Oli White is probably the most famous person you’ve never heard of.
Aged just 21 he has three million subscribers to his YouTube channel and his comedy videos have been viewed 300 million times.
White has grabbed the world of video blogging – vlogging – with both hands.
His videos include everything from playing a lie detector test with his brother to tattooing his friends, and have attracted a cult following among today’s millennials.
“I’ve always been interested in technology, from a very young age,” White told BusinessCloud.
“I’m a creative at heart and I excelled in ICT and media production at school.
“I was an avid YouTube viewer. I used to watch video after video , so I’ve always had a passion for it.
“I soon realised that videos can rack up a huge amount of hits.
“I was watching some with 1,000 views then some with 5,000 views generating conversations and interactions with people from all over the world.”
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email.
Many videos now attract millions, even billions, of views and the growth of camera phones has meant the process has never been easier.
White eventually plucked up the courage to give it a go himself and is a one-man production unit.
“There’s no team behind my videos, it’s just me,” he says.
“I come up with the idea, I direct, edit and upload them.
“I create around four to five videos a week – it’s a lot of content to push out so it keeps me very busy.”
So what turns a great video into a viral hit?
“A viral video is a video that gets a massive amount of attention in a short space of time and there’s never really any reason as to why that happens.
“It could be so random and so bizarre that it just catches on.
“It starts to trend on social media platforms, and then people start talking about it on their personal accounts, which then encourages more views.
“Personally, I base my ideas on what I know my audience will like. Knowing your audience is key; I know what they love, so this helps generate ideas.”