"James Kotecki: Video Blogger"

Our class video conference with James Kotecki was the most memorable class period of the quarter. I often think about the rise of Youtube or video blogging celebrities such as Kotecki, and one of my favorite new artists, Marie Digby, who aired on Star 98.7 after she was discovered on Youtube. A lot of times, it seems that these video bloggers are simply doing what they love, reporting politics in a fun way, or making acoustic covers of popular music, not wanting or anticipating the fame that can literally happen overnight. Digby has a record deal now. Kotecki landed a job with Politico.com. And they are veritable cyber-celebrities, but where does something like Kotecki's current job begin exactly? I had the opportunity to ask him a bit about it. Here's a re-cap of my class notes, Kotecki's responses to my questions etc.:

• Regarding how he got started, Kotecki says...

"I realized there was a low standard for what people can do to be popular [on spaces like Youtube]. I decided I would try an experiment to see how popular I could get by rehashing presidential candidates' news. I really just wanted to see how popular I could get."

"I started out making short videos in my dorm room."

• Praises and critiques about life in the Youtube world....

(+) POSITIVES

"See, the thing about Youtube, is that it should be a conversation, a dialogue...and I think a lot of the time it achieves that two-way dialogue."

"It emphasizes participatory culture, and I get instant feedback, sometimes within three or four hours of a post. Sometimes there are video responses."

"Specifically thinking about the political debate concept, candidates operating on live feed need to be much more candid. It's like a town hall format, and I feel, a step in the right direction. It increases the legitimacy of the candidates' answers, and tests their ability to improvise and spin the answer in their own interest. It features dialogue which is possibly censored on mainstream news."

"Youtube and internet culture offers a level playing field helping to launch careers everywhere. It made me who I am today."

"It's simply a great space for fun, quirky videos."

(-) NEGATIVES

"I acknowledge that net culture can be vicious, vile, sexist, homophobic... but that's just the nature of the internet".

"Sometimes people say is that all it takes is quality [to become popularized on the internet], but that's not necessarily true. A lot of it is luck and timing."

• When asked how he actively defines and redefines his internet identity as a professional political blogger....

"I do a lot of pattern studies, subscribe to a lot of political channels..."

"Sold out? NO! I bought in."

• When asked about his job at Politico.com...

"I like the flexibility of sustaining my living this way. I never thought I would be doing this, that's for sure. "

"I'm more hardened to critiques now, and I'm comfortable with the attention." Kotecki remembers being recognized and praised on a subway in New York, but says, "I'm not that famous...not famous at all!"

"I love the performance aspect, skewing more towards entertainment rather than anything too serious...There's definitely no way to watch [Playbook TV] and get your fill of the day's news...it's a quick political fix...sometimes people tell me 'I get my news from you,' and my response to that is 'WHY?!!"

"I have three to four thousand subscribers who hopefully benefit from my web presence, and expand their political minds a little bit."

"I think I'd have more success as an attractive, young woman on Youtube."

• Anxieties about his private life as a result of his internet persona?

"I think my subscribers like the fact that I'm a real person, so I kept my Facebook profile as real as it was before. "

"I have, however, experienced some reputation restriction. On Facebook, I've censored things that are damning, and I've deleted critical comments [from others] on Youtube."

• Final thoughts about forging interesting online personas and developing them?

"(1) KEEP A NARROW FOCUS: something that you know about and are interested in
(2) HAVE A PLAN: for a script and editing, with time left to play around
(3) ENJOY!"


*** I can definitely enjoy Kotecki's net presence. He inspires a sense of opinionated edge with which to color the dry world of factual news. I think he represents a refreshing rawness of character, and frames valid, informed political opinion in such a way that is comedic and entertaining, but that also provokes the want and need for more information. His work is a sound opportunity for youth who, as a whole generation, are sweepingly apathetic about politics to take their typical hunger for immediate self-gratification somewhere else to eat for once. ***