MrBeast (and the concept of "youtube philanthropy")

[laterallyshaking]

So there is a guy named Jimmy Donaldson, who goes by the name of MrBeast on Youtube. (Read about him here if you're feeling froggy.) He has given away millions of dollars to random people, and he is 22. He started his Youtube channel at 13, and somewhere along the line, he decided to convince a sponsor to donate $10,000 that he would then give to a homeless person. The views went through the roof, and he now averages well over 20 Million views on his videos.

Combine the ad revenue from those views with his sponsorship money and merchandise money, and he brings in quite a bit of money. He surely keeps a good slice of this for himself, but he still consistently gives large sums away to random people.

I have seen critics of this type of "youtube philanthropy" talking about how it's immoral to make money off of filming these people in need while you give them free stuff... However a decent counter-argument is that in the case of people like Jimmy Donaldson, the filming of these people in need generates more revenue and allows him to continue giving to other people in need.

Perhaps he has a good heart and wants to give to people. Perhaps he's a narcissist and loves the attention he is getting. Or perhaps he has found his youtube niche and discovered the best way to make a buttload of money. Maybe all of that combined. Who can say?

Either way, he has ended up doing some pretty amazing stuff, and the folks he has donated to surely like to see him coming.

What are your thoughts? Have you seen any of his stuff before? Like it? Hate it? What do you think about Youtube Philanthropy in general?

(His latest video is below.)

 

[pleaseclap]

I've never watched this guy. He just seems to enjoy making people happy. I've seen some that are cringy as fuck though. Like the "give a homeless person $100 and follow them around to see what they do with it" type stuff is just awful.

 

[Old Glory]

So there is a guy named Jimmy Donaldson, who goes by the name of MrBeast on Youtube. (Read about him here if you're feeling froggy.) He has given away millions of dollars to random people, and he is 22. He started his Youtube channel at 13, and somewhere along the line, he decided to convince a sponsor to donate $10,000 that he would then give to a homeless person. The views went through the roof, and he now averages well over 20 Million views on his videos.

Combine the ad revenue from those views with his sponsorship money and merchandise money, and he brings in quite a bit of money. He surely keeps a good slice of this for himself, but he still consistently gives large sums away to random people.

I have seen critics of this type of "youtube philanthropy" talking about how it's immoral to make money off of filming these people in need while you give them free stuff... However a decent counter-argument is that in the case of people like Jimmy Donaldson, the filming of these people in need generates more revenue and allows him to continue giving to other people in need.

Perhaps he has a good heart and wants to give to people. Perhaps he's a narcissist and loves the attention he is getting. Or perhaps he has found his youtube niche and discovered the best way to make a buttload of money. Maybe all of that combined. Who can say?

Either way, he has ended up doing some pretty amazing stuff, and the folks he has donated to surely like to see him coming.

What are your thoughts? Have you seen any of his stuff before? Like it? Hate it? What do you think about Youtube Philanthropy in general?

(His latest video is below.)

I've watched some of his videos and he seems genuine. I agree with the counter argument. Sure, like @pleaseclap said, there are some awful videos of people doing this stuff, but I like to think that most people filming these types are videos are doing it to spread positivity and show that you can make someone's day by doing nice things and that it doesn't have to be at MrBeast's level, although that would be amazing. Not only does it allow MrBeast to do more, but it also inspires others to do the same, hopefully for the right reasons. There's an Instagram account where the guys just goes around and compliments people on something nice about that person and it always makes them smile. It costs nothing except a few seconds of time yet so many people say "That just made my day".

 

[laterallyshaking]

I've never watched this guy. He just seems to enjoy making people happy. I've seen some that are cringy as fuck though. Like the "give a homeless person $100 and follow them around to see what they do with it" type stuff is just awful.

Oh I haven't seen those. I can see where the youtube philanthropists might be getting a bad name, then.

 

[laterallyshaking]

I've watched some of his videos and he seems genuine. I agree with the counter argument. Sure, like @pleaseclap said, there are some awful videos of people doing this stuff, but I like to think that most people filming these types are videos are doing it to spread positivity and show that you can make someone's day by doing nice things and that it doesn't have to be at MrBeast's level, although that would be amazing. Not only does it allow MrBeast to do more, but it also inspires others to do the same, hopefully for the right reasons. There's an Instagram account where the guys just goes around and compliments people on something nice about that person and it always makes them smile. It costs nothing except a few seconds of time yet so many people say "That just made my day".

I agree! He does seem to be pretty genuine.

And I know the guy you're talking about as well. Seeing people's reactions to something as simple as a compliment is pretty great.

 

[squanchy]

So there is a guy named Jimmy Donaldson, who goes by the name of MrBeast on Youtube. (Read about him here if you're feeling froggy.) He has given away millions of dollars to random people, and he is 22. He started his Youtube channel at 13, and somewhere along the line, he decided to convince a sponsor to donate $10,000 that he would then give to a homeless person. The views went through the roof, and he now averages well over 20 Million views on his videos.

Combine the ad revenue from those views with his sponsorship money and merchandise money, and he brings in quite a bit of money. He surely keeps a good slice of this for himself, but he still consistently gives large sums away to random people.

I have seen critics of this type of "youtube philanthropy" talking about how it's immoral to make money off of filming these people in need while you give them free stuff... However a decent counter-argument is that in the case of people like Jimmy Donaldson, the filming of these people in need generates more revenue and allows him to continue giving to other people in need.

Perhaps he has a good heart and wants to give to people. Perhaps he's a narcissist and loves the attention he is getting. Or perhaps he has found his youtube niche and discovered the best way to make a buttload of money. Maybe all of that combined. Who can say?

Either way, he has ended up doing some pretty amazing stuff, and the folks he has donated to surely like to see him coming.

What are your thoughts? Have you seen any of his stuff before? Like it? Hate it? What do you think about Youtube Philanthropy in general?

(His latest video is below.)

I've seen this guy's stuff and I love the cut of his squanch. I always love watching his videos when I do. If I remember correctly he started making videos about minecraft before he started with his new squanch.

 

[laterallyshaking]

I've seen this guy's stuff and I love the cut of his squanch. I always love watching his videos when I do. If I remember correctly he started making videos about minecraft before he started with his new squanch.

That's squanch!

 

[squanchy]

That's squanch!

You should stop by my squanch sometime so we can do some squanchin!

 

[JordanPetersHorn]

It’s a net positive, but it will spawn tons of imitators who will abuse the shit out of it for views which are irritating.

Just like those god damn reaction videos, predictable YouTube formulas get abused till the end of time

 

[quickfeet]

Capitalism IYAM

 

[Tide In The ATL]

He’s incredible. Most people making money on YouTube are trying to milk it for every penny they can, which is completely understandable. He is one of the few who gives most of it away. The the amount of people he has helped over the last few years is crazy. I enjoy his videos where he just goes to people’s random streams on Twitch and will just give them a pile of money. Their reactions are priceless.

 

[laterallyshaking]

He’s incredible. Most people making money on YouTube are trying to milk it for every penny they can, which is completely understandable. He is one of the few who gives most of it away. The the amount of people he has helped over the last few years is crazy. I enjoy his videos where he just goes to people’s random streams on Twitch and will just give them a pile of money. Their reactions are priceless.

Yeah there are a few videos where you see his house, and while it’s certainly nice, probably an 800k house, It’s certainly not the flipping mansion he could be living in if he kept most of that money to himself.