March 21, 2017

I Am Trendier Than the Kardashian Sisters

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I am doing something that really annoys some people: posting occasional videos that always seem to end up on YouTube’s trending list. Check out yesterday’s barroom brawl over a female duck:

I’m ahead of the Kardashians! And with a mere 888 views, compared to their 311,000. And I’m only slightly behind the giant pizza cone, which has over a million views.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why this happens? I gather that a lot of people work very hard for a spot on this coveted list, whereas I just upload run-of-the-mill cat and duck videos and do nothing to promote them. Do I get extra credit for all the folks who watch the video on the blog? Or does YouTube just have very discerning taste?

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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