Why I made my channels A few people have asked why I created these channels - why anyone would bother spending time writing or filming content for others. Some assumed it was driven by nostalgia or by unhappiness after emigrating. I understand why someone might think that, but that’s not the case for me. Let’s go over the reasons here. Why I started the Telegram channel 1. Talking online. I’ve been involved in online discussions for decades, long before I moved to NZ. I’m one of those people who takes part in huge 100+ page forum threads, writes reviews, and comments on blogs and YouTube channels. I’ve always enjoyed doing that. 2. Freedom of speech. Unfortunately, most online platforms have some form of censorship (moderation). So if you want complete freedom, you need to create your own space. There’s no censorship in my channels and Telegram is one of the least censored platforms (they only prohibit illegal content). 3. Selection of topics. On other platforms, someone else sets the topics for people to discuss. Here, I can talk about whatever I want. 4. Sharing information about my move. After I moved to NZ, friends and family kept asking the same questions about how I was doing, so I was spending a lot of time repeating the same replies. Even copying and pasting replies was time-consuming. Now I can share everything in the channel, and anyone who wants to stay updated can do so. 5. Improving my English. I felt I needed to improve the complexity and sophistication of my English. In my opinion, the best way to do that is by working with written English. Also, I looked for normal (not ads or reposts) English Telegram channels and couldn’t find any, so I filled that gap. Why I started the YouTube channel After creating the Telegram channel, I got about 20 subscribers from friends and family. There are no promotion opportunities on Telegram, so that number would have stayed the same forever. To fix that, I made a YouTube channel with video versions of my posts, hoping to raise my subscriber count to 300-500. YouTube turned out to be far better than I expected. Even my first video got thousands of views through its suggestions system, and later videos did even better. Subscribers quickly hit my target and keep growing. YouTube is incredibly generous. I also really enjoyed video editing, and I’ve started treating it like a challenge - I want to make videos that get more views. Is there a financial incentive? Telegram brings nothing. YouTube monetisation brings in a bit of money, but it’s far (by tens of times) less than my main sources of income, and I doubt the topic of New Zealand could bring in significantly more. So for now, YouTube is just a hobby. Why is the YouTube channel in Russian? Because the topics I discuss are interesting to Russians, and I want my videos to be watched. If I move on to topics that might interest English-speaking audiences, I’ll switch to English. Am I nostalgic about Russia? No, I’m completely happy living in New Zealand. Here I feel free, and for the first time in my life I see a future for myself and my family. I’m just becoming more and more convinced that New Zealand is the best country in the world. I’m not planning to go back, though I can’t rule out the risk entirely. I am working hard every day to make the risk smaller. How would I talk about NZ if I returned to Russia? Exactly the same - I wouldn’t be one of those immigrants who badmouth other countries just because they couldn’t settle there. New Zealand, like the rest of the Western world, is one of the best places to live. Everything I post and film is completely sincere, and it would be the same if I moved back to Russia. Of course, I might change my mind one day - anything is possible - but I think the chance of that is very small. (Russian)