There was a Sydney YouTube Gathering recently. As previously mentioned, I was unable to attend. I did however get up to Sydney a few days before the event to hang out with some of my friends who had travelled from near and far (mostly far) to attend the event.

I was really happy. Firstly because it meant I wasn’t going to miss out on the festivities altogether. But more than that because I was getting to hang out with my peeps rather than the whole of YouTube Australia. I had met most of these people before so we could totally bypass the initial awkwardness of the ‘getting to know you’ phase and revel in the, well, revelry.

I spent Thursday frequenting coffee shops mostly (Gloria Jeans, Starbucks) with Leuke, Mitto, Rohan, Rob and Chris. We swung by a comic book store. We waited for the posse to check into their hostel. We acted silly around Darling Harbour. We didn’t really do very much at all. We didn’t have to! We were just chilling, hanging out, and various other synonyms for the act of simply being in each other’s company.

After the boys checked into their hostel room, Leuke presented us all with gifts from that great island nation of Tasmania. (Okay, obviously it’s not an island nation – it’s just a state of Australia. But saying “state of Australia” just didn’t sound very impressive, now, did it?) There were little trinkets which contained special meaning to each of the recipients. And then he pulled out this gnome. Which gnome? This Gnome. It was Greg! Greg is the subject of a very funny YouTube video which I loved since the first time I had seen it. Many, many gnome jokes followed. And now he was mine! That is so cool.

In honour of Greg’s new home, I gave him his own channel and made him host of Sydney Live (my version of my trip with parody overtones of YouTube’s own recent live event.)

The next day Nick, Loz, Mitchell, Greg (the human; as opposed to the aforementioned Gnome) and Queenie joined us for Yum Cha in Chinatown. Craziness ensued. It was great fun.

After lunch Queenie told me that I was the ‘nicest Aussie’ she had ever met. What a nice thing to say! What really impressed me about this development was that it apparently put me ahead of her own boyfriend, Greg, in the niceness stakes. Yay!

After much walking we ended up at the Apple Store. It was kind of surreal to see so many people who were ‘together’ not really communicating with each other… because suddenly they had computers to look at! There were a few obligatory Apple Store videos recorded (including this one) but by this stage I knew my deadline to be on a train was quickly approaching. I said my goodbyes, posed for a photograph or two, and went on my way. But then something remarkable happened.

Only one person had really expressed disappointment to me before the event that they wouldn’t be able to see me. A young man by the name of Jordan. I told him that it was unfortunate but since he was the closest YouTuber to me, geographically speaking, I’m sure I would see him at another time. Anyway I stepped outside of the Apple store – and there he was, just waiting for a bus. Serendipity in action, surely?

It was so much fun. It was oddly life-affirming. It was amazing to see people in the (sometimes) harsh light of day and in three dimensions! I might not see these people everyday, indeed I am lucky to see them once or twice a year – but I talk to them most days. I talk to Leuke almost every single day. It feels strange if we don’t talk. These people are important to me, these people are an integral part of my life. Or – to borrow a Sarryism – they are VITAL TO MY YOUTUBE EXISTENCE! And yet not merely my YouTube Existence, rather, my existence full stop!

See Also
AusOne Sydney YouTube Gathering (Rohan’s Blog)
A Story Of Great Things (Leuke’s Blog)

Rohan of The Fillet Skillet recently remarked [in a draft submission he unintentionally published]:

YouTube fame is such an illusion.

I put to you, dear readers, that YouTube fame is not an illusion; that fame is present on YouTube and in other areas on the internet. I present to you that the reason people do not believe in YouTube fame is because of a fundamental misunderstanding of what fame is and means. We’ve come to associate the notion with glamour, paparazzi, scandal, and model-esque good looks. It need not mean any of these things.

From Dictionary.com:

fame
–noun

1. widespread reputation, esp. of a favorable character; renown; public eminence: to seek fame as an opera singer.
2. common estimation or opinion generally held of a person or thing; reputation.

I can already hear protests. “Define ‘widespread,’” you will say. How long is a piece of string? We could set an arbitrary number at this point. We could say that 2000 subscribers or 20,000 subscribers was significant enough to be considered widespread.

How Long Is Your String: A Sample Of YouTube’s Most Subscribed

It is all relative anyway; or as Nalts put it, “It’s a bottomless pit.” For as many subscribers as you might have, you can always have more.

Culturally we have an expectation that ‘famous’ people are whisked away from us mere mortals, hidden behind bodyguards and public relations representatives. This medium changes the way people interact with each other. There are new opportunities to connect with people, irrespective of their profile. You can comment on blog posts and videos and they are usually read. Sometimes they’re responded to. You can offer counter views on topics on your own blog and use trackbacks to notify the author. Frequently this offers an opportunity for engagement you might not encounter in day-to-day life.

Many businesses and individuals utilise technology like Google Alerts and search facilities to find out who is talking about them, and what they are saying. I received an email from Sol Lipman, founder of 12seconds.tv – a service I signed up to but hadn’t used. I remarked on the email in Twitter and was surprised to find within minutes Sol had personally replied to the tweet.

My point is simply if you’re known for something – anything – you are famous. The number in and of itself isn’t important. Indeed for the movie and television actors it is remarkably difficult to even quantify. Is it the sales for their last movie, the ratings for their last television episode appearance, sales of a magazine their picture appears on the cover of? (How do YOU attempt to quantify your worth, your creativity, your output?) Instead of reaching for modesty the next time somebody takes an interest in you and your work, just express gratitude; say thank you.

Of all the things I’ve done in my 26 years, none of them have been as well-received as my involvement at YouTube. I currently have 515 Subscribers. [I choose to capitalise the word Subscribers in this instance to denote how much I appreciate them!] The number might seem quite humble to the likes of RoboFillet (1,212 subscribers) and HalfScottishGuy (2,031 subscribers). It might also seem quite generous to the likes of Brojoghost (90 subscribers) and Azukar8 (13 subscribers). But it has allowed me to extend beyond my geographical reality, and share and connect with a much broader audience than other outlets have allowed me to do thus far. To me, that is wonderful.