I like Wes, havent watched alot of his vids. Xiaofei doesn’t really pique my interest simply because I’m not really an outdoorsy adventurous type of person. Not knocking his vids though. Interesting guy.
I enjoyed his series with Allan from lifeintaiwan. It was really fun and interesting, also I feel like I got to see more of taiwan than the usuals i watch.
The problem with influencers like her is that their content is noticed (and then valued) based on number of views and subscribers, which is all based on the difficult-to-understand and ever-changing Google algorithm.
Quality (however this is defined) is not necessarily the main factor in a Youtube channel receiving lots of views and likes. More important is looks/gender, personality, level of intimacy, frequency of uploading, etc.
I don’t question her contributions in helping to improve Taiwan’s image abroad, but I feel she’s mostly rewarded for creating content that works well with Google’s algorithm. Same goes for most of the other popular foreign Youtubers in Taiwan.
I feel playing the “I love Taiwan” card over and over again is the main reason why some of these folks are so successful in attracting local followers. It’s a bit sad that lot of Taiwanese seem to long for this kind of re-assurance by foreigners who in my view, and compared to successful Youtubers around the world, are just really ordinary people, living ordinary lives doing ordinary things, with the exception of Xiao Fei perhaps.
For example, check out this video:
Riding a Youtube in Taipei. What is special about this video, explaining why it gets a frickn 400,000 views, nothing, nada, zilch. 
I don’t disagree. But this is one of those times when it may help to reverse engineer the situation to ask: what led to this state of affairs?
One answer lies in the amount of BS and denigration the people of Taiwan have experienced in the modern era from different colonizers enabled by their local lackeys.
Rebuilding confidence and self-esteem—not to be confused with ethnonationalist arrogance—takes time. Hopefully we’re on the right track, at least for now…
Guy
The more I think about it, why do social media sites show views, likes, and subscriptions in the first place? You don’t see that on TV or in the movie theater, do you?
Do you think a Youtuber would be rewarded by the Taiwan government, if it weren’t for those numbers?
This is engineered (apologies for continuing to use this term) to drive users to seek approval, looking for some dopamine hit(s).
There’s substantial research now on how arrangements like this are designed to be addictive, trying to get users to stay on the platform, seeking more hits… But this is pulling us into a much bigger topic and a much broader set of social problems that are not limited to Taiwan or youtube alone.
Guy
Yes.
Yes, yes.
Pandering 
plus unbridled excitement plus speaking Chinese =
I’m actually amazed how people do this with straight faces.
Imagine how annoying someone would be if that was their natural disposition.
I know that’s also possible.
If you look at some people going through their FB or Instagram while on the MRT/bus, it’s like viewing half a second and liking. The brain has no time to take it in.
Has prozzie been rewarded by the Taiwan government? i think you will find your answer.
On a more serious note how about m13? do you think he would be rewarded? Just as an example, because i don’t think he actually needs the card to stay here.
But imo he is far more qualified than the rest of these youtubers. He runs actual tours around the country, bringing foreigners here, his channel is aimed at foreigners, he actually knows a thing or two about taiwan after being here 20 odd years, speaks fluent chinese and he -genuinely, not in a taiwan no.1 ass kissing way- spreads the good name of the country. He’s not an attractive young blondie and his views are trash nowadays so i would say his chances for the card are slim…
A Gold Card is helpful to newcomers; it’s of limited use to anyone who already has an APRC. So regarding the established folks here—this is not really for them anyways.
Guy
Is he still around? Never watched his stuff after the accident in Hualien. He’s never going to be rewarded by the government, I am sure. Haha
Hah. Just the opposite for me. I discovered prozzie through them. He was a guest on a few videos of theirs. Prozzie is really laid back though and seems chill, so I don’t mind watching him from time to time.
There is a whole slew of “foreigners living in Asia” channels I watch off and on. The ones I can’t stand watching are the ones people were mentioning earlier: the unbridled bootlicking. I like far east Asian countries too but Jeez louise! Put the pom-poms away.
List of you tubers from others asian countries in Taiwan
Is M13 Mordeth of old? Just curious, he does have the whole motorcycle thing going.
exactly.
Yes, his channel isn’t very active and hasn’t really changed with the times, he seems quite happy though which is good.
sure, i did state that. I just thought he was a good example as he is doing what the card states, in my opinion, compared to those popular youtubers.
That girl (Hailey something) who’s got like a million subscribers and her husband seriously give me the creeps with their Mormon shit.
Personally, I think Taike Story is the most underrated Youtuber in Taiwan. You hardly ever see him making videos just because everyone else is doing it. His cinematography and editing is really top notch too.
I think YouTube began to ask themselves that. They made some change so that views didn’t show on the search page or something. The more popular vloggers weren’t happy about it.
He doesn’t sound happy here (and says so). It’s pretty cringeworthy.
Do they preach their Mormon stuff on the channel? The Mormon’s put a lot of money into their online outreach.
I clicked on one or two of her videos after learning about her for the first time on this thread and now I see her freaking out about KFC on my sidefeed. I can’t pull a face like those youtubers do. That’s why I’ll never make it.
That’s an old video. He said the bully became mates with his son afterwards or something like that, seems it worked out. Maybe not the best way to deal with the situation but it was entertaining to see the teacher get a telling off.
Nowadays seems he has a girlfriend, car and is seeing his son a lot.
I think this type of video is exactly why he isn’t suitable compared to some ditz like hailey, but at the end of the day he is contributing more.
It was uploaded a couple of days ago. I just read the subtitles. But it’s an odd video to run on a channel used to promote his tour company. He has links to it in the video description. He doesn’t get millions of views but he still gets a lot of views. I can’t pull a face, but it seems like you don’t need to be attractive, charismatic, or have any useful talent to get moderately popular.