome, Nerdfighters (a pro-nerd moniker), and WorldSuck.
Their experiment ended at the end of 2007 but as they wrapped up the idea of sharing a channel and posting a video on alternate days was about to get a refresh. The Five Awesome Girls channel started just before the Green brothers were done. The brain child of Kristina Horner, of The Parselmouths, along with Lauren Fairweather, of The Moaning Myrtles, Five Awesome Girls brings together five girls who each were apart of the community that John and Hank Green built.
Quickly a format was established. The five girls each picked a day of the week to post a video. They didn’t all know each other in real life and so the used the videos as a way to learn about each other. Each video addressed the other girls to directly to ask questions and give challenges. Other habits also came in to the format like says why the day was awesome.
Hardly a month later Five Awesome Girls was such a complete success that other channels popped up fast and furious with the same format. a Five Awesome Guy’s channel popped up in late January and not a week went by in February where a similar channel had also appeared. Everyone was Awesome: Girls, Guys, Gays, Kiwis, Teens, People, and on and on. All with a clear legacy back to what the Green brother’s started and the Five Awesome Girls formalized.
This internet meme has been successful for a number of reasons and I think it’s here to stay and will not wither away. A group channel has several advantages over individual channels.
Multiple members makes it possible to put out more content at a higher level of quality. It also make more avenues of finding subscribers through the members individual channels. More people also makes it more interactive for the people making the videos. And their interactions also makes it easier for the audience to follow along.
You know you’ve hit it big when you have a lot of haters. Just this week the Five Awesome girls’ account was hacked and their videos deleted. YouTube has just restored their account today, four days later. I think this format has a lot more success in the future.
approx # of videos in ( ) January 01, 2007 - vlog brothers (299) - 27,658 Subscribers December 31, 2007 - Five Awesome Girls (110) - 9,762 January 26, 2008 - five awesome guys (90) - 16,060 Subscribers February 03, 2008 - 5 awesome gays (64) - 4,853 Subscribers February 09, 2008 - Five Awesome Kiwis (74) - 1,236 Subscribers February 14, 2008 - five awsome teens (45) - 71 Subscribers February 15, 2008 - 5 Awesome People (81) - 51 Subscribers February 16, 2008 - voltron team (87) - 59 Subscribers February 18, 2008 - 5AwesomeRvBers (71) - 85 Subscribers February 21, 2008 - Five Awesome Limeys (17) - 225 Subscribers February 25, 2008 - five younger girls (60) - 494 Subscribers February 27, 2008 - five awesome goats (20) - 1,188 Subscribers April 02, 2008 - 5 Awesome Midwesterners (37) - 159 Subscribers April 14, 2008 - amazing vlog show (33) - 41 Subscribers April 14, 2008 - five awesome clones (26) - 169 Subscribers May 09, 2008 - five awesome Js (16) - 65 Subscribers