I think most of us have already fantasized about being a content creator and living off social media. Spending time on your favorite platforms while earning lots of money sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? In order to get insight into the life of a content creator, we visited the “DAZ“ in Stuttgart on March 11th together with Ms. Arbia and Ms. Gostner so we could meet the American creators “Zac XCVIII“ and “Zack Bachelor.“

The DAZ (Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum) is an institution responsible for student exchanges, English courses, and other activities regarding both countries. Since it is located in Stuttgart, we went there by train. When we arrived, we sat down in a room full of chairs and were introduced to the DAZ. Shortly after that, the two creators, Zac and Zack, entered the room and we welcomed them with applause. For those who didn’t know them, Zac and Zack introduced themselves.

They both come from Michigan, which is one of the American states. However, their sharing almost the same name and coming from the same state is just a coincidence. Zac and Zack first met each other in Germany while playing basketball (which, by the way, is one of their greatest shared passions). When they arrived in Germany separately, they had to face lots of culture shocks, other cultural differences, and challenges. After all, we’re talking about two countries located on different continents. These cultural contrasts between the two countries offered them the perfect inspiration for their videos. The creative and hilarious way in which they portray the differences between Germany and the USA attracts a huge audience from both countries, though mostly Germans. The reasons for this are mainly curiosity about what life is like across the ocean, the (indirect) encouragement to engage with the videos, and especially the fact that laughter connects us. Thanks to these (and more) strategies, Zac XCVIII managed to reach more than 350,000 subscribers on YouTube and more than 500,000 followers on TikTok.

During our visit at the DAZ, we talked about German and American stereotypes and how much truth they probably contain together with the two creators. We discussed stereotypes such as “Germans are always on time” or “Americans have poor knowledge of geography.” Overall, I can say that most of Class 9B doesn’t believe in stereotypes. After that, we played a game in which we created our own drafts or ideas for potential videos and presented them to the others. This turned out to be really fun, and we also received feedback from Zac and Zack on how good the quality of the video would be and whether it had potential to go viral. We could see that being a successful content creator doesn’t mean blindly uploading videos but requires a lot of analysis and adaptive thinking skills. At the end, we were all able to take photos, and then we said goodbye and went back to school or home.

What we loved most about this trip is that we got to experience something most of us are genuinely interested in. Social media is a modern topic that is becoming increasingly important. Since most of us already spend a lot of time on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, or YouTube, it is valid to ask yourself whether creating content could be a potential career opportunity. On that day, we learned that there is much more behind the exciting life of a content creator than there seems to be. A content creator has a lot of responsibility and also has to handle technical tasks. Whether someone wants to start this journey of content creation is up to them and is a very personal decision. Especially nowadays, in the middle of the digital revolution, I think it would be worth it to use this chance to share your passion with the world. As long as it is done in a responsible manner, content creation can be very fun and expand our horizons.