Happy Ending @ Delhi’s #YouTubeHappyHour | An Outsider’s View

When I finally decided to go for Delhi’s #YouTubeHappyHour, was excited and nervous at the same time. Since the time I have decided to launch my very own digital platform Glint.tv, have not been able to shake off a brilliant analogy by the ex-Google and ex-Softbank boss Nikesh Arora. 
In a TV studio discussion, the erudite speaker had narrated a vignette from the time when he decided to settle in the States. His kids, born and brought up there, could relate to American music and culture but he couldn’t. He still liked Indian music and movies. Someone pacified him saying that his kids happened to be Native Americans and he would always be an outsider. 
 
I could so easily relate to this. I guess I will always be an outsider in the digital world, trying extra hard to master the new medium.  The new generation kids, like my son – who’s a 16 year old, are the Natives. And at my mid-forties, I’m just trying to play catch up. 
 
This is GenNext, born with a smartphone and an ipad in their hands, and a Facebook account with a fake date of birth (Only 13+ can sign up on Facebook). Not to forget Instagram and Twitter accounts. How can you compete with that? You can only hope, pray and pray a little more. In my case you can dismiss the pray part as am a hardcore non believer.
 
YouTube introduces Delhi ambassadors QRT, Nazar Battu & Sejal Kumar

YouTube introduces Delhi ambassadors QRT, Nazar Battu & Sejal Kumar

The Event 
Coming back to the #YouTubeHappyHour, I had to decline the invitation to the Chennai Happy Hour about a month back. Invited to the Delhi event at the last minute thanks to my friend and ex-colleague Rahul Bhattacharya, (a very successful YouTuber and the boss of Quick Reaction Team), many questions rushed to my mind… 
 
– Should I be actually be going at all as I was very sure the event would be swarming with YouTube WhizKids and not a place for an oldie like me
 
– Should I reach on time…Am a sucker for reaching on time, would the others be sticklers for time as well? Will I look old fashioned if I reach on time? 
 
– Should I take a print out of the invitation (its YouTube so everything would be digital, right?)…I took a printout anyway, just in case.
 
As expected the venue was teeming with GenNext crowd and you are right I didn’t require the print of the invite. Just had to confirm my name on the attendee list, fill up a form, put on the entry wrist band and I was in. 
 
Young 20-somethings were all over the place. Luckily for me the first timers looked equally lost. Soon everyone started mingling, decibel levels rose and I met a couple of very interesting YouTubers, on the verge of making it big. 
 
I met Kishan Chand of VedicVatica, a Hindi Ayurvedic Home Remedy channel. With only graphics-based videos, the channel has already made a mark with more than 4000 subscribers. 
 
Another interesting YouTuber I met was Gaurav of Filmy Point. The channel is all about showcasing Top Ten songs of the Week/Month/Year. He only uses 6 seconds of the songs, thus avoiding copyright violation and hitting all the right notes with a huge music fan base.   
 
The #YouTubeHappyHour was an exercise to introduce YouTube Delhi ambassadors – one of whom of course is my friend Rahul Bhattacharya, the others – Ameen Khan of Nazar Battu and Sejal Kumar of The Clothing Edit fame. 
 
Only when the race to grab YouTube t-shirts began, the extent of the popularity of the three ambassadors dawned on me. The younger lots’ knowledge of their fellow YouTubers was astounding. The whizkids were literally jumping over each other to answer questions like – 
– when was the ambassador’s first video  launched
– who said what in which video
 
Yes they knew all the answers. Hats off! 
 
Asked to promote the event on social media, it was a sight to see how enthusiastically and instantly they created Videos/Selfies to be shared on the #YouTubeHappyHour platform. No doubts or inhibitions, only frenzied excitement. 
 
At the end of it all I realised that it is not about competing with the energy and exuberance of the new generation, it’s about finding out ways to make your videos go viral. The key is to meet and find out what makes them tick, and pluck out a few techniques to take Glint.tv to the next level.

Happy Ending @ Delhi’s #YouTubeHappyHour | An Outsider’s View

About The Author
- A sports freak, a movie buff, a television producer. Considers himself lucky to be make a living out his hobbies. Now finally he's on his own but his business remains the same. Rajesh Sahu is the director of Glint.tv