News > Culture > Lonelygirl15, Danielbeast and YouTube

commentary
MONDAY AUGUST 21 2006 5:34 PM

Lonelygirl15, Danielbeast and YouTube

Submitted by Sean

Edited by Sean

Tags: youtube, viral marketing, teen angst, web 2.0

Lonelygirl15 is every nerd boys dream. She is drop dead gorgeous, ferociously well read, interested in science and geek humor, and here's the clincher: she has repressive, religious parents who have home-schooled her and so she doesn't know she's hot or that you're a social pariah and undesirable.

Lonelygirl15 has only one friend in the world, Danielbeast. He is the awkward nerdboy who has hit the lottery in finding the homeschooled geekgirl with the supermodel looks.

As the two teens chronicle their lives on YouTube we see everything from music videos to angst at parental decisions to a budding romance between them.

Every week there is a new dramatic development between them that gets hashed out in their uploaded videos. They play like a teen drama directed by Zach Braff, with episode titles like "Daniel called my religion weird!" "My Parents won't let us go for a hike!"

But are these two for real? What religion is Lonelygirl15? Is this another internet stealth marketing campaign or a genuine look into two teens lives?

Before you decide watch all the videos on this "fan site", which was registered and set up a month before lonelygirl15 uploaded her first video to YouTube.

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Comments

cmdrfire

United Kingdom

December 2005

AUG 21, 2006 05:45 PM

He looks like a guy I know.

Dr_U

Bellevue, KY

November 2004

AUG 21, 2006 06:03 PM

Hasn't she been in a commercial? I'd swear that I've seen that girl in a commercial the guy looks familiar too. Still, great viral marketing

Qwerty

SUICIDEGIRL

I'm lost

AUG 21, 2006 06:05 PM

That is fake, or I'll eat my australian hat. (Corks included)

MaitreSinge

Silver Spring, MD

June 2004

AUG 21, 2006 06:09 PM

Dr_U said:
Hasn't she been in a commercial? I'd swear that I've seen that girl in a commercial the guy looks familiar too. Still, great viral marketing

I got the same "can't be real" vibe off it. Can't figure what they'd be selling with this, though. (course, I've only seen a few).

NinjaTech

Minneapolis, MN

November 2003

AUG 21, 2006 06:11 PM

Detroit is up by 6 at the top of the 8th. Not looking too good for those sox.

jason

USA

August 2002

AUG 21, 2006 06:16 PM

it reeks.

DhD_No_Pants

Katy, TX

May 2006

AUG 21, 2006 06:19 PM

Anna Nicole's tits were less fake than that.

GuiltShow

Riverside, CA

May 2005

AUG 21, 2006 06:22 PM

Supermodel good looks? Really? She's cute but she's no Heidi Klum, and I only say this to let others know that click the links under false pretense. But yeah, I agree with the above, totally fake.

jtemperance

Chicago, IL

January 2004

AUG 21, 2006 06:23 PM

NinjaTech said:
Detroit is up by 6 at the top of the 8th. Not looking too good for those sox.

That's good news for Cubs fans. Bad news for Lonelygirl15?

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA

July 2004

AUG 21, 2006 06:31 PM

Sean said:
Lonelygirl15 is every nerd boys dream. She is drop dead gorgeous, ferociously well read, interested in science and geek humor...

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

beaky

Miami, FL

April 2003

AUG 21, 2006 06:36 PM

she's not that cute and/or hot

AceT

Portland, OR

April 2004

AUG 21, 2006 06:37 PM

Ooh, Sean busting out with some intriguing investigative journalism

Personally, I like LisaNova's videos.

What scares me about YouTube (and MySpace) is that any time I see a cute girl I find out she was born after GnR's last album and I have to take a cold shower. Further proof why I should not venture outside of SG.