YouTube, Insta and TikTok: A Guide to Growing Your Social Media Following (Jordan Schwarzenberger - part one)
Radical with Amol Rajan
BBC
4.5 • 919 Ratings
🗓️ 28 August 2025
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
With audiences increasingly turning to echo-chambers on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for their entertainment and away from traditional mass-media, is there anything that can bring communities together again?
Jordan Schwarzenberger manages Sidemen, Europe’s most popular YouTube collective – and recently went viral with a thesis over what he described as “the death of monoculture”.
The Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur and member of Downing Street’s Small Business Council tells Amol why he thinks Gen Z are withdrawing into micro-communities.
But he has some radical suggestions for how to survive and thrive in an era where unique social content can count for far more than being part of an established media brand.
GET IN TOUCH * WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480 * Email: radical@bbc.co.uk Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and you can also watch them on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002f1d0/radical-with-amol-rajan Amol is a presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. He is also the host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was media editor at the BBC and editor at The Independent.
Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today podcast. If you enjoy this (and you've read this far so hopefully you do), then we think you’ll also like another podcast from Today. It’s called Political Thinking with Nick Robinson and you can listen to Nick’s interviews here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p04z203l
This episode of Radical with Amol Rajan was made by Lewis Vickers with Izzy Rowley. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis. Technical production was by Phil Bull. The editor is Sam Bonham. The executive producer is Owenna Griffiths.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | Hello, it's Amol here and welcome to Radical. |
| 0:07.9 | These are conversations about the deep global trends changing our world |
| 0:11.4 | and some pretty radical ideas that you might find useful in order to win the future. |
| 0:16.4 | Now, YouTube turned 20 this year. |
| 0:18.4 | In that time, in the last two decades, it has completely |
| 0:21.5 | revolutionized the media landscape. |
| 0:24.0 | It's given a platform to anyone who wants to create content to be just that, a creator. |
| 0:29.1 | And it is now the primary source of TV viewing, not just for young people, but increasingly |
| 0:34.5 | for older people. |
| 0:35.9 | The really amazing thing about the latest stats from offcom is not just that YouTube is TV for 16 to 34 year olds, but it's also that |
| 0:43.4 | people who are slightly older, people who are 55 or 65, even 75, are increasingly turning to |
| 0:49.1 | YouTube because they love the convenience and the fact that they can follow their passion. |
| 0:53.6 | Now, someone who has mastered the art of turning those passions into brands and turning those |
| 0:59.6 | brands into money through content is our guest on this week's episode. |
| 1:03.9 | He is Jordan Schwarzenberger and Jordan is the manager of the sidemen. |
| 1:09.6 | You may or may not know that the sidemen are Europe's largest YouTube collective. |
| 1:15.1 | So what Mr. Beast is in America, to a certain degree, the sidemen are here in Europe. |
| 1:19.4 | They have more than 150 million followers and over 50 billion views across their various social media channels. |
| 1:28.3 | They have built a huge, massive, transnational and deeply committed and loyal following, |
| 1:34.3 | particularly among what we call Gen Z viewers or Generation Z. |
| 1:38.3 | That's people born between 1997 and 2012. |
... |
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