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How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

simonwillison.net

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Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#101

Post by llamaimperative »

Zanni wrote: post #86
llamaimperative wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theory of Constraints is fascinating because, as MrBeast points out here, it seems extremely obvious. I've had numerous interactions on this site where a person dismisses an insight from ToC as "obvious" and then 2 sentences later promulgates the exact type of intuition that ToC disproves.

Yeah, this is the brilliance of the novel format. Someone presents an insight, and it can see obvious in isolation but then seems obviously wrong in context. "Of course we should favor throughput over efficiency" is obvious until you realize it means, for example, allowing idle time on incredibly expensive machines to favor responsiveness, which just seems wasteful. In the novel, you get to see the characters bang th…

Interesting -- I'll have to read The Goal! I've only read the reference material around ToC, so this sounds additive :)

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#103

Post by brookst »

oulipo wrote: post #97
zulban wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy has earned a net worth of maybe $700 million starting with YouTube. Saying it's all a bunch of contrived bullshit hides the fact the he is obviously brilliantly talented and dedicated at making a business from YouTube. If you or others blow off a document he wrote or an interview he gives because most of his videos are "just" gaming an algorithm then you must not be a very curious person. I don't like coffee…

that's exactly the problem... why the fascination with "money" and "big"? The world has real problems... called environmental collapse and climate change. Why not working on those It's actually EASY to make money selling shit. It's HARD to solve a real problem to make everyone's lives better

I don’t disagree, but surely it’s even easier to bemoan that other people aren’t doing enough of the right things than it is to devote one’s own life to those kinds of problems.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#105

Post by hypeatei »

zulban wrote: post #54
hypeatei wrote: post #6

So basically: Come up with contrived BS that caters to younger audiences, micromanage anyone who is holding you up, and attempt to game a blackbox algorithm on a site you don't pay for (YouTube) The whole modern social media / influencer sphere seems like a huge bubble that will pop eventually. Google has already started wiping inactive accounts[0] presumably because storage isn't truly infinite or cheap. I imagine Y…

The guy has earned a net worth of maybe $700 million starting with YouTube. Saying it's all a bunch of contrived bullshit hides the fact the he is obviously brilliantly talented and dedicated at making a business from YouTube. If you or others blow off a document he wrote or an interview he gives because most of his videos are "just" gaming an algorithm then you must not be a very curious person. I don't like coffee…

I read this post because I was curious about how these operations work. What I found is:

- Making good YOUTUBE videos is paramount, not quality videos

- Be quirky and crazy in videos using a blank check

- If something goes awry or you need it faster, also use a blank check

- Some advice related to thumbnails and titles (relying on YouTube's current algorithm which could change the next second)

The only thing I found semi useful is how he classifies employees using the A, B and C system (e.g. A is top tier, B can be trained to be top tier, and C is dead weight)

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#106

Post by Loughla »

oulipo wrote: post #93

[flagged]

>what does it bring the world, literally?

I'm betting over 90% of what we do, collectively, really doesn't offer any true "value" to the world for however you're defining value.

Which means that your measurement is bad because it's based on your opinion.

Just like your comparison to Hitler. For supporters of Hitler, the things he did were amazing. But that was just their opinion.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#107

Post by bondarchuk »

xrd wrote: post #81

I have kids and I'm really bothered by MrBeast. I had to buy goddamn chocolate bars at Walmart because of him. I acknowledge he is creative and driven but the content is such crap, with a few exceptions that my kids point out. But, what's the alternative? For example, I love 3brown1blue videos. But, it is too advanced even for my eleven year old. Mark Rober videos are great, and my kids love them, but he's even insid…

Why watch youtube at all? It's not obligatory.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#108

Post by simonw »

oulipo wrote: post #91
hypeatei wrote: post #6

So basically: Come up with contrived BS that caters to younger audiences, micromanage anyone who is holding you up, and attempt to game a blackbox algorithm on a site you don't pay for (YouTube) The whole modern social media / influencer sphere seems like a huge bubble that will pop eventually. Google has already started wiping inactive accounts[0] presumably because storage isn't truly infinite or cheap. I imagine Y…

Exactly... it feels weird that someone like Simon would fall for this and not see through it for what it is... someone spending his life being very efficient at building shit to sell it to an audience who's too lazy to consume anything but shit, all that paid by a capitalist system running on oil to allow all this shit to happen and enrich the shitster... We don't need to falsely pretend that those guys are interesti…

What did I fall for here?

I think this is a really interesting document, despite having very few lessons I would adopt for my own work (as I said at the bottom of the post).

I would be thrilled to read documents providing a level of cultural and operational detail like this from ANY company.

Another one I find really interesting is the 37signals handbook: https://basecamp.com/handbook

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#109

Post by Loughla »

IAmNotACellist wrote: post #102
oulipo wrote: post #93

[flagged]

That's the thing. You have to love that, and that's probably something only people who grew up watching YouTube can feel at a deep level. Generational divides happen like that often.

Bingo.

I do not understand the attraction of nearly all YouTube creators and celebrities. I don't get the appeal. All the videos sound the same and have the same stupid looking tag lines to get you to watch them. Outrageous actions for attention are deeply troubling to me.

And I'm also SUPER aware that it's because it's not for me. I'm not the target demographic at all, and never will be.

At some point you have to realize that the world moves on, and that's just part of getting older. It feels awesome when you're 18-24 and everything is relevant to you. It feels way less awesome when you're over 40 and everything seems to be out of control.

Re: How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)

#110

Post by [deleted] »

xrd wrote: post #81

I have kids and I'm really bothered by MrBeast. I had to buy goddamn chocolate bars at Walmart because of him. I acknowledge he is creative and driven but the content is such crap, with a few exceptions that my kids point out. But, what's the alternative? For example, I love 3brown1blue videos. But, it is too advanced even for my eleven year old. Mark Rober videos are great, and my kids love them, but he's even insid…

[deleted]
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