A while ago, I found Jérôme Jarre via this link that I posted in this blogpost. He is a 24 year old French social media sensation. He doesn't really have much on his YouTube (despite having almost a million subscribers!) but I felt compelled to find out more about him. He's apparently very active on Vine but I didn't want to have to install yet another app on my phone (you can watch his Vines online though but he hasn't updated it since Nov since he's now more active on Snapchat).
The first video of his that I watched (on YouTube) was this one.
Sorry for the spoiler but I was so humbled by the fact that he turned down a million dollar deal. Why? Because he didn't believe in them and their project. In this video he also talks candidly about his childhood and early life and how he used to be so insecure... and then, how a trip to China changed his life and how he found fame on Vine.
The second video I watched is this one where he appears on the Ellen Show and features some of his hilarious 6 second Vine videos.
I love watching video blogs (vlogs) on YouTube. It's like my (almost) daily dose of 'reality tv' and I prefer that they are real people and not b-list celebrities.
So anyway, meanwhile... When I first heard of Snapchat I thought it was the dumbest app ever and couldn't believe it was so popular. I guess most people know it as a sexting app and since I don't sext, I didn't install it let alone use it.
However, some people that I follow have started posting vlogs on Snapchat which made me try it out. I still haven't uploaded a single thing (and probably never will) but I enjoy watching the vlogs on it. They come out much faster than the YouTube ones so they are practically shown in 'real time'.
So anyway, I started following a few people and then remembered Jerome, wondering if he was on it. I searched for his name 'jeromejarre' and was pleasantly surprised that he has an account on there too.
I've really really enjoyed his videos and photos. It's actually quite a shame you can only view them once before they are gone :(
He went to the Philippines to support one of his fan's projects "Liter of Light", providing light to rural areas without electricity. I was fascinated and moved by Jerome's kind gesture to fly all the way there to help these people.
You can read a bit more about him and Snapchat here and about the "Liter of Light" project here.
I really really like this guy. He seems humble and down to earth despite his huge popularity and enormous success (8 million followers on Vine) and really wants to use his fame for good and to help others and not just to make huge amounts of money. He seems friendly, likeable, overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic and of course being super cute and having a killer smile helps! ;)
I don't know what he'll do in the future but I'm sure he's got a great future ahead of him if he keeps doing what he's doing.
Check out his snapchats. They are funny and entertaining and they really put a smile on my dial every time I watch them :)