Getting the right kind of attention online

With the popularity of Jackass 3D I thought this would be a good time to talk about whether or not you should attempt to do something similar in an attempt to get famous online.  I’ve heard it suggested by others that it could be a good tactic to get views, so thought I’d share my thoughts on that.

A few months ago a CBC news report came out on a wannabe stuntman named Chris Ball who jumped off a bridge near Calgary, AB and landed on the roof of a moving train while videotaping himself. For realz.

Chris asks himself in the video “Oh my God, what am I doing?” just before continuing to do the jump. The RCMP charged the 19 year old with petty trespass, which it turns out wasn’t anything new for him anyway.

I guess I should give kudos to Chris for not hurting or killing himself.  And he did get a lot of exposure from it both on YouTube and in the media.  My thought on this method of getting noticed however is that it’s possible, and better, to do it without breaking laws or possibly your neck.

It’s kind of ironic how similar his stunt was in a roundabout way to my video of The $1,000 You Tube experiment, which I uploaded back in 2007. It was also done in Calgary and it also got me a lot of attention both on YouTube and in the local media.  The difference of course was if the attention was negative or positive.  People liked to talk about my video because it was a wacky experiment (me giving away my own money in an attempt to have the most discussed video of all time), whereas people were talking about Chris’ video because he was essentially risking his life to make it.

Another similarity actually is that both of our videos were also low budget.  Which confirms what I said in a previous blog post about how the content of your video will always be more important the quality of it.  It’s important to note that popular online videos are seldom big professional productions, so I definitely don’t recommend putting a lot of your resources into trying to have a top notch quality video in that regard.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that I’d rather just come up with something clever, then use the optimizing techniques and tips that I’ve been sharing in this blog (and which will be in my upcoming eBook), and use Social Media to spread the word about them… while knowing that I’m not going to get in trouble with the police or lose an eye.  But maybe that’s just me.  I also don’t enjoy watching Jackass so I suppose  if your niche is people who enjoy seeing you defy death and the law, then I guess you’d need to do what you feel you need to do!

What do you think? Are you a fan of watching dangerous stunts on YouTube? Do you think it’s a good way to get noticed online?

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You Tube Comment of the Day:

hannibalcannibalx has made a comment on David After Dentist spoof — Josh After Boozer:

Creepy and funny! It has something for everyone.