Bangladesh's 'YouTube Village' goes viral
AroundMeBD channel highlights the village's cooks and reveals the daily life of this community living in the west of Bangladesh
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Prefer us on GoogleLast Updated: May 20, 2022, 15:57 IST2 min
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In South Asia, many villages and communities have Youtube or Facebook channels, and residents are actively involved in making them a success. Through traditional cooking tutorials, villagers show the world their culture and their daily life. But it"s not just about recording scenes for posterity such channels often tally up considerable views on these platforms and generate enough money to finance various projects for the village concerned. Once isolated, these "Youtube Villages" are now sharing their daily routines with viewers around the planet.
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With the ensemble together racking up approximately 1.3 billion views, the videos have quickly become a business model in their own right. "All villagers—irrespective of their financial condition, creeds, religions—can come here and eat the food [that"s cooked for the videos]," Delwar Hussain, who helps run the channel, told the magazine Rest of World.
While the meals prepared for the videos help feed part of the village, the revenue generated by the millions of views accumulated is used to support the village and finance new projects.
The AroundMeBD channel employs about 50 people in the village, including 17 women. The team have done on the job training to operate cameras, edit, and direct the shoots. As the channel"s success has grown, the company has installed games for children and rehabilitated damaged houses. It even covers the medical expenses of the villagers employed.
"Village Youtube": a trend in South Asia
In South Asia, this idea of a "YouTube village," as Shimulia is labeled, is a growing trend. "As the internet reaches villages, rural societies are finding ways to showcase and monetize their unique food cultures to audiences across the world, using platforms like YouTube and Facebook," says Rest of World.First Published: May 20, 2022, 15:57
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