I spend a lot of my free time on YouTube. I really love the amount of creativity that YouTube is allowing people to express in new and interesting ways. I connect with a lot of people on there; I really enjoy talking with people about what they love to do.
One of the aspects that I especially love is the culture of collaboration within the YouTube ecosystem. A great example is Pomplamoose, a duo consisting of Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte. I’ve heard the name thrown around a number of times before, but for some reason I never watched their videos. That changed tonight, and I’ve been listening to their originals and their covers all night.
When I look back at a lot of the things I like on YouTube, I notice that a lot of them are collaborations in some form or another (OK Go and the Notre Dame Marching Band, Julia Nunes and Ben Folds, Molly Lewis and Jonathan Coulton…). It’s wonderful to see that people are able to join together and share an interest and passion in something.
Most of the ideas I’ve been planning and starting lately happen to be collaborations, too. Collaborations are great for the kinds of projects I like to do; the projects are often too big for one person to do solo, and it really helps to have another set of eyes and another body of talent available while you’re working. You’re able to explore different interests with different people, and the passion you share really shines in the end product.
I can’t wait to see how they turn out.