SATURDAY BLOG: IT'S ALL ABOUT COMMUNITY

Happy Saturday, gang. Don’t normally post on a Saturday, but… we’ve made some of our older main channel videos public again after un-listing them last year, and we’ve put up some new playlists on both our channels to make everything easier to find.

I know making the older videos unlisted upset some people, but as I’ve probably explained before, we were seemingly ONLY getting pushed out to Cheapshow and Barshens subscribers to diminishing returns, which was stopping us growing... and meant that every single video was met with a chorus of "When are Paul and Eli coming back?".

It was dispiriting, to say the least, not to feel like we were wanted on our own channel.

The main channel has now kind of established itself with Sanja and I – and when we do put up a new video they do really well by our previous standards - while Digi Level 2 is sufficiently established as its own thing, that it’s time to sort of celebrate the breadth of what we’ve done over the years. 

I’m proud of everything we’ve done. It’s one hell of a body of work, even if I do say so myself.

The last few years were tough for us, as you know, and we found it really hard to do lighter, sillier, stuff. But… I think this year's output should reflect us being on more of an even keel once more.

That doesn’t mean we’re not still doing our big doco-type things, mind - they're not going to end up as some aberration - because they still feel right to us. I love to challenge and educate myself (hence Poland!), but they'll be balanced out with quicker, sillier stuff on one or other of the channels – like the Let’s Plays. Which we really enjoy doing.

Our main challenge is always going to be getting content out faster, and giving you lot what you want, while still feeling satisfied by what we're making.

Aside from the fact we still have to earn a living, and we’ve got a big family… much as I love those bigger projects, like Digi Level 2 or the docs, between the research, the travel, the set-building, the filming and the editing… the schedule becomes sporadic.

Having some enforced downtime thanks to my buggered-up back made us take stock after Digi Level 2. We realised we need to find ways to keep you all engaged in-between bigger videos.

Inevitably, being in our dank hole last year meant that we slightly neglected the community.

The power of Biffo’s Brain and Writer’s Club Zooms (and the old Digi2000 Friday Letters Page), all really helped the community feel more cohesive. As have the Digi Level 2 premiers. It’s one of the things we lost as social media broke up into its own little islands.

ISLANDS IN THE STREAM

So, we’re going to TRY to do some more live streams, and aim to do them regularly. It’s brilliant the way Ashens does his – he’s got his main channel, but it’s his Twitch stuff that seems to keep his core community together.

We’ve had some ideas for what we can do on the streams that will fit with the main channel – they’ll be on YT rather than Twitch – and we’ll start with one or two. Sticking to a schedule (as Biffo’s Brain people have found…) is our biggest challenge, just because of...<wafts a hand over all the other demands on our time>. Thus, we'll start small and see how we get on.

For me personally, I’m always drawn to things that push me, where I get to experiment and do new things creatively. I don't love repeating myself, and tend to be more fulfilled by making those more involved sort of videos. But! If we can also do things that are enjoyable in the moment to make, but also quick and easy to put out, then we should be able to find a balance.

Anyway. My back’s on the mend – I more or less managed to shuffle around a supermarket yesterday, albeit in a fair bit of pain – so I’m hoping we can still film our next video this coming week before we head off to Central Europe. The back had better be fixed by then. 

Tomorrow night we're doing a Zoom at 7.30pm for Biffo's Brain, with a Writer’s Club one to follow when we’re back from Poland in early March). Join us!

Oh, and hopefully some Beanus Live news next week. Thanks to everyone who has suggested venues. Keep your fingers crossed for Harrow Arts, though.

Paul