YouTube is a funny thing. It has removed all barriers of entry to video content creation, so we have noticed a shift in what becomes popular. Honestly, anything can become popular on the Internet these days. From the days of Star Wars Kid, personal embarrassment has been a way to become “Internet famous”, being simply weird, like “Chocolate Rain”, or having an extremely catchy tune like “Gangnam Style” have been other ways. A sincere message in a fun way is how “Where the Hell is Matt” became hugely famous.
Turns out there is a new way to become “Internet famous”: Crush things. Smash them to bits with industrial tools.
The newest sensation on YouTube (and if you haven’t seen it, you should) is the Hydraulic Press Channel. The premise is simple: Take a hugely powerful hydraulic press which can crush things with tons of force, and put everyday objects beneath it! The results are oddly satisfying. The man behind the press, Lauri Vuohensilta, has crushed everything from Lego, gummy bears and fruit, to more concrete objects like TV’s, books, and even a hockey puck. The results are usually extremely entertaining.
On top of crushing things, the other charm is Lauri and his wife. They are great personalities who genuinely have a ton of fun when they crush things. At one point, they crushed a play-doh figure, and it was so popular, that his wife makes a new figure every week and he crushes it at the end of each episode.
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The Hydraulic Press Channel hits all the tips for being a success on YouTube:
- Post regularly: The HPC posts every few days, at least once per week.
- Original Ideas: This is an idea, that while simple, was not done before on a popular scale.
- Use Social Media: This channel got picked up on Reddit and went viral from there. Before it was on Reddit, there were just a few views and subscribers.
- Create interesting content: They hit the nail on the head with this one. Or they crushed the nail, because it is truly satisfying watching a book explode.
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- Involve the community: He takes comments and suggestions on what to crush next, and this helps his channel grow with a feeling of participation.
Their most popular video is one where they try to solve the age old problem of folding paper more than seven times.
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