Where does the name "StoneMountain64" come from?
'Stonemountain' is my last name translated to English, and '64' comes from the Nintendo64 which was my first gaming console and got me started.
How long have you been making content?
I bought a recording device for my xbox and started editing in iMovie during my Sophmore year of college. I created my Youtube channel on Sept 26, 2011. Have not gone more than 1 week without a piece of content since them, typically releasing 3-8 videos per week and now streaming 6 days a week in addition to a second channel 'StoneMountain Plays'
What equipment do you use (computer,chair,headset, etc.)?
Full detailed outline of my setup page here
What tips do you have for brand new PUBG players?
I began a series on this that may continue in the future
Episode 1- New player basics
Episode 2- Top 5 mistakes
What is 'The Mountain' Discord?
I made a server on Discord where people can go to find squads with other members in the community and chat in real time with voice and text. We have the largest PUBG server I know of and it is not limited to that. This was initially a private place for me to voice chat with other creators, but has been opened to the public for it's current purpose. http://discord.gg/stonemountain64
Join our facebook group too!
Is this your full time job?
I am grateful to say it is now. I started my channel in college but never even thought this would be a way to make real income. Since then I graduated Summa Cum Laude with an Economics degree, got a job in investment management and then left that job when online content creation just had to many opportunities and demand for me to manage both. Through college and my full time position I was working every weekend and every late night to learn editing and develop new content. I have had such a passion for gaming my whole life that it was possible to commit to learning to make it entertaining. Now that I work this full time I am able to breathe and have a balance in my life that I am incredibly grateful for.
What happened to Patreon/tips?
(info below)
Why do you stream on Facebook?
Facebook has 2 billion users and is where people go to share content from yt/twitch. They go there to tag friends and that is where most people are connected, so why not just go straight to the source. I started using Facebook a few years back after learning how VIRAL videos can go, and after regularly uploading content and growing the audience for about a year I learned I could also stream on Facebook. I have now started working with Facebook and giving them feedback on the platform to try and make it a better place for creators, and they have been passionate and welcoming to the idea and seem to be quickly moving in the direction of improvement for creators.
Isn't Twitch/Youtube/mixer better though?
Twitch has been doing this for ~5+years now and is definitely ahead in the game. I frequent this platform daily since that is currently where the content is, and I love watching streams. People now know what Twitch is for the most part now and it is a great platform for viewers with a lot of benefits. I tried getting into Twitch myself and found little success there even when trying to bring my audience over from Youtube. It seems to be over-saturated with streamers, and the top streamers and those who are growing are averaging 8 hours 365 days a year, which I can't compete with since I work on so much other content.
Youtube I used to stream and worked much better because I prefer to do shorter form streams, but they changed their algorithm and streams don't do nearly as well as they once did. In addition uploading full streams to Youtube typically will hurt your channel, as the streams typically underperforming with less relative likes, interaction post stream. Most of the interaction comes during the stream, and even though it has INSANE minutes watched, this will register as a "bad video" and then stops recommending your other videos to your audience. Minutes watched used to be the golden ticket and was a huge part of my growth, but that is no longer the case.
Mixer I'm not to sure about. It was purchased by Microsoft and most viewers are from xbox game consoles and that is who mostly seems to stream there since it is the only platform integrated with it. This feels limiting in terms of who you can get to watch your content and most people do not seem to use this. It has been growing, however I personally don't know the people using it so they are probably better to ask about it. But to create an account and start watching on a new platform is a steep hurdle with so many other websites out there. They do have some cool features, but if they turn out to be any success, Twitch I am sure will just integrate those same things. It doesn't feel like it's worth using, but I also have not put any personal effort or time into the platform yet so take this with a grain of salt.
Is it possible to become a streamer/content creator now or am I too late?
100% you can, I would argue it is easier today than ever to become a creator. It is so much cheaper to get started, and the audience is SO MUCH LARGER than 6 years ago when I had first started it's ridiculous. The biggest channels had 50k-100k on Youtube for gaming, and Twitch wasn't even a real thing yet. The hard part is that there is more competition than ever and you must be "better" than everyone else to succeed. Look at DrDisrespect who after about a year of streaming made it to the top, but there are thousands of examples of people who started in the last 1-3 years who have build meaningful audiences for themselves.
What advice would I give to a friend who is a new streamers/content creator?
More details below, but video here: http://bit.ly/sm64advice
From my experience and everything I have seen making content boils down to 3 elements, is it unique, quality, and in demand. How can you add value applies to any business, any job, and certainly to get people to stop what they are doing and watch you rather than another stream, TV show, movie, or anything else. Trying to build an audience whether you want to do it as a hobby or to try and make it a career takes work. There are exceptions where something can go viral on a first try, but the reason that happens is because it has those 3 elements or most of them and the audience is rarely maintained, unless you have the experience to know how and continue to deliver.
I get messages every day from brand new people who are streaming/uploading content. If you have been uploading for a while you may already have learned a lot of this... but when starting out I see a lot of people play common games that already have tons of people streaming it, and are not doing anything new or special and most often don't look comfortable at what they are doing. Incredible entertainers are already on 24/7 or enough of the time doing the same thing and there is no reason to go to the new content provider. But many don't understanding why they don't grow or have an audience. The ones that are successful, are the ones learning and improving and figuring out how to get over these hurdles rather than running in place, and/or they often have some experience or expertise from some other area of their life they can innovate for something else.
1) Unique - Typically people who are 'known', are known for something (A show, an award, etc.). The sign of someone who is brand new and doesn't know what they are doing is they reach out blindly in comment sections and wherever they can for a shoutout or recognition in hopes that will make them. But what would they then be known for... 'he got a shoutout from x'?, but also does the same thing 'y' and 'z' but is not as good. Most often the content is sub-par, the same content as someone who already has an audience, or even worse has little to no content and it ends up turning the few people who do check them out away. Worse it also often comes with dislikes and bad comments because it is annoying spam and/or poor content. Most people at some point are in this position (as I was too), and the sooner you realize you need content, not a shoutout, the better. I've played with people and given shoutouts to many people over the years, and it is mostly unsuccessful because people don't see anything new worth staying for. An example of a great success though is Narcoleptic Nugget who was already doing amazing unique series and ideas in Siege, and giving him a feature shoutout in my my that he earned drove traffic and while it was not much it was people who stayed (to be clear he has earned everything on his own merits and skill and that is the key, me mentioning had little impact as it is the audience who decides everything and goes on to share after seeing it and you only need few people to see great content for it to expose).
2) Quality - If you are trying to stream PUBG, but you are not creating content better than the best (in terms of audio quality, video quality, entertainment, conversation and stories, gameplay, then why would anyone stop watching the person who already making great content to watch you? Dmitrious Johnson, one of the greatest MMA fighters in history is a game streamer, can you tell better stories than him while playing PUBG? Deadmau5 streams PUBG, can you discuss/play better music on your stream? Can you pull better gameplay than Shroud getting 15 kill solos like it's nothing with insane flick after flick? Or a different game Fortnite, can you win 50%+ better than Myth or Ninja and putting style in at the same time?
Same goes for VoD content, can you come up with more creative videos on Fortnite than Vikkstar or Muselk? Or if you are making news videos for Battlefront 2, but people already watch BattlefrontUpdates' channel, why would they switch over to you if he is already covering every update and has many opinions on it? It's possible, but all of those are unique concepts those people are some of the best at and why they have people watching.
But just because it is unique doesn't mean people will watch, you have to have the content to back it up. Often times the way people find success is by having a unique skill for a game that is not as popular, and by having some unique skill whether it is comedy or gameplay or whatever, they can capitalize on it. More videos examples from personal experience is my "YOLO on" series. And it wasn't until 15 episodes in when I started to get better and added quality improves with text and timing, and months of practicing and hunting in lobbies for reactions and how to get good ones, that people even started watching. I had no experience and needed a lot of practice.
3) Demand - This refers mostly to the # of viewers and what is possible, but that isn't the most important point. I know it's something every creator cares out to a different degree though and is a variable. Fortnite is popular currently, and Ninja is one of the best and most entertaining in the world and now averages 50k-100k watching every day and 2million+ subs on Youtube and is exploding. Earlier I mentioned the biggest audience for ALL of gaming (let alone one specific game) was 50k at once point, and now he has 50k+ paying $5/month just to support him they love the content so much. But he is also creating the demand because of his skill and years of experience streaming and being a professional gamer. It does help though that the audience is so huge now that demand is high and I see it just getting bigger as I personally enjoy it way more than regular TV or shows.
So tips? practice, learn, try new ideas, be creative, only listen to opinions that matter, and work smart not just hard. There is no one way to grow an audience, a brand, a business, anything. It's up to you to figure a way out and it is 100% possible. When I first started I was terrible, I never had experience entertaining an audience (1st video was bad). But I loved watching others content and had ideas for my own unique content (And we are LIVE, Zombies studying, Private match with subs, YOLO, PUBG WTF rules, etc.) and ultimately I was just passionate about gaming entertaining and gaming in general and had enough patience to learn. I still think I have way more to learn, but this is what I have gathered from my experience and advice for people wanting to get involved.
Final message to Patreon members
I am excited to announce I am going to be testing a new monthly ‘fan support’ feature directly through Facebook beginning next month. Because of this I have also decided to close my Patreon which will end on 3/31/18. I am so grateful to you all for taking the extra step to support my content here, and while I cannot offer everything the same out of the gate, I hope you consider continuing to support through the new system, and enjoy what is new.
I want to keep moving forward and to continue making the viewer and supporter experience better, and to bring you more value for your support. While we have a great system in place already, I know using Facebooks native tools will allow us to make more ongoing improvements. I was one of the early streamers to make the leap to Facebook, and I’ve given them feedback to improve loads of things on the platform already, and I know we can build something incredible together (with your help too!).
I see this as a step that puts us on a new path with so much more potential down the road. Maybe in a few months we decide to go back if it doesn’t fit our needs, but this is a move that i feel will be well worth it.
What will the monthly “fan support” feature start with and how to get it?
What happened to streamlabs?
Thank you for wanting to support, though I am temporarily disabling streamlabs tips and you can instead use the FB supporter system instead (currently only for US/PC users, click the $ in chat box). I don't currently have the features for popups on stream through that, but I will read them myself. And I do not expect everyone to be willing to donate via this system and lack of features, but I do want to test it and there are some big changes coming and I want to see how it goes :). If you can't tip or just don't want to, please enjoy the content for free AS ALWAYS! And if you really want to spend some money checkout this awesome suicide prevention charity: https://afsp.org/I just closed down my Patreon as well and will be switching to a Facebook monthly supporter system mid April (like Patreon but right through FB!).
My hope is to clean up my description and confusion with all these different links and options and have 1 nice clean native experience. Enjoy the show!
'Stonemountain' is my last name translated to English, and '64' comes from the Nintendo64 which was my first gaming console and got me started.
How long have you been making content?
I bought a recording device for my xbox and started editing in iMovie during my Sophmore year of college. I created my Youtube channel on Sept 26, 2011. Have not gone more than 1 week without a piece of content since them, typically releasing 3-8 videos per week and now streaming 6 days a week in addition to a second channel 'StoneMountain Plays'
What equipment do you use (computer,chair,headset, etc.)?
Full detailed outline of my setup page here
What tips do you have for brand new PUBG players?
I began a series on this that may continue in the future
Episode 1- New player basics
Episode 2- Top 5 mistakes
What is 'The Mountain' Discord?
I made a server on Discord where people can go to find squads with other members in the community and chat in real time with voice and text. We have the largest PUBG server I know of and it is not limited to that. This was initially a private place for me to voice chat with other creators, but has been opened to the public for it's current purpose. http://discord.gg/stonemountain64
Join our facebook group too!
Is this your full time job?
I am grateful to say it is now. I started my channel in college but never even thought this would be a way to make real income. Since then I graduated Summa Cum Laude with an Economics degree, got a job in investment management and then left that job when online content creation just had to many opportunities and demand for me to manage both. Through college and my full time position I was working every weekend and every late night to learn editing and develop new content. I have had such a passion for gaming my whole life that it was possible to commit to learning to make it entertaining. Now that I work this full time I am able to breathe and have a balance in my life that I am incredibly grateful for.
What happened to Patreon/tips?
(info below)
Why do you stream on Facebook?
Facebook has 2 billion users and is where people go to share content from yt/twitch. They go there to tag friends and that is where most people are connected, so why not just go straight to the source. I started using Facebook a few years back after learning how VIRAL videos can go, and after regularly uploading content and growing the audience for about a year I learned I could also stream on Facebook. I have now started working with Facebook and giving them feedback on the platform to try and make it a better place for creators, and they have been passionate and welcoming to the idea and seem to be quickly moving in the direction of improvement for creators.
Isn't Twitch/Youtube/mixer better though?
Twitch has been doing this for ~5+years now and is definitely ahead in the game. I frequent this platform daily since that is currently where the content is, and I love watching streams. People now know what Twitch is for the most part now and it is a great platform for viewers with a lot of benefits. I tried getting into Twitch myself and found little success there even when trying to bring my audience over from Youtube. It seems to be over-saturated with streamers, and the top streamers and those who are growing are averaging 8 hours 365 days a year, which I can't compete with since I work on so much other content.
Youtube I used to stream and worked much better because I prefer to do shorter form streams, but they changed their algorithm and streams don't do nearly as well as they once did. In addition uploading full streams to Youtube typically will hurt your channel, as the streams typically underperforming with less relative likes, interaction post stream. Most of the interaction comes during the stream, and even though it has INSANE minutes watched, this will register as a "bad video" and then stops recommending your other videos to your audience. Minutes watched used to be the golden ticket and was a huge part of my growth, but that is no longer the case.
Mixer I'm not to sure about. It was purchased by Microsoft and most viewers are from xbox game consoles and that is who mostly seems to stream there since it is the only platform integrated with it. This feels limiting in terms of who you can get to watch your content and most people do not seem to use this. It has been growing, however I personally don't know the people using it so they are probably better to ask about it. But to create an account and start watching on a new platform is a steep hurdle with so many other websites out there. They do have some cool features, but if they turn out to be any success, Twitch I am sure will just integrate those same things. It doesn't feel like it's worth using, but I also have not put any personal effort or time into the platform yet so take this with a grain of salt.
Is it possible to become a streamer/content creator now or am I too late?
100% you can, I would argue it is easier today than ever to become a creator. It is so much cheaper to get started, and the audience is SO MUCH LARGER than 6 years ago when I had first started it's ridiculous. The biggest channels had 50k-100k on Youtube for gaming, and Twitch wasn't even a real thing yet. The hard part is that there is more competition than ever and you must be "better" than everyone else to succeed. Look at DrDisrespect who after about a year of streaming made it to the top, but there are thousands of examples of people who started in the last 1-3 years who have build meaningful audiences for themselves.
What advice would I give to a friend who is a new streamers/content creator?
More details below, but video here: http://bit.ly/sm64advice
From my experience and everything I have seen making content boils down to 3 elements, is it unique, quality, and in demand. How can you add value applies to any business, any job, and certainly to get people to stop what they are doing and watch you rather than another stream, TV show, movie, or anything else. Trying to build an audience whether you want to do it as a hobby or to try and make it a career takes work. There are exceptions where something can go viral on a first try, but the reason that happens is because it has those 3 elements or most of them and the audience is rarely maintained, unless you have the experience to know how and continue to deliver.
I get messages every day from brand new people who are streaming/uploading content. If you have been uploading for a while you may already have learned a lot of this... but when starting out I see a lot of people play common games that already have tons of people streaming it, and are not doing anything new or special and most often don't look comfortable at what they are doing. Incredible entertainers are already on 24/7 or enough of the time doing the same thing and there is no reason to go to the new content provider. But many don't understanding why they don't grow or have an audience. The ones that are successful, are the ones learning and improving and figuring out how to get over these hurdles rather than running in place, and/or they often have some experience or expertise from some other area of their life they can innovate for something else.
1) Unique - Typically people who are 'known', are known for something (A show, an award, etc.). The sign of someone who is brand new and doesn't know what they are doing is they reach out blindly in comment sections and wherever they can for a shoutout or recognition in hopes that will make them. But what would they then be known for... 'he got a shoutout from x'?, but also does the same thing 'y' and 'z' but is not as good. Most often the content is sub-par, the same content as someone who already has an audience, or even worse has little to no content and it ends up turning the few people who do check them out away. Worse it also often comes with dislikes and bad comments because it is annoying spam and/or poor content. Most people at some point are in this position (as I was too), and the sooner you realize you need content, not a shoutout, the better. I've played with people and given shoutouts to many people over the years, and it is mostly unsuccessful because people don't see anything new worth staying for. An example of a great success though is Narcoleptic Nugget who was already doing amazing unique series and ideas in Siege, and giving him a feature shoutout in my my that he earned drove traffic and while it was not much it was people who stayed (to be clear he has earned everything on his own merits and skill and that is the key, me mentioning had little impact as it is the audience who decides everything and goes on to share after seeing it and you only need few people to see great content for it to expose).
2) Quality - If you are trying to stream PUBG, but you are not creating content better than the best (in terms of audio quality, video quality, entertainment, conversation and stories, gameplay, then why would anyone stop watching the person who already making great content to watch you? Dmitrious Johnson, one of the greatest MMA fighters in history is a game streamer, can you tell better stories than him while playing PUBG? Deadmau5 streams PUBG, can you discuss/play better music on your stream? Can you pull better gameplay than Shroud getting 15 kill solos like it's nothing with insane flick after flick? Or a different game Fortnite, can you win 50%+ better than Myth or Ninja and putting style in at the same time?
Same goes for VoD content, can you come up with more creative videos on Fortnite than Vikkstar or Muselk? Or if you are making news videos for Battlefront 2, but people already watch BattlefrontUpdates' channel, why would they switch over to you if he is already covering every update and has many opinions on it? It's possible, but all of those are unique concepts those people are some of the best at and why they have people watching.
But just because it is unique doesn't mean people will watch, you have to have the content to back it up. Often times the way people find success is by having a unique skill for a game that is not as popular, and by having some unique skill whether it is comedy or gameplay or whatever, they can capitalize on it. More videos examples from personal experience is my "YOLO on" series. And it wasn't until 15 episodes in when I started to get better and added quality improves with text and timing, and months of practicing and hunting in lobbies for reactions and how to get good ones, that people even started watching. I had no experience and needed a lot of practice.
3) Demand - This refers mostly to the # of viewers and what is possible, but that isn't the most important point. I know it's something every creator cares out to a different degree though and is a variable. Fortnite is popular currently, and Ninja is one of the best and most entertaining in the world and now averages 50k-100k watching every day and 2million+ subs on Youtube and is exploding. Earlier I mentioned the biggest audience for ALL of gaming (let alone one specific game) was 50k at once point, and now he has 50k+ paying $5/month just to support him they love the content so much. But he is also creating the demand because of his skill and years of experience streaming and being a professional gamer. It does help though that the audience is so huge now that demand is high and I see it just getting bigger as I personally enjoy it way more than regular TV or shows.
So tips? practice, learn, try new ideas, be creative, only listen to opinions that matter, and work smart not just hard. There is no one way to grow an audience, a brand, a business, anything. It's up to you to figure a way out and it is 100% possible. When I first started I was terrible, I never had experience entertaining an audience (1st video was bad). But I loved watching others content and had ideas for my own unique content (And we are LIVE, Zombies studying, Private match with subs, YOLO, PUBG WTF rules, etc.) and ultimately I was just passionate about gaming entertaining and gaming in general and had enough patience to learn. I still think I have way more to learn, but this is what I have gathered from my experience and advice for people wanting to get involved.
Final message to Patreon members
I am excited to announce I am going to be testing a new monthly ‘fan support’ feature directly through Facebook beginning next month. Because of this I have also decided to close my Patreon which will end on 3/31/18. I am so grateful to you all for taking the extra step to support my content here, and while I cannot offer everything the same out of the gate, I hope you consider continuing to support through the new system, and enjoy what is new.
I want to keep moving forward and to continue making the viewer and supporter experience better, and to bring you more value for your support. While we have a great system in place already, I know using Facebooks native tools will allow us to make more ongoing improvements. I was one of the early streamers to make the leap to Facebook, and I’ve given them feedback to improve loads of things on the platform already, and I know we can build something incredible together (with your help too!).
I see this as a step that puts us on a new path with so much more potential down the road. Maybe in a few months we decide to go back if it doesn’t fit our needs, but this is a move that i feel will be well worth it.
What will the monthly “fan support” feature start with and how to get it?
- You will through Facebook be able to pledge $5/month to support my channel. Signup will be easy right through Facebook and you get the benefits directly on the platform. This will also make it easier for me to provide posts and keep you informed in one place
- You will gain a Badge directly on Facebook when commenting on any of my posts or livestreams that I and others can see
- You will gain access to exclusive posts through Facebook including an exclusive monthly stream (like our one here).
- Note - This is only the beginning of what we can do, and there are many more features that are on the way I can’t speak of yet. It’s also an opportunity for you to give feedback on what you would like to see and opens us up to new possibilities. But they are starting by only rolling this out to a SMALL handful of channels as a test, and I'd love for you to help take part of starting something new.
- You will no longer be able to pledge nor popup your name on stream monthly, I will shut down my page before next months payment on the 1st
- You will no longer get benefits in the Discord server including early passwords.
- You will receive a "Mountaineer OG" replacement tag in the Discord server as a replacement and retain access to the Mountaineer chat as a thank you for taking part of this Patreon experiment with me.
- I need to be able to scale the benefits larger as the number of supporters continues to grows. Also, not everyone plays PUBG on PC and can join in or take advantage of everything I am currently offering supporters via Patreon, and I am hoping this will make it more broadly beneficial to them, while still offering similar benefits to those of you who want to get in custom games.
- There is also a lack of understanding for new viewers with how the current system works, and a lot of questions because it is not straight forward (ie. Go to a 3rd party site, sign up, link account to discord, link another account to another site for alert, go to separate link to pop alert). Native on Facebook would make everything far easier and simpler to explain, although there will be a learning curve.
- Because I am focused on the main platform and stream you already watch content on and are supporting for, I do not focus on creating a lot of unique content for Patreon. Some people have signed up and then left because they were expecting more content to be on Patreon, but that is not how I am using the platform and it can be confusing. I also cannot provide exclusive content through Facebook as Patreon does not link enough for it, forcing me to use tools like YouTube unlisted vids for the monthly exclusive livestreams among other clunky methods. This will solve those issues.
- I don’t want to keep both because I am already spread too thin trying to provide content for patreon alone, and I would rather just focus on one system to keep it simple and provide the best possible experience. Having everyone in one place on Facebook will also make it far easier to post/create exclusive content like streams.
What happened to streamlabs?
Thank you for wanting to support, though I am temporarily disabling streamlabs tips and you can instead use the FB supporter system instead (currently only for US/PC users, click the $ in chat box). I don't currently have the features for popups on stream through that, but I will read them myself. And I do not expect everyone to be willing to donate via this system and lack of features, but I do want to test it and there are some big changes coming and I want to see how it goes :). If you can't tip or just don't want to, please enjoy the content for free AS ALWAYS! And if you really want to spend some money checkout this awesome suicide prevention charity: https://afsp.org/I just closed down my Patreon as well and will be switching to a Facebook monthly supporter system mid April (like Patreon but right through FB!).
My hope is to clean up my description and confusion with all these different links and options and have 1 nice clean native experience. Enjoy the show!