How Nick Robinson Uses His Social Capital for Better and for Worse
Social Capital is the idea that social relationships are formed among groups of people with a shared sense of identity, and that an increase in those relationships can lead to capital gain. The way social capital works is that people with more of a following will have more contacts and greater opportunities because of that. I think that social capital can be a good thing, but more often than not it is used selfishly to get more money. An example can be promoting brand sponsorships for a product that you don’t use or that you know is harmful.
A YouTuber that has used his social capital for both good and bad is Nick Robinson. Before he became popular on YouTube, Nick was a video producer for Polygon. In early August of 2017, accusations started coming out about Nick after user Bloody Honey tweeted the following:
From there numerous others came forth with similar allegations of sexual harassment. He was quickly suspended and later fired from his job at Polygon. Nick’s position at Polygon gave him many connections in the gaming industry. He used his social capital to message and sexually harass women over social media.
While it does not excuse his behavior, Nick did apologize and take full responsibility for his actions. He promised to change his behavior and nothing has come out since then to make it seem like that was a lie. It is easier for me to forgive and forget when I was never affected by his actions. I understand if Nick’s victims never trust him again. I believe people can change, and if someone sincerely apologizes and corrects their actions I see that as a sign of someone who is changing for the better.
Nick is also an example of someone who used his social capital for good. After the accusations and his apology, Nick kept a lower profile. Eventually he returned to the spotlight, but for a very different reason than before. On May 24, 2018, Nick Robinson uploaded a video to his YouTube Channel titled “The Domino’s ad that vanished from YouTube”. The video was received incredibly well and boosted his subscriber count from 3,000 to over 20,000.
In his video, Nick flew to Domino Japan’s headquarters to find an answer to where a YouTube video of theirs went. Over the next few years, Nick continued using his social capital to spread information that was completely lost to the public. He found a Nintendo character that had 0 search results on google, now there are over 70,000. He talked about a game he loved that isn’t purchasable anymore, now there is a petition with over 100,000 signatures to bring it back. He spent a long time trying to find who voiced the Super Monkey Ball announcer to give him credit for the role. None of this would have been possible if he didn’t have the connections he did and the following he did. Nick’s social capital was crucial in all the good he has done, as well as the bad.
The things Nick did in his time since the allegations were not huge and helpful good deeds. However, in all these cases he spread information we otherwise wouldn’t know or at least be able to share to such a wide audience. What ties everything Nick has done together is his passion. When he used his passion for something bad, he sexually harassed women over social media. Once he started using this passion for good he spread new information, put a lot of effort in his video projects, and got even more of a following than he had before. Nick Robinson cannot make up for the bad things he has done, but he can do whatever he can to prove he is a better person now.
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