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The Right Opinion: The Trial of The Try Guys - A Ned Fulmer Affair | TRO

Intro - 0:00
Ned - 7:23
Breaking - 13:09
The Video Response - 18:36
The 2nd Try - 24:22
Reaction - 32:53
Legacy - 39:04
The Tri-Guys - 45:18
Growth/Restlessness - 50:55
Trying Times - 56:18
The Ned - 1:02:19
Finale - 1:08:04

Last video I covered the bombastic, yet short-lived YouTube collective of Team 10.

If you want more on that video, you can go and watch it, but ultimately, their undoing was the lack of permanence they could find in their members, which was exacerbated by an immature leader who drove people away, sacrificed his business credibility, and served as a magnet for all sorts of drama. Team 10 is an example of something that seemed bound to fall apart at any moment, yet managed to leave an imprint on the YouTube landscape all the same; a pair of handprints in the cement before it set. However, Jake Paul’s omnium gatherum isn’t the only YouTube ensemble over the years to disband, as a matter of fact many more successful and long-running groups have found themselves at the end of their lifespan for a plethora of reasons.

I’d say one of the most common reasons being that in many circumstances, the average age of many creators on YouTube skews towards a much younger mean, and if you’re under the age of 25, or even 30, you’re gonna go through significant changes as an individual who wants to find their purpose in life. As an individual creator you can evolve on your own terms, but when you have a designated role in a group, the expectations imposed on you can be suffocating, and may well test your commitment to people who do not necessarily share the dreams that you do. Being part of a group can often really limit your development as an individual and may also not give you the sort of compensation that you feel is appropriate for someone of your ability, you want to go out into the world and fulfil your potential before you settle down. When people grow, they can often grow apart, however, not every group feels an expectation for eternal development, especially outside of YouTube.

This is Buzzfeed, an internet media website founded in 2006 with the goal of arbitrating and disseminating online news through the use of algorithms. Over the years, they expanded their project and began to hire personnel to actually publish stories and add a face to their public image. Buzzfeed has received a lot of criticism in its time and has become a bit of a sacrificial lamb for the lampooning of millennial-based news and its purported vapidity, nonetheless, it also became extremely successful and blossomed as social media platforms took a grasp on internet climate, particularly on YouTube, where algorithmic based marketing was king, and multiple channels were set up under the Buzzfeed name to reach as many target demographics as possible.

In spite of Buzzfeed’s success, YouTube also brought many new challenges regarding creator-audience relationships, many of which felt like they had to be rooted in some form of personality, and although Buzzfeed’s topics drew viewers, their retention likely struggled while they tried to find a way to bridge the gap between themselves and the average YouTube viewer. Amongst this quandary, four unlikely heroes appeared...

To find out more, give it a watch!