The 19th annual Project for Awesome has raised $4.1 million so far, by far the most successful p4a of all time, which has me thinking about the paradox of large communities.
Our little corner of the Internet used to be much bigger--today the average vlogbrothers video gets 150,000 views, whereas in 2015 it got 500,000 views. Nobody's making sketches on SNL about my history of tuberculosis the way they did about The Fault in Our Stars.
And yet, although our community and fanbase are smaller than they were 10 years ago, they're also much more powerful. This is true in terms of fundraising; it's also true in terms of, like, successfully bullying large corporations to lower the price of tuberculosis tests. As a social movement, nerdfighteria is at its peak, even if it's well past its peak as a pop culture phenomenon.
I won't lie: I found being near the center of U.S pop culture very unpleasant. But not only that, it wasn't very effective as a fandom or social movement, precisely because it was so broad. What it's become now--an online community with strong values and a deep, 19-year understanding of itself--is so much cooler and more valuable than when the phenomenon of Hank&John were at their "peak."
The really interesting fandoms and affinity groups are not the biggest ones. In fact, you can be stronger when you're smaller. So find those small online communities. Contribute to them. Make stuff together, and in the process, you can ease the work of being here for yourself and others. I know nerdfighteria has done that for me these last few years.
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