He's just been declared YouTube's Creator of the year.

His videos collectively have over 4 billion views.

He doesn't act or sing

And he's just 22.

How is it that the YouTube universe generates statistics that would make mainstream studios salivate?

He's got a bunch of buddies doing his bidding, staging what seems like dumb stuff.

On average, each of his videos get over 20 million views.

And they're elaborately shot and produced.

The first one, which propelled him to stardom was unbelievably simple

He counted non-stop straight from number 1 to 100,000.

That's it.

The video on YouTube goes on for 23 hours and 48 minutes.

It's got over 20 million views.

Behind him is a poster of an elderly lady using an inhaler

An Asian man's face partially covered is right behind him. He tells you it is his best friend.

Also in the frame is a partially eaten sandwich.

That's all there is to it.

He lets you know he's doing it because he is bored

And he goes on and on and on.

It's exhausting to watch him. 

What is working? The plot? The effort? The monotony?

He's cracked a code but no one knows what it is.

Today's hits are tomorrow's classics

At some point, every classic was a hit

Whether it was books, fashion, movies or songs.

It blazed a trail and made an impact that lasted decades or centuries.

With the number of songs and movies being churned out today, this journey has got compressed as well.

 A decade is now deemed to be enough time for a hit to become a classic.

And as the hits increase, the classics grow voluminous as well.

There's no way we can keep up with the profusion of year end 'Best of...lists'

It used to be easy.

If we have 2 or 3 hours of leisure a day, what do we devote it to?

There's no way to keep up with everything.

Instead of worrying about missing out on something, stay in a narrow lane.

It is not necessary to gather all the the wisdom and the variety of the world.

Trying to catch up with every single 'Best film of the year' at the Oscars would mean starting from 1929. That's not pleasure. It's work.

Over time, you will begin to like current hits a lot less. And lean towards the classics.

All experiences over time are distilled into memories. The past is how the present ages.

The charge of the local brigade

In India, Jio is getting local merchants online.

Will the charge of the local brigade succeed?.

Each of us receives messages to help small local shops

But that involves going around to each of them in the area to find what you want.

It was the only way to do it before Flipkart and Amazon arrived.

People care about their own convenience. And prices.

And between whipping out the mobile phone or taking a vehicle out to buy something, what do you think most people will settle for?

Intentions don't matter, actions do.

Sook is a browser extension for Chrome.

The developer, Jonathan Sandals is approaching local shopping from another angle.

He's going city by city

To begin with, he's aggregated local merchants in Seattle.

So, people living in the city can add the browser extension, to shop local online.

Without having to go to individual websites of the local shops. And registering at each one.

Aggregation is the only way it will work.

But this is bottom up, not top down.

Of course, the shop has to have a website, or else this won't work

In India, the shops will probably be built on WhatsApp

But this idea has legs

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