Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today I got an email from a reporter from a current affairs show in New Zealand.
He saw the video which I made as a response to John Key – who is a New Zealand politician (for the National Party).
And he asked me if I was interested in doing a video with:
a comment about National's moves to target the younger demographic through blogging, youtube and so forth - whether you think it'll work, whether it's a cynical ploy (not putting words in your mouth, but I think it's a fair question), and how successful John's attempts are so far.
Well, I don’t know if I’m a good person to comment because I don’t that much about politics ... and I’ve only been back to New Zealand once in the last 6 years.
But I do vote, and I am kind of addicted to YouTube and I’m under 40 ... so, here’s my opinion.
I think that it’s a great idea for National to put videos on YouTube if they want me to watch them because I’m more likely to watch them if they’re on YouTube than actually go to their site and watch a video.
Like when I first came across National’s videos I was just randomly clicking around YouTube one day and I thought hmmm I wonder if there’s any New Zealand videos on YouTube.
I do think their style needs to be improved – I talked about that before though.
Do I think it’ll work?
I guess you mean do I think they’ll get more votes just by putting videos on YouTube.
Mmm, no.
Anyone with a webcam and an internet connection can post videos to YouTube so just by putting them there isn’t going to mean people will like you.
If anything, it often has the opposite effect.
YouTube is a pretty harsh place. It’s not for the faint-hearted. Some of the comments are pretty mmm ... If people think you suck or you’re retarded or whatever their charming choice of vocabulary is ... they definitely don’t hold back in telling you.
Is it a cynical ploy?
Well ... maybe I’m just naive but I like to think that politicians are politicians because they genuinely want to help make the country a good place to live.
So supposing they genuinely want to be open about their ideas by posting them on YouTube and get feedback ... then mmm no worries.
How successful are John’s attempts so far?
Well, I have no idea in terms of who is planning to vote for the National party ... but I can talk about his YouTube success.
The National Party joined YouTube on the 5th of August 2006. And as of today they have 38 subscribers.
They have 34 videos so far and the video views aren’t so great ... the last video they posted was three days ago and it only has 34 views.
Compared to say Renetto’s latest video which was posted 1 day ago and it already has over 11 thousand views.
So, yeah. Sorry John. Not doing so well on YouTube.
But if YouTube popularity is what you want ... then it’s not that hard.
Firstly you could cheat for example get your staff to make a whole lot of fake accounts and subscribe to yourself and if anyone criticizes you just call them a hater.
You could also get attention by uploading angry tirade against a popular user.
Kind of like what you guys do in parliament.
Being sexy or trying to be sexy is a good way to get popular ... but I’m not so sure if that’s appropriate.
You could try the Daxflame approach and pretend to be mentally-challenged.
Or you try lip-syncing like Smosh’s Pokemon video or Numa Numa. Or you try dancing like the Evolution of Dance or Where the Hell is Matt?
Yeah, you could do Where the Hell is John? And dance all around New Zealand.
Anyway, the final thing I want to say is this. In New Zealand – compared to Japan anyway – the internet is so slow and so expensive that ... I don’t even think many people in New Zealand actually watch YouTube or other video sites like that.
Because I’ve recommended The Daily English Show to Japanese people in New Zealand ... and often people say yeah, they want to watch it ... but the net is just so slow and expensive.
So can you guys please sort that out like yesterday. Thanks.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora in Stick News today Elton John has written a magazine article urging people around the world to stand up and speak out against homophobia.
Elton John was born in England in 1947.
Elton is a singer, composer and pianist.
On Sunday he turns 60.
Elton John is gay. His partner’s name is David. They had a civil ceremony in December 2005.
Some people hate others just because they are gay.
Elton said: "Men and women are persecuted and attacked every day all over the world, just because of who they love and who they make love to."
He said people must stand up for the human rights of homosexuals.
"Whether the bigot is in our local pub or a thousand miles away, we should all stand up and speak out for these basic human rights."
And that was Stick News for Thursday the 22nd of March.
Kia Ora.
the snow report
Today I opened the kitchen window and I saw these massive icicles outside.
conversations with sarah
#199 Do you ever watch Close Up?
Step 1: Repeat Junko’s lines.
Step 2: Read Junko’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Junko Do you ever watch Close Up?
Sarah Sometimes. The quality of the videos on their site isn’t so good so ...
Junko What kind of programme is it?
Sarah Current affairs.
Junko Is it good?
Sarah Mmm ... actually I haven’t watched it recently. But I didn’t like the last presenter ... so I didn’t used to like it.
Junko Why didn’t you like their presenter?
Sarah I just didn’t like her interview style. She seemed like she always just snapped at people and she didn’t seem very intelligent.
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