Green brothers

The Green brothers, Hank (born 1980) and John (born 1977), are two American entrepreneurs, social activists, authors, and YouTube vloggers. The two have collaborated extensively throughout their public careers, beginning with a daily vlog project in 2007 titled "Brotherhood 2.0", in which they only communicated in vlogs posted to YouTube for a year. The Greens' portfolio of online work now includes their main Vlogbrothers channel, Crash Course, SciShow, their podcast Dear Hank & John, and several other projects spanning several forms of media.

Both brothers have found success individually. John has written several books which have received widespread acclaim and popularity, including The Fault in Our Stars. The novel was made into a 2014 film adaptation, which was number one at the box office during its opening weekend and grossed over $307 million worldwide. Hank has founded several companies, including "EcoGeek", a blog dedicated to environmentally beneficial advancements in technology. The blog was originally a class project of Hank's, while he studied at the University of Montana, but eventually progressed into becoming a major environmental publication, which would grab the attention of Time. The company has since evolved into Complexly, the parent company for most of the Green brothers' projects. Hank co-founded the record label and e-commerce merchandise company DFTBA Records with Alan Lastufka and his debut novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and its sequel A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor debuted as New York Times best sellers.

Together, the two brothers are credited with creating what some have described as a "YouTube media" or "online multimedia" empire. Their collaborative works which include projects centered on education, gaming, and activism, among others, have amassed an active fanbase known as "Nerdfighteria". Other projects founded by the brothers include the online-video conference VidCon and the annual charity event Project for Awesome.

On January 1, 2007, after being heavily inspired by the show with zefrank, the Greens launched the Vlogbrothers channel. Another inspiration for the project was the video blog, lonelygirl15. The project was originally meant to be a year-long way to deepen the bond between the brothers, creating a new outlet to communicate to each other. Prior to the video blog, Hank claims the two "didn't ever talk, really". The project, titled "Brotherhood 2.0", quickly grew an audience, leading to the Greens' success on YouTube. On their following, Hank has stated, "We were never really shouting into the void. There were always people following us. Even if it was just a couple dozen people, they were really engaged." The New Yorker has described the Vlogbrothers channel as "the anchor of an online empire".

The topics of videos on the channel vary widely, as the Greens speak about whatever is on their minds at the time. The first majorly successful Vlogbrothers video, "Accio Deathly Hallows", uploaded on July 18, 2007, was a song about the impending release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The video was featured on YouTube's front page, earned over 1 million views, now has almost 2 million views, and introduced the brothers to the Harry Potter fandom. By the end of 2007, the channel garnered 40,000 subscribers. Another video, in which John announces his support for his friend, mathematician and politician, Daniel Biss, was covered by The Wall Street Journal.

The Brotherhood 2.0 project would end on December 31, 2007, but the Greens announced in their final Brotherhood 2.0 vlog that they would continue creating videos. The channel and its fanbase would grow past Brotherhood 2.0, and eventually in 2013, it reached the 1 million subscriber threshold. The brothers have continued to work on the channel, with Hank stating, "I'm so happy that we get to keep doing vlogbrothers and that people still care about vlogbrothers", adding, "that's still the thing I do. Everything else is just an extension of that thing."

Since gaining a dedicated following through Vlogbrothers, the Green brothers have constantly sought to educate their viewers on various topics. The two have launched and worked on several educational channels since late 2011 under the banner of their company, Complexly, including Crash Course, SciShow and its spinoffs, The Brain Scoop, Sexplanations, How to Adult, The Financial Diet, and Mental Floss. Several of these channels successfully spun off to be sustained by their creators independently of the Greens' original influence.

In a 2014 interview with The Washington Post, John Green stated, "I think people support Crash Course and SciShow because they want for Crash Course and SciShow to exist and they believe in our mission to make educational content for free, for everyone, for ever." The brothers have been described as "one of the main voices in YouTube's vibrant education community".