We usually go about our daily lives without giving the strangers on the street a second glance, much less talking to them. The years of quarantine caused by the pandemic also did not help improve our social skills. Instead, we have become more comfortable keeping our interactions in the digital realm.
Despite this invisible wall, New Yorker Edsta throws caution to the wind, bravely approaches strangers on the streets, and asks them random questions in his online show, Extra Edsta. With his creative questions, his viewers get to see the colorful and interesting people of New York. Furthermore, Edsta having no specific criteria in choosing his interviewees allows the audience to see how similar and different everyone is, ensuring that everyone can find some answers they can relate to while making them think about how they would respond.
Edsta visits popular hangout places all over New York to film his content. He is able to elicit genuine and raw reactions from his unsuspecting respondents, with his questions ranging from funny and light to emotional and personal. Any viewer would have probably been left with a big smile and a full heart after watching his “How Happy Are You” video, where the social media personality asks questions that make the interviewees and viewers acknowledge the things they are grateful for in life. Indeed, hearing other people give out high ratings because of small things we take for granted puts things into perspective for many viewers and respondents.
The video that gave Edsta the most views on his channel was when he asked strangers to rate their appearance on a scale of 1 to 10. This video racked up over nine million views on TikTok, with his other videos reaching millions of views. Expanding his reach to various popular social media platforms, Edsta also releases more bite-sized content on TikTok and reserves his full-length videos for his YouTube channel, both equally engaging and fun to watch. In addition, he regularly uploads new content on his TikTok and YouTube accounts, keeping his YouTube subscribers of almost 7,000 and TikTok followers of 20,000 updated and thoroughly entertained.
Edsta gives credit to content creators all over the world who inspired him to adopt the unexpected crowd-sourcing format. “I was inspired by content creators from abroad and took the initiative to go out on the streets of New York City and interview strangers on my own,” shared Edsta. “Sometimes, I am able to put a smile on people’s faces, and I want the viewers to get a sense of satisfaction from that,” he added.
Edsta has set a personal goal of reaching 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year. By continuously exploring and trying to keep the questions as random as possible, Edsta will be able to hook more viewers and keep all his followers waiting in anticipation of the next update. Let’s hope that citizens of the Big Apple are also ready to answer the questions when they see the signature Extra Edsta microphone.
