Ben Going (born June 15, 1985), is an American

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

who was prominent during 2006 and 2007. He was based in

Torrance, California Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...

, and is one of the site's earliest YouTube Partners. Most of Going's videos are shot in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

. He has claimed to be "the only person on the ''(

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

) Most Subscribed List'' that swears excessively". He wears a signature black hat often in his videos. Subjects of Going's vlogs have included

pop culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...

, the

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public. These include News agency, news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, News broadcasting, news channels etc. History Some of the fir ...

, and the state of the YouTube community, in addition to personal anecdotes.

YouTube

Going intended that his first submission to YouTube, posted in May 2006, serve as an audition tape for

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's "Jackass".Hoffman, Scot
"ExcChatting With Ben Going (Boh3m3 On YouTube)""The Critic" at moviepicturefilm.com
March 17, 2007 That failing, he went on to adopt a vlogger personality that has worked to give him over 44,000 subscribers and a top spot on YouTube's ''Most Subscribed'' list. Two of his videos, ''No Swearing!'' (posted June 6, 2006), and ''Why Do YouTube?'' (posted November 29, 2006, but has since been removed), were featured on YouTube's homepage and each has a view count over 900,000. Various news outlets have approached Going for his opinion on the state of the YouTube community or YouTube in general. Stemming from his video channel's exposure, YouTube paid Going to produce two videos for use in holiday-themed, corporate sponsored promotions in December 2006. The first to be released as part of the YouTube and Coca-Cola Holiday Wish Cast, sponsored by

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

. According to Ad week, this promotion marked the first time YouTube made an ad deal with its top users. The second was featured on YouTube's homepage for the YouTube New Year's Eve Countdown, which was put on in partnership with

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

and sponsored by

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

. Stickam has credited Going for bringing 1,000 new users to its video networking website hours after he advertised his presence there on YouTube. In January 2007, he hosted a live, 24-hour Stickam broadcast to raise awareness for the Darfur conflict. In addition to several other popular YouTubers, Going worked with

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies (BNL) is a Canadian Rock music, rock band which was formed in 1988 in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their Barenaked Ladies (EP), self-titled 1991 cassette becoming th ...

to produce a music video for their single "Sound of Your Voice" in February 2007. The video has been featured on the Bare-naked Ladies' homepage. In May 2007, YouTube entered Going as one of the first users to take part in its partnership program. As a YouTube partner, Going can capitalize on "promotional opportunities" and advertiser-based revenue sharing. He was one of the first twenty to thirty YouTubers to have this status. Although ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' once quoted Going's saying that he hopes "video blogging might become some kind of career," since becoming a YouTube partner he has retracted that statement.

YouTubers for net neutrality

On August 17, 2006, Going poste
''Save the Internet!''
to

. Described by Newsday as "a one-minute, black-and-white, tech-age public service announcement", the video, which Going scripted, presents a short argument for

net neutrality Net neutrality, sometimes referred to as network neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering User (computing), users and online content providers consistent tra ...

that includes video appearances by YouTube users Tony Huynh, Barats and Bereta, and Brandon Hardesty, among others. Free Press blog
SavetheInternet.com
' subsequently featured it, leading the video to gain a view count in excess of 500,000. Of the video, Salon.com quoted Ben Scott, one of the coordinators of ''SaveTheInternet.com'', to have said that Going's "''Save the Internet!''" "is doing the work of 30 full-time communications professionals".

Vegemite wars

In February 2007, Australian news program '' A Current Affair'' picked up Going's January 27, 2007
''The Australians are Fooling Us All!''
and used it to springboard a mock defense of

Vegemite Vegemite ( ) is a thick, dark brown Australian food spread made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice Food additive, additives. It was developed by Cyril Callister in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, for ...

. In his video, Going imagines the substance to be made of "yeast, salt, and pain." To counter, ''A Current Affair'' enlisted media personality Peter FitzSimons, who suggests Vegemite comprises, rather, "the distilled essence of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

". Although the segment focuses on Going, it also features Australian YouTubers who profess a fondness for Vegemite, including Natalie Tran and Caitlin Hill. A reporter for ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' responded by questioning ''A Current Affairs journalistic integrity.

Personal life

Going grew up in

Cocoa, Florida Cocoa is a city in Brevard County, Florida. Its population was 19,041 at the 2020 United States census, up from 17,140 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Palm Bay, Florida, Palm Bay–Melbourne, Florida, Melbourne–Titusville, Flori ...

, and lived there until just before he started high school. He waited tables in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...

, at 1892 East throughout the earlier part of his YouTube career. In April 2007, Going moved to

, after accepting an offer to apprentice under a professional music video director.''The BIG Secret Revealed!''Boh3m3's channel
on

, as of May 30, 2007 The move was facilitated by fan contributions exceeding $1,000 made through

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...

References

External links