Ben Going (born: June 15, 1985), known as boh3m3 (pronounced bo-heem) on YouTube, is an American YouTube Celebrity, blogger & internet personality based in Torrance, California. Most of Going's videos are shot in black-and-white. He has claimed to be "the only person on the (YouTube) Most Subscribed List that swears excessively". Often in his videos, he wears a signature black hat. Subjects of Going's vlogs have included pop culture, the news media, and the state of the YouTube community, in addition to personal anecdotes.
YouTube[]
Going intended that his first submission to YouTube, posted in May 2006, serve as an audition tape for MTV's "Jackass".That failing, he went on to adopt a vlogger personality that has worked to give him over 44,000 subscribers and a top spot on YouTube's Most Subscribed list. Two of his videos, No Swearing! (posted June 6, 2006) and Why Do YouTube? (posted November 29, 2006 but has since been removed), were featured on YouTube's homepage and each has a view count over 900,000. Various news outlets have approached Going for his opinion on the state of the YouTube community or YouTube in general.
Stemming from his video channel's exposure, YouTube paid Going to produce two videos for use in holiday themed, corporate sponsored promotions in December 2006. The first to be released was part of the YouTube and Coca-Cola Holiday WishCast, sponsored by Coca-Cola. According to Adweek, this promotion marked the first time YouTube made an ad deal with its top users. The second was featured on YouTube's homepage for the YouTube New Year's Eve Countdown, which was put on in partnership with Warner Music Group and sponsored by Chevrolet.
Stickam has credited Going for bringing 1,000 new users to its video networking website hours after he advertised his presence there on YouTube. In January 2007, he hosted a live, 24-hour Stickam broadcast to raise awareness for the Darfur conflict.
In addition to several other popular YouTube users, Going contributed with Barenaked Ladies to produce a music video for their single "Sound of Your Voice" in February 2007. The video has been featured on the Barenaked Ladies' homepage.
In May 2007, YouTube entered Going as one of the first users to take part in its partnership program. As a YouTube partner, Going can capitalize on "promotional opportunities" and advertiser based revenue sharing. He was one of the first twenty to thirty YouTube users to have this status. Although The New York Times once quoted Going's saying that he hopes "video blogging might become some kind of career," since becoming a YouTube partner he has retracted that statement.
Decline (2008-2021)[]
Going was at the center when YouTube began to expand rapidly after Google's acquisition of the site. His original style of vlogging could not keep up with the rapidly commercialized website. His subscribers have dwindled down by more than 33%, to just over 30,000. Moreover, his monthly views now according to Social Blade are only 2.4% of what he used to get in late 2010.
Activity (2021-Present)[]
After years of Inactivity he uploads a video on May 15, 2021 titled "The Deadbeat Uncle Returns from the Convenience Store" In which he explains what happened, he explains the reasons as to why he left is that he was becoming grumpy and snarky and It became a big problem for him at the time he also explains the financial issue he faced at the time because he was one of the first YouTube partners and he did not understand how taxes worked and he says that the money that he earned from YouTube was like independent contractor earnings and as he said he got a welcome surprise from the irs saying he owed 2,000 dollars and because of that everything fell apart and he left California and he explained at the time that the contract company he signed with was telling him what he should and shouldn't do with his videos so he decided to not upload any videos at all and become Inactive and then he explained that he's back now and he is going to start doing stuff again. Now he currently streams on YouTube and Twitch.