Tom Guarriello responds to the Lonelygirl15 controversy by arguing that creators are driven by personal fulfillment, not money or grand ideals. He's never earned from his blog but values the ideas and connections it brings. Success, he says, is measured by subscribers and audience response, and creators should shift platforms whenever it serves them best.
Well, hi, it's Tom Guarriello. I just watched Renato's latest video about Lonely Girl and just wanted to throw a few ideas into the hopper. First of all, I think, as always, Paul's passion is really an important part of what made him such a popular video videographer, video producer here on YouTube. And you know, you feel that passion once again in regard to this issue. I think the notion about leadership that he pointed out, however, I think is one maybe where passion got a little bit of the best of him because it's hard to really compare what we're doing here to Rosa Parks. I mean, for Unfortunately, nobody's threatening to throw me in jail for, you know, blathering on here about these videos. So it's a little different, but I do agree that certainly we're in kind of a leadership position in that we're out here making new media content in ways that are different. So clearly some parallels, but Rosa Parks, maybe it's just me. In regard to lonelygirl15, I think, you know, you sound, Paul, you sound mad because she's disloyal to YouTube, you know? And I think it's, look, she's a young actress. This is a young team that was trying to do something unique, and, you know, now they're trying to go where the opportunity looks best to them. I think it's a, you know, it would be reasonable that they would do that. I mean, that's what capitalism is all about, you know, taking advantage of opportunities that are there in front of you, and you make decisions and you either succeed or don't succeed based upon how the marketplace reacts to those decisions. So You know, Lonely Girls has gotten 10,000 or 15,000, however many it is, more subscribers since the revelation of, uh, her professionalism came out. So be it. That's what people— so people were saying, hey, we want to see, we want to see what this is about. New, new ways of making, um, of telling stories that are fiction but interesting fiction. Well, okay. And the fact that she did that in front of a Reverend's, uh, Banner, you know, they paid her. It's, uh, we're living in that kind of a world. And, and that kind of leads me to the next thought that your, your, um, ideas spurred, which was, um, you know, I'm, I'm reluctant to give the folks running YouTube, uh, any advice about how to, uh, about how to do so. You know, they're— they've created a phenomenon here. You've got hundreds of millions of videos being viewed, you know, every day. And so it doesn't look like there's a shortage of people willing to make videos, you know, and share their work. And, you know, it's with no PayPal buttons and no banners and no sponsors. And, you know, there's just people saying what's on their mind. And I mean, after all, one of the things we've a lot of us have said that we like best about this environment is that you've got all kinds of people coming on here and producing all kinds of material, um, because they want to, you know, and, um, they just want to say what's on their mind. And, you know, so if we can't afford to make as many videos and produce as much as we'd like to because we're not getting paid for it, then so be it. And Um, you know, I, I mean, I have a lot of respect for the marketplace, and the marketplace is an amazing system. It's going to sort things out, and it's going to produce, you know, big winners, medium-sized winners, small winners, and small losers, and medium-sized losers, and big losers. And, um, that's what it does. And right now, YouTube's a big winner. And if the people that are making videos, see that the site is— that another site, like, gives them more of what they're interested in and YouTube doesn't, then people are going to go there. I mean, it's not, you know, we're not enrolling people in a cult or any kind of a, you know, we're not asking people to make a commitment. I'm not making any commitment to YouTube as kind of, you know, my forever service of choice. I mean, think about all the times that you've changed many service providers in your life. And I think we're all now at a point where we go where we think we're going to get the best kind of service that we can get. And so right now that's YouTube. At some point maybe it's going to be something else. You know, um, and, and, you know, in the meantime, you know, those of us who are creating material here, really have to figure out— not, I don't think, in a big kind of, oh boy, I gotta figure this out kind of way— but we gotta have a sense of why are we doing this. I mean, I, you know, for example, I started a blog. I started writing a blog in May of 2004, truetalknow.com. If you're interested in going to look at my blog, that'd be great. I've written, you know, around 800 posts in that time. That's a lot of writing. And people, a lot of people ask me, why do you do that? Do you make any money from it? Do you do— nope, I haven't made a nickel. I haven't made a nickel, but it's still been one of the best things I've ever done in my career. Um, it's given me a great, a place to work out ideas. It's given me an opportunity to interact with some very interesting people. I've met some of the the most interesting and coolest people that I've ever met through my blog. And it's fun, you know, it's fun. I really enjoyed it. And I think I'm going to continue to make videos on YouTube for the same reason. Now, if, um, and fortunately, you know, we each get to decide what we want to do and where we want to do it. Paris can do her stuff and Lucy in LA can do her stuff and Geriatric can do his stuff and you can do your stuff and I can do my stuff for whatever reasons we want. And I think that's pretty cool. So, you know, I think we need to let this thing become what it's gonna become rather than assuming we know what it's going to be and trying to make it that. So those are my thoughts about your video, Paul, which is, Once again, as always, an interesting one. So, um, thanks and best luck to you and all the YouTubians. I forgot to call us YouTubians. Uh, see you soon. Bye.
