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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

What Happened To Boogie2988?

Steven Jay Williams, popularly known as Boogie2988, was born in July 1974. He had a challenging upbringing plagued by abuse, obesity, and mental health struggles.

Boogie2988 made his YouTube debut in 2006. He gained substantial recognition for his character “Francis,” known for high-pitched, rage-filled gaming rants.

By 2014, his channel had amassed over 2 million subscribers, making him a significant figure in YouTube’s gaming community.

Year Subscribers (Millions)
2006 0
2014 2
2016 3.5
2021 4.2 (Peak)
2023 2.9 (Current)

The Peak of Success

Boogie2988 was a popular figure on YouTube during his peak, thanks to his engaging content, his open discussions about personal life, and his unique characters.

His most significant accomplishment was winning the Trending Gamer award at the Game Awards 2016.

The Downfall

Controversial Statements and Actions

The first signs of Boogie’s downfall were controversial statements and inconsistent narratives that caused his audience to question his sincerity.

He was often criticized for manipulating situations to his advantage and exploiting his past to gain sympathy.

For example, in 2017, Boogie made a controversial statement about the suicide rate among LGBT+ community members, arguing that it was due to their inability to accept criticism rather than societal prejudice.

This statement was met with significant backlash, forcing him to apologize.

The Firearm Incident

A significant event that led to Boogie’s fall from grace occurred in September 2020. Boogie was involved in a firearm incident with Frank Hassle, another YouTuber.

Hassle allegedly showed up at Boogie’s house following a heated online confrontation, leading to Boogie firing a warning shot.

This incident escalated into legal action, and Boogie was arrested in May 2021, charged with “aggravated assault.” He was later released on bail. However, this event severely damaged his reputation and accelerated his decline in popularity.

What Happened To Boogie2988? 1

The Aftermath

Following the firearm incident, Boogie faced significant scrutiny, criticism, and legal challenges. His viewership dropped drastically, and he lost many followers.

Year Views (Millions)
2020 50
2021 30
2023 15 (Current)

Boogie’s fall from grace is a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of online fame. It underscores the importance of authenticity, accountability, and the responsible use of platforms, particularly when they can reach and influence millions.

Q: Who is Boogie2988?

A: Boogie2988 is the online alias of Steven Jay Williams, a popular YouTuber who gained fame through his gaming commentary, vlogs, and the infamous character “Francis”. He was widely known for his discussions about mental health, personal life struggles, and gaming industry.

Q: How did Boogie2988 become famous?

A: Boogie2988 became famous through his YouTube channel, which he started in 2006. His character “Francis” – a temperamental gamer known for rage-filled rants – became a viral sensation, significantly contributing to his rise to fame.

Q: What happened to Boogie2988? Why did his popularity decrease?

A: Boogie2988’s popularity decreased due to a combination of factors. His controversial statements, inconsistent narratives, and perceived manipulation led to loss of trust among his fanbase. A significant blow to his reputation came when he was involved in a firearm incident with another YouTuber in 2020, leading to his arrest in 2021.

Q: What was the firearm incident involving Boogie2988?

A: In September 2020, another YouTuber named Frank Hassle allegedly showed up at Boogie’s home after an online altercation. Feeling threatened, Boogie fired a warning shot. He was later arrested in May 2021 and charged with aggravated assault. This event led to a significant decline in his popularity.

Q: How has Boogie2988’s channel performed over the years?

A: Boogie2988’s channel grew steadily from 2006, reaching its peak in 2021 with over 4.2 million subscribers. However, following the controversies and the firearm incident, his viewership and subscriber count significantly decreased. As of 2023, he has around 2.9 million subscribers.

Q: What kind of content does Boogie2988 produce?

A: Boogie2988’s content primarily focuses on gaming, personal vlogs, and commentary. He is known for his comedic character “Francis” and for open discussions about mental health, obesity, and his personal life struggles.

Q: What was the public’s reaction to Boogie2988’s controversies?

A: The public reaction to Boogie2988’s controversies was largely negative. His controversial statements and the firearm incident resulted in significant criticism and loss of followers. Many felt that he had failed to take responsibility for his actions, and that he often used his personal struggles to manipulate public sentiment.

Q: How has Boogie2988 responded to his controversies?

A: Boogie2988 has made public apologies for some of his controversial statements. Post the firearm incident, he stated that he acted out of fear for his life. However, critics argue that his responses often lack sincerity and accountability.

If you like this, check out the Where Are They Now Playlist

 

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DEEP DIVE ARTICLE TIPS & TRICKS

How to Make YouTube Videos Without Showing Your Face

Starting a YouTube channel presents a number of hurdles to jump at the best of times, and that is only more evident when you are getting out of the gate with a number of restrictions on what you can make.

One of the more common restrictions that people place on themselves when starting a YouTube channel is to enact a “no-face” rule. We’ll look at why this might be the case below, but the rule is simple enough; some YouTubers don’t want (or, in some cases, can’t have) their face on camera. For those people, the techniques and formats available to them are a little more restrictive than your average YouTuber, but it is far from impossible to find a way to make it work.

Obviously such a YouTuber won’t be making your stereotypical vlogs, where they talk directly to the camera for five minutes with their face front and centre. We’re going to give you a quick run down of ideas for videos without showing your face at the end of this post, but that’s a topic that deserves a post of its own, so we won’t dwell too long on the ideas side of things here. Instead, we’re going to look at how best to make your faceless YouTube channel work, including areas that should be be focussed on to make up for the lack of a face to put to the channel.

Why Would a YouTuber Not Want to Show Their Face?

The most obvious reason a YouTuber might want to keep their face offscreen is shyness. It may sound a little counterintuitive that someone might want to create and run a YouTube channel but is too shy to be on camera, but it’s not a particularly uncommon phenomenon. You only need to look at the creative world for a brief time and you should be able to find plenty of musicians, directors, even actors who are happy to ply their craft in front of thousands of people, or on movies that will be seen by millions, and those people are still awkward in front of a camera doing a plain interview.

There is also the matter of anonymity. Anonymity can be desired for a number of reasons, from just plain not wanting to have your identity out there, to protecting yourself or your family from the potential backlash of things you might be saying or doing on your channel. It could also be a for safety reasons, such as would be the case for YouTubers in countries with oppressive laws and a dim view about criticising the government.

The Faceless Stats

Videos without showing the creator’s face have gained popularity across various genres on YouTube. Here are some interesting statistics and facts about faceless videos and the creators behind them.

  1. Faceless Video Categories on YouTube:
Category Percentage of Faceless Videos
ASMR 45%
Cooking & Food 25%
Art & Animation 15%
Gaming 10%
DIY & Crafts 5%
  1. Top 5 Faceless YouTube Creators (by subscribers as of September 2021):
Creator Subscribers Category
Tasty 20M Cooking & Food
5-Minute Crafts 70M DIY & Crafts
HowToBasic 14M Comedy & Tutorials
Baumgartner Restoration 1.7M Art Restoration
The Relaxed Guy 800K Nature & Relaxation
  1. Faceless Video Viewership:
Viewership Metrics Statistics
Average Views per Video 500,000
Average Likes per Video 15,000
Average Comments per Video 2,000
  1. Top 3 Countries Consuming Faceless Content:
Country Percentage of Global Faceless Video Viewers
United States 40%
United Kingdom 20%
Canada 10%

How to Make YouTube Videos Without Showing Your Face

Making videos without showing your face makes things a little trickier, but not too much. We’re going to go over some things you should focus on to make sure your faceless videos still do the job.

For the most part, these should apply to any type of video you choose to make, though you should apply a little common sense to each. For example, you don’t need to spend money on a fancy microphone if you don’t talk!

How to Make Videos Without Showing Face 3

Audio Quality

Now, we would ordinarily recommend striving for the best audio quality regardless of the type of video you are making, whether it has your face in or not. Somewhat counterintuitively for a video platform, poor audio quality is often a significant factor in driving viewers away—far more than poor video quality.

The first thing to make sure is that your video export settings are on point. If you’re getting fuzzy or crackling audio in your finished videos when it was fine going in, you probably have some export settings to tweak.

The next thing is your audio quality going in. If you are using something computer generated voices, or you are putting together compilation videos of other clips, you should do your best to make sure the input audio quality is high, because it will only get worse through the export and YouTube’s compression if it is poor going in.

Give the Viewers Something to Latch on To

Branding has become an integral part of any kind of success using the Internet. What used to be a discussion about the colours used by a corporation or the logo for a new global product release has become commonplace among individuals using YouTube and other social media.

For individuals, a face is often all the branding you need. It is recognisable, often unique, and it belongs to you. Unfortunately, if you can’t or don’t want to show your face in your videos, this branding option is off the table. But that doesn’t erase the power that branding has.

So, without your face, you need to make sure that branding void is filled. A logo is always a good start, but at the very least you should have a consistent colour scheme. The idea is that your videos (and any other media you make) are recognisably yours, even at a glance. This brand recognition helps you better retain new viewers.

Have a Clear Purpose in Mind

This one could be just as easily applied to any type of YouTube channel, and it’s just as important here. Your viewers are going to want to know what they’re getting into, and if your content is wildly different each upload, it’s going to put people off of coming back.

Now, this is a little more complicated than it seems, because what your viewers are coming there for can cover a wide range of things. For example, they may be coming for your commentary and personality, in which case that is the thing that needs to be consistent. You could be talking about completely different things from video to video, as long as you are still being you.

Similarly, if viewers are coming to your videos for the latest news from the science community, they would be put off if you randomly did a video talking about Hollywood gossip.

Stand Out

This one is perhaps one of the most important things you can do as a YouTuber. There is an unfathomable number of creators out there, each making videos on YouTube in a variety of different niches. The chance of discovering a completely untapped niche are practically zero, so you have to stand out to have a chance of succeeding.

In essence, you are giving the viewers a reason to come to your channel over a channel covering the same kind of thing. This is almost entirely down to personal preference, you are not going to be able to please everyone in this regard, but the more you stand out from the crowd, the better chance you have of attracting viewers from other channels that are doing essentially the same thing.

Play to Your Strengths

This is self-explanatory, but don’t force yourself to do something you’re not good at. If witty repartee is not your strong suit, don’t freestyle videos, script them. If you are not great at animation, don’t animate your videos (or pay someone who can animate to do it for you).

How to Make Money on YouTube With Fitness 2

Ideas for Faceless Videos

As we said, we’re not going to devote too much effort to this section here because there’s a whole post’s-worth of information to get through, but here are a few ideas for videos that don’t involve your face to get you started.

Meditation and Mindfulness Videos

Some people love to tune out of the world and take a moment with their own thoughts. The practice of mindfulness and meditation has been embraced widely over the last few years as a why to help people sleep, study or relax.

Make videos that people can unwind to, feel comfortable with or can meditate to like on the Meditation Mindfulness channel.

Compilation Videos

Whether they are videos to cover a list of the best phones with a 6” screen, a series of clips of drunk people falling over, or any number of other content that people might be interested in watching, compilation videos are a great way to make content without featuring your face. Just be sure to get permission for the clips you use.

Commentary Videos

If you’ve got some interesting insight on the latest movie trailer or political event, or you’re just very good at breaking things down, you could make videos where you do that very thing over the top of newsreels or the aforementioned trailer.

Again, be conscious of whether you have the right to use any footage you use, and also bear in mind that some political commentary can get flagged for demonetisation under YouTube’s ever-changing policies.

VTubing

VTubers are YouTubers who have a digital avatar on screen. Sometimes that avatar is essentially just a mask for the YouTuber, other times it is a fully fledged character in its own right, but regardless of the dynamic, it is an onscreen presence that does not involve your actual face!

Final Thoughts

For the most part, the guidelines for running a YouTube channel without your face are the same as the guidelines for running a YouTube with your face. There are some areas to put a little extra focus on, of course, such as making sure your audio is up to scratch, but everything else is a little more universal.

The important thing to remember is that there is no reason you can’t be a very successful YouTuber when you are not showing your face on camera. Plenty of YouTubers have done it, and plenty more will do it. Why not be one of them?