178: How to Talk about Controversial Topics

8/1/2017

This week, we make a few big announcements! Then, we discuss how Kevin is adjusting to life after being fired, and finally we answer a listener question about talking about controversial topics on his YouTube channel.

SHOW NOTES:
Opener:
177: Kevin Got Fired (The Full Story) | The Inner Tube

Team Hwatever | YouTube

SHcMOOK Network | YouTube

Joe Repp (@daJoezenOne) | Twitter

Big Head Kid (@BigHeadKid1) | Twitter

Channel Awesome | YouTube

Nostalgia Critic -Channel Awesome | YouTube

CinemaSins | YouTube

Home Improvement -TV Series | Wikipedia

Kevin’s Patreon

My role on The Inner Tube. (h/t @FrStephanos) -@dearfuturejosh | Twitter

Blimey Cow’s Patreon

Jesus And That's How I Saved The World T-shirt | SunFrog

Teespring

Bubble Cannon | App Store

Facebook Marketplace

Adventures in Odyssey Avery Awards | Whits End

The Ceiling Fan Podcast

Sloth -Task Manager | App Store

Google Keep

I'm Sound Designing a Short Film! -Say Goodnight Kevin | YouTube

Ben Shapiro/Cenk Uygur Debate | YouTube

Big Brother -TV Series | YouTube

172: Where we go from here. | The Inner Tube

New strategy to grow The Inner Tube -@dearfuturejosh | Twitter

Links Mentioned in Thomas‘ Question:
The Geek Wave | YouTube

Bobby Burns | YouTube

Soda is Disgusting - The Geek Wave | YouTube

The Lion King -1994 Film | Wikipedia

The Lion King -2019 Film | Wikipedia

James Earl Jones | Wikipedia

Closing:
The Inner Circle | The Inner Tube

Corban Garcia | Twitter

Who Would Build the Roads?

Understanding Net Neutrality | Who Would Build the Roads?

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14 Comments

Jeff Ross

8/2/2017 01:15:57 am

The new branding for the Inner Tube:
“THE podcast for content creators… and those who love us.”

Rationale: This new branding keeps intact the original audience of those aspiring to make and improve upon their content while expanding the intended audience to two new groups of people who would enjoy the show: People who already enjoy content made by Josh and/or Kevin, as well as people who wish to better engage with the content creators in their own lives (this last demographic was brought to my attention by Josiah the Carrot Stick in the comment section of Episode 161). The “us” in the branding is purposefully ambiguous, so that it can either refer to Josh & Kevin specifically or Josh, Kevin, & all content creators. This new branding expands the creative license that Josh and Kevin will have with podcast episodes going into the future without removing that which they already had from the beginning of the show. In addition, the new branding expands the range of guests that can be justified appearing on the show, as the guest no longer has to have “content creation” expertise, but can simply be someone that appreciates the work that Josh & Kevin (or other content creators) do. [For example, this new branding would allow Josh to have his wife Kelli on the show without making that episode all about blogging. It could even be an episode called “What it’s like to be married to a content creator” and would fit well within the new branding, despite not fitting so well with the old branding.]

Why I personally like this new branding: It’s similar enough to the original that old listeners will not be “turned off” by new episodes and new listeners will not be “turned off” by old episodes. It modifies but does not radically change what this show is all about, marking a natural progression in the show’s history rather than the start of a new podcast. It also keeps this podcast from becoming “The Josh and Kevin Show” because the overarching theme of the show remains focused on content creation and content creators (a group that includes Josh and Kevin) rather than spotlighting tube much on Josh and Kevin’s personal lives. If this podcast ever becomes 100% about Josh and Kevin in lieu of giving advice on content creation, the audience engagement factor will reduce from an integral part of the show to an inconsequential part of the show. Instead of “we’re creating content just like you can” & “we’re normal people just like you are”, Josh & Kevin would come across as “we’re creating content that you should watch and listen to ” & “we’re celebrities that you should look up to”, which caters to a different audience and will grow stale quicker. If there is demand for that type of podcast 100% of the time, then the Blimey Cow podcast should be revived to cater to that audience (though you might have to rename it “Blimey Cow & Kevin”) rather than fundamentally changing what the Inner Tube is all about.

What Kevin & Josh have said about podcast focus in the past: this advice is found in Episode 028, which they gave to Olivia Howard (now Olivia Williams) of Fresh Modesty at the 20:08-31:38 mark, when she asked about what style to make her podcast.
My summary of what they said: Podcasts purely upon personalities don’t really grow. Oftentimes people search for podcasts based upon topic. They may stay because of the personality, but without the topic-centered approach, the podcast audience will have slower or non-existent growth. (I know that the episode about Kevin losing his job had the “shock value” title that spiked downloads, but that was a one-off event. Changing the podcast to be purely personality-based would not continue with that kind of growth pattern, as people do not usually search for personality keywords when looking for new podcasts.)

I voluntarily give my idea for the Inner Tube’s new branding to Josh and Kevin free of charge. I welcome suggestions to improve upon my new branding idea in the reply comments below, provided that they are also voluntary and free of charge.

“The Inner Tube: THE podcast for content creators… and those who love us.”

Jeff Ross

8/2/2017 01:16:35 am

To show how this branding could work, here is a potential post-theme song dialogue from the show:
“Welcome to the Inner Tube: THE podcast for content creators… and those who love us. My name is Josh…”
“…and my name is Kevin.”
“Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the show. In case you’re new here, this podcast is all about content creation and the people who make it happen. Whether you have ever thought about making a YouTube channel, podcast, blog, web comic, or any other digital media production, or you know someone else who has…”
“…like us…”
“…yes, Kevin, like us, then this show is for you.”
“Even if you’re a dog…”
“Oh, that’s right, Barkley listens to this show…”
“…my dog Barkley listens to this show when I’m not at home with him, which has been a lot less frequent since I became self-employed again…”
“…How has Barkley been now that you are at home more often?”
“Well, he seems to be doing fine. He had been complaining, a little bit, before I was fired, about me leaving home early to go to work…”
“[Josh laughs]”
“…he was criticizing me, calling me out for not being a team player and playing fetch with him during these bright summer days, told me I wasn’t doing what he hired me to do…”
“[Josh laughs harder]”
“but now he’s happy and I’m happy and we’re all getting a lot more done.”
“He didn’t fire you, Kevin…”
“…no, he didn’t. He also couldn’t afford the severance package I was asking for.”
[Josh & Kevin both have a good laugh before Josh gets the show back on track.]

Masøn M.

8/2/2017 04:37:08 pm

When you're such a fan that you can predict a bunch of lines of dialogue and have it be unbelievably believable... Seriously, I'm convinced that you're, like, Kevin or Josh from another dimension or something...

Johannes

8/3/2017 12:17:28 pm

Are you a ghost writer for the show or something?

Josiah the Carrot Stick

8/3/2017 12:36:21 pm

Fun fact: I was texting my sister, and made a reference to Josh being the cohost of the Inner Tube, and she thought I said ghost not cohost.

Jeff Ross

8/4/2017 11:23:39 pm

Wait, Josiah, did your sister misread your text or did it incorrectly auto-correct? I'm not used to people misunderstanding written text like they would the spoken word...

Josiah the Carrot Stick

8/6/2017 02:43:04 pm

I think she just read it quickly and incorrectly. I'm pretty sure I punched it in correctly, I have a flip phone, so it's T9 I have to worry about, not autocorrect.

David Bauler

9/8/2017 06:09:34 pm

I will keep listening, even as the format changes. Its tough bringing in politics to a mostly entertainment based channel. The Bible Reloaded channel does some great stuff on popular culture, but they are also atheists (and I'm not). I still watch their entertainment videos. JonTron does great entertainment videos, but is really bad at articulating his politics (or just has bad politics).

Jeff Ross

8/2/2017 01:24:44 am

It appears that Joe Repp was inducted into the Inner Circle twice after this episode, with two different YouTube channels (Team Hwatever and SHcMOOK Network). Is this a temporary thing or does he have a special exemption to have two entries into the Inner Circle?

Corban Garcia link

8/2/2017 10:59:43 am

By request of Josh, both have been inducted.
(It also evens out the Inner Circle to 3 rows of 4.)

Jeff Ross

8/2/2017 03:57:35 pm

Oh, okay. That makes sense. Thanks for the clarification, Corban!

Laura Martin

8/2/2017 05:46:03 pm

I think a branding update would be good. I'm interested in content creation but not really doing it much right now...I mostly listen for the banter and interesting discussions.

Johannes

8/3/2017 12:23:20 pm

I think a branding update would be fine. Whenever I tell someone about the show, I say something along the lines of "It's *technically* about content creation, but it's really about anything".

Kristi

8/5/2017 12:16:47 pm

Haha Kevin is right. I never know when it's appropriate to interrupt. #introvertproblems

178: How to Talk about Controversial Topics

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