YouTube gets ugly: the attack on GreenTeaGirlie
Hey YouTube viewers, I'm new, I hope you welcome me. I'm actually going to be making some videos and they're going to be really neat, so I hope you check them out.
It seems innocent enough: A well-coiffed newcomer named Kallie – screen name GreenTeaGirlie – posts a 10-second introductory video on YouTube, titled "I'm new." Sure, the shot is poorly framed – she's in the lower righthand corner instead of the center – but on a site where a laughing baby is among the most viewed videos, you'd think the crowd would be forgiving.
You'd be very wrong.
Some combination of GreenTeaGirlie's Lindsay-Lohan looks, her disarmingly innocent delivery and her pithy message has struck a chord with the YouTube community, both good and bad. On the good side, the simple video has been viewed more 215,000 times in less than two days – astonishing numbers usually reserved for commercials stolen from broadcast TV. On the bad side GreenTeaGirlie's video has been ranked one-and-a-half out of five stars, mocked mercilessly in comments, and angrily spoofed in other clips.
Why are YouTubers so angry? Apparently because thousands of their peers would rather watch GreenTeaGirlie pick her fingernails than click over to their labors of love. "It's really moronic how a 10 second video of some dumb ass pointless b—- can get so many Honors. For shamed…" laments sickdiggitydog, who has posted two unpopular videos of himself playing the bass guitar in a bedroom.
And in all this, there's a lesson about the maturing of YouTube, the video community that Google (GOOG) bought last year for $1.65 billion. Though its purist members believe it's a place where ordinary people can bypass Hollywood's traditional process and release videos directly to the masses, many members really just want attention for themselves. And they lash out jealously when someone else gets it without much effort.
Don't take it so hard, guys. It's no big surprise that smiling, pretty girls are a hit on video before they say anything – many TV news stations have been operating on that assumption for quite a while now. If you don't like GreenTeaGirlie's video, ignore it.
But you can't, can you? You just have to watch.
Oh oh…
I see it now.
I'll spell it out:
F – A – N – B – O – Y
Oh well I'm over you now.
It was fun to be feature in some nobody's blog but yeah. So yesterday?
Heh.
-Jack
I actually talked to YouTube about her account. As a result of that conversation, I'm convinced that if she were cheating, they'd have done something about it. They've taken action against people in the past. As for the claims about auto refreshers and MySpace accounts, I might believe all that if not for the fact that her pageview numbers are still extraordinary.
I can't believe how ignorant you are Jonny Boy.
You DO NOT realise that she CHEATED!
Three Reasons:
1. She obviously used an Auto Refresher, if you can't see that, you're an idiot who deserves to die.
2. She (or her organisation) created many MySpace accounts, linked to her video, and then deleted the account!
3. The popular imageboard website (4chan) can't even accumulate posts as fast as she got views, and THAT'S saying something.
Do your research next time before you post a worthless blog like this.
Oh. And my videos weren't intended to be "the next biggest thing", just simply me showing other bassists what I can do. Stop being so arrogant.
-Jack (sickdiggitydog)
She's 1000% FAKE – Watch my videos on YouTube
search for me:
TheVideoNow
Or here's a video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTEE5Gw_Kiw
TVN
"Links to deleted MySpace pages"? I'm not even sure what that means. Why don't you lay out your evidence in more detail, because right now you're not making any sense.
Jon – She cheated. There were links to deleted myspace pages on her 1st youtube video showing thousands of hits each — that's how you scam views without disclosing the IP of the scammer. YouTube does NOT shut down everyone who scams, trust me. If you are not connected to GTG in reality, you are in spirit!
There's still no evidence she cheated, and I frankly doubt she did. I contacted YouTube, and they're aware of her account; if there were funny business going on, they could have done something about it.
I just think it's funny that so many people jumped to the conclusion that she cheated, and those same people are putting out parody videos linking to GreenTeaGirlie. Those parodies are getting hundreds (or thousands) of views, which suggests to me that either there really are thousands of people out there watching GreenTeaGirlie's videos, or everyone's cheating.
That said, Kallie's videos will have to get a lot more interesting for her numbers to hold up in the future. Still, I can't help noticing her latest has cracked 100,000 views.
You got ugly there with this article, Jon Fortt, believe me. You should do some deeper research before you post an article like that. It wouldn't be hard to find the info about fake accounts/subscriptions and view refresher usage to get her first vid to the front page where the rest of curious community could notice her, so it was her obvious cheating what really angered the youtubers. Unfair way to get to attention. She was caught fast and whole thing failed. Her next videos recieved much less attention.
P.S. Now in her third vid she says that she works selling green tea, so i guess label will be mentioned soon too.
Exclusive Greenteagirlie interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM9jJknK0XU
Love it or hate it – greenteagirlie is a stunning operaton to gain eyeballs. Accomplished through a variety of gaming methods – combined with the faux-amateurish production values – it is a lesson in the use of Youtube for self-promotion. It is a slap in the face of social networking sites and how they can be gamed.
Your article completely misses the reason for 95% of the venom — "Kallie" clearly "scammed" her views in order to make it onto the most viewed lists. Using "autorefreshers" to up your video count (which violates YouTube's service contract), pretty much anyone can have the "success" that GreenTeaGirlie has achieved. YouTube's community has a spirit of self-regulation when these things occurrred. Even though lots of youtubers were disturbed by the lonelygirl15 phenomenon, shes was never seriously accused of cheating like this.
What you are witnessing is an already jaded community reacting to a blatant manipulation of their "safe haven." Corporations looking to market themselves on YouTube and other Web 2.0 applications should really pay attention to what a spectacular failure this particular campaign is turning out to be.
Consumers are savvier than ever, and they want be drawn into a conversation – not tricked into making a purchase or watching a subversive ad.
UTubeDramaKing – Vlog #10 GreenTeaGirlie EXPOSED as a FAKE!
UTubeDramaKing Trevor Rieger rants about the CONTROVERSY surrounding the sudden success of the Virual Marketing Talent Agency of GreenTeaGirlie.
kmac0569