08 June, 2013

The Next Part of the Story: YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter


And here I am, writing the next chapter. I know many of you would prefer me to update this blog more often. I am sorry. I want to. I need to. I enjoy doing so. Many of you may understand how busy you can get with classes while studying at a university. Currently I am on semester break for the summer. (The "summer" usually refers to May, June, July, and August, although, the summer according to the calendar is from June 21 to September 21. "Summer" is usually used to speak about the time when kids or students aren't in school sessions. Just a fun fact for you.) This summer I will be working with the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. I work in the Public Affairs section and deal with different English language programs for teenage kids in different libraries throughout the country. It has been very enjoyable so far and living in Malaysia in enjoyable. But, an update on what I have done here will be saved for later.

In this chapter, I want to connect where I left off about my older brother Adam. On October 2nd, 2010, I woke up on a Saturday morning and decided it was time to film a video, one very similar to my brothers first video. I didn't want to spend too much time on it because I don't know if I was going to get a positive response or not. I didn't know if Malaysians (or anyone who spoke the language... I'm looking at you Singpore and Brunei) would like my Malay speaking abilities. I was scared that my American accent would make people not interested in what I had to say. I knew that people were amazed with Adam's video because he speaks Thai like a native speaker. I didn't feel like I was at that point at all; I spoke more similar to an East Malaysian (bahasa baku) and hadn't lived in Malaysia or practiced speaking Malay for over 2 years.

So, I got my housemate Joey to come and film a video with me. The conversation went like this:

Me: "Hey Joey, I am making a YouTube video like what Adam made last year, but for Malaysians and in Malay. If I ask you 'What's up' will you respond normally?"
Him: "Yeah sure. When?"
Me: "Right now. Come in My room and let's film it. I have my iphone ready to film."
Him: "Alright lets do it!"

So we entered my room and pressed the record button on my iphone. I just had it propped up on the top of my TV and used the front camera actually so we could watch ourselves while we were filming. You've seen the video right? Well just in case you haven't, here it is:



So after we were done making the video, we went onto YouTube and uploaded it onto my new account. Then we left it for the public to search it and watch it. I tried to make a smart title for the video so that people could search and find what I had posted.  

About one month later, I started getting a bunch of comments, and views. But mainly, I was getting an insane amount of adds on Facebook! I opened up my Facebook account one morning and had over 900 new friend requests. I knew something was happening! I then got onto my YouTube and the analytics weren't working. The view count was climbing but I wan't sure how quick. It was getting flooded.

Then, I had some people say that I should start a Facebook Fanpage as opposed to just have people add me on my personal account. Then I could start making posts about English and other interesting things and accept over 5000 people. I started the fanpage and quickly built up to over 5000 likes. I was like, "This is awesome!" I didn't expect Malaysians, Singaporeans, and Bruneians to have such a positive response to the video and so fast! But 5000 fans was just the start. Within the next few days I still was getting more and more people following my fanpage. I built up to over 20,000 within that week and it still kept climbing.

I also opened up a twitter account and began to use twitter. I didn't have twitter before then since I didn't really understand what it was for. It was when twitter was still new to a lot of people and I just though, "Why should I use twitter when I can just use facebook?" Now I get it now. Touche twitter.

My YouTube view count for the month of November 2010 was just about 430,000 views!


It also just so happened that I had a trip planned on Thailand and Malaysia in December of 2010. I had been gone from the country for over two years and wanted to make a trip back to the country to explore some places I didn't get to my first time around. There is just so much to see in the region! So, I announced this on my facebook page and planned a couple of meetings with fans while I was there. I documented some of it in a video and posted it to YouTube when I got back home. Here is the video!



This trip was fun! It was a success! Adam and I had a great time in Malaysia and Singapore. We also spent sometime in Thailand together before I went back home but didn't put it into the video.

So, that is enough for this part of the story. Look forward to more updates in the future!

-Ben 


6 comments:

  1. Good job Cikgu Gigi Putih... :)

    How nice if I can speak in English as u speak in Malay fluently :)

    Regards,
    Mrs. Yan
    snappysmoothie.blogspot.com

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  2. Me too :( I wish I can speak fluently in English like Ben does in Malay.

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  3. Hi Cikgu Ben..

    Happy 2know you :)
    bestnya dah ada blog american english..

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  4. hi ben.. i thought i saw u at klcc on 1 jun 2013. u wore red shirt. but im not sure whether it was u...i just heard u said 'ranau'...wanted to say hi, but u walked so fast with 1 girl...huhu

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  5. hi Cikgu Ben :)
    Saya baru jumpa blog ini dan ia sangat membantu
    Thank you cikgu..
    btw what is the different between it's and its??

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  6. Syabas Ben! Bahasa Melayu anda sangat bagus!
    Bila anda cakap Bahasa Melayu hari-hari, pasti lidah anda akan fasih.

    Oh and by the way, I always love the American slang!

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