@h3h3Productions: Social Capital Filled with Goofs, Gaffs, and Laughs

Social capital on social media refers to the amount of reach a user has on any specific online platform. For h3h3Productions, the use of social capital to give laughs is important. In 2013, Ethan, former marketing executive, and Hila, former art student, were stepping into a realm they had never adventured before. Ethan and Hila Klein, founders of YouTube channel “h3h3Productions”, began their journey into the YouTube world in 2013 by releasing a video on YouTube reacting to “Girls Who Read”. Unfortunately, they have unlisted the video and it cannot be seen by the public, but this launch into the meme world on YouTube completely changed their channel forever. Since 2013, h3h3Productions have grown their channel into a YouTube powerhouse collecting continuous social capital growing their channel to over 3.3 million subscribers. So, how does a channel based on memes and the reactions to memes, grow social capital? Post more memes. The Klein’s had their first viral meme posted in 2013, shortly after their first reaction video, and it has accumulated over 7 million views. That video is below:

After this, they began to post more and more content to continuously grow their channel. They would make more hits with videos like:

These classic videos are what established a brand for h3h3. They had cemented their target audience and established a fan base. Unfortunately, as h3h3 became more popular, people started to “rip-off” the reaction videos. However, the main misconception between the reaction videos others posted and h3h3 was that h3h3 had put time and effort into the thoughts within the video and with production of the videos. A majority of the reactors other than h3h3 would have videos where they would just sit and watch a video while it was on their screen and call it a “reaction video” to gain millions of views. However, this did not hurt h3h3Productions as the channel continued to grow. Eventually, h3h3 would become one of the most popular channels on YouTube creating some of the most original content the site had ever seen. Spreading goofs, gaffs, and laughs, they released video after video.

Importantly, they started to make themselves one with memes and have became memes themselves. For example, when you hear someone say, “vape naysh y’all”, this originated from their video below:

Or the internet meme of the saying “Papa Bless” originating from their reaction video to Papa John.

Anyone who pays attention to YouTube has surely seen one of their videos in the trending column or in one of their recommended videos. They have cemented themselves as meme legends and they will stay there for eternity.

Papa Bless.🙏