MrBeast's Building Blocks

The Influencer Feed

May 16, 2023

For the ‘gram:
We all have organic talents that cannot be filtered out. These talents are frequently seen when we surround ourselves with others.

Jimmy Donaldson started a YouTube Channel in 2012, before the rise of today's Creator Movement.

The top-five videos on YouTube at the time were vastly different:

This early era of creators allowed Donaldson to freely trust his creative instincts.

There were no expectations, no influential blueprints, and probably, no online trolls or critics. He had a camera and a sharp, but playful vision. Donaldson was free from the resistance that binds most of us down.

Donaldson also had an additional edge: he was thirteen, barely a teenager. His youth allowed him to overlook societal pressures that limit our creativity as we grow older. He had the ability to connect and stack blocks like a child does with a LEGO Set.

Five years later, in 2017, Donaldson published a video to his YouTube Channel, naturally promoting his innocent youth and those curiosities that come along in teenage years of wonder: a simple video of him counting to 100,000.

This one video paved the way for Donaldson’s YouTube Channel to go viral.

But it was Donaldson’s continual roadmap of energy, building blocks, playful mentality, and determination, after counting to 100,000, that enabled him to have the influential and financial success that he does today.

Today, Donaldson continues to build upon his LEGO Set, both literally and figuratively, establishing over 300 million followers across YouTube and other various platforms under his brand, the name that we commonly know him by today, MrBeast.

But how’d this all happen?

How did MrBeast go from counting numbers in a video to actually building the world’s largest Lego tower?

The answer is simple. And the answer is powerful: we.

MrBeast recognized community when he was barely a teenager, during the infant stages as a then simple YouTube user. There was just curiosity and a desire to connect with other young people online.

MrBeast continues to build on community based off of those feelings of youthful connections. He has been able to stay counter-cultural and does not block relationships, both online and offline, that he has curated over time.

‘We’ happens to be one of the first two words used in the start of the YouTube video below, ‘I Built The World’s Largest Lego Tower.’

Shortly thereafter, Donaldson starts introducing members of the MrBeast Community.

There is a common theme amongst popular TV shows like The Office, Schitt’s Creek, or Parks and Rec: a bunkered-in-like feeling of not only good vibes, but we, the audience, play a role within these close-knit communities. We are their people, and they are our people.

Donaldson lives in Greenville, North Carolina, where he grew up. The town has less than ninety-thousand residents, and is about an hour’s drive from nearby Raleigh.

In North Carolina, Donaldson can be himself. He can be with his people.

Donaldson does not succumb to the creator lifestyle frequently seen within the backyards of big cities such as Los Angeles and New York. Living in a big city could actually hinder his creative flow, lacking both digital connection and content that engages his ordinary audience. Donaldson stays consistent to a system that he knows best as relatively minor changes can trigger major life changes.

The idea of strong community can further help remove addictions, irrational behaviors, thoughts and self-isolation. Community brings us together, granting all of us with endless opportunities to grow, however we wish.

The Human Algorithm needs these two important values: community and consistency.

These values are also key components in a technology company’s algorithm, which is why marketing teams promote the idea that we, the users, will be validated on their platforms. It’s this digital image: their platforms have the best communities, and their users make the best content.

This is not necessarily an improper tone, it is just the competing environment of making the best social media products.

If a technology company has components of both consistency and community throughout their platform, and their users' content, then the more likely it is that the company will have a popular product.

Curators are even rewarded when their content is consistent and includes themes of community: algorithms will promote that creators' content [videos, reels, etc.] on the platform.

Donaldson was one of the first to notice this. Arguably, the MrBeast brand has played a very crucial role throughout the ever changing digital landscape of algorithms.

One thing is certain: nobody really knows what the algorithm is in modern society. But we do know that consistency and community will help us design our online and offline worlds.

And we all have the ability to input designs of Good.

Embracing Greenville

Like Donaldson, I grew up in Greenville. Just not North Carolina, but rather, South Carolina.

But unlike Donaldson, I conformed to living in Los Angeles, where I currently live and reside.

Prior to my relocation to Los Angeles, however, I discovered a need for Greenville, South Carolina: a digital platform that humanizes Greenville.

Share Greenville, or ShareGVL, was a storytelling website that asked each individual, the storyteller, a pre-populated list of twelve open-ended questions.

Examples included:

What is the most interesting fact about yourself?
What is your background?
What are you reading? Watching?
Favorite places in Greenville?
How would you describe Greenville? And how would Greenville describe you?

ShareGVL was simple. It was easier than counting to 100,000.

I did not pressure myself.

ShareGVL was curated so that I could focus and live in my community. In particular, attaching to the personal stories of others within Greenville in an effort to avoid my own dark story at the time.

I would wander throughout the physical and digital streets of my South Carolina city. I truly grounded myself with backyard neighbors. It was motivating and fulfilling.

Every connection created new connections. These connections in people helped me understand the inputs that I need for my human algorithm.

I would further become exposed to different viewpoints, trying my best to understand with the simplistic art of listening.

ShareGVL was completely free, and became free publicity for the storyteller, allowing them to promote their story as seen on ShareGVL.

I did not receive any monetization rewards, national publicity, or sadly, any selfie requests, but I was able to start becoming more of the influencer within.

All-in-all, I had the privilege to interview over two hundred people and would publish a little over one hundred of those interviews on ShareGVL.

Some of my key takeaways with ShareGVL are below.

More themes from ShareGVL, and those stories of others, are for another post in the future. This content will be tailored heavily for confidentiality purposes.

Faith in Humanity:

There was never an occasion where I met someone, either in a scheduled interview, or in a spontaneous interview off of the street, that housed evil intentions.

In fact, almost every individual that I interviewed had more empathy and even an awareness of how to help their fellow man if ever called upon.

The Human Algorithm:

The human algorithm will prevail over the digital algorithm. Social media will never master the organics of Good in our personalities, realities, and our communities.

More Similarities, Not Differences:

Every story had a connection with the others, regardless of a storyteller’s walk in life.

An investment with no monetary profit:

If I were mostly sober, and implemented ShareGVL into action with a business plan, I am confident that I would have made money.

I did not, and it did not.

But in time, I would get something more: Hope, a better understanding of others. This will last me a lifetime.

Much of this Hope is currently being played out here, ‘Unfiltered Feeds: Direct Messages of Hope’

Push Notifications:

Here are some steps that we can all take, with more in-depths of the digital community to be discussed in the future. These ideas could be a great way to make an online outlet, social media profile, or internal fulfillment. Whatever the case, grounding within the community is counter-cultural, now more than ever.

Take thirty minutes out of your day, either today or tomorrow, and start a small conversation with somebody.
- Small, surface-based conversations can be intimidating, but local venues like a coffee shop, or a bookstore, can make these conversations a bit easier. And here are some great questions, from StoryCorps, to ask if stuck: Great Questions To Ask Anyone - StoryCorps
  - Digital narratives of others are processed synthetically. These synthetic viewpoints are both quick and filtered. We can get a better picture of somebody, even in a brief conversation offline.
Uncover the narrative in your community. Attract to whatever you hear, and whatever attracts you from this, either positive or negative, do research. Ask open-ended questions.
Make a community newsletter of just positive news.
- CuratedLA is a newsletter that I created, but is on-hold briefly for current career projects and opportunities. And this is ok as experimenting leads to creativity.
Check out Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton.
- Humans of New York was a huge inspiration for ShareGVL.
  - How could you use this layout online? With friends? Family? Strangers? Politics? Nonprofits?
Have you been to a museum lately? Just curious.
Write a handwritten note about how you would like for your community to look.
- No digital distractions as you write.
- Find attractive elements from your note.
  - Research.
  - Uncover.
    - Post about them online.
Want to meet new people? How about getting paid for it?
- Uber and Lyft.
  - For those in Hollywood that want an agent, to meet with a casting director, or to have a new industry connection:
    - Get that person in your car, or deliver food to their house.

It is almost impossible to carveout our negative thinking when we isolate ourselves from community.

As opposed to nitpicking the bad in our communities, nitpick the Good.

Community helps all of us understand our human algorithm.

See you soon.

Post published,

Wyatt

Unfiltered Feeds: Direct Messages of Hope