Fighting fake travel abroad, Earth Gai Liuzi gained 1.3 million followers in 10 days

This article delves into how the travel blogger "Cousin" quickly became famous by authentically recording his travel experiences abroad, and reveals the content trend of breaking filters and showing the real world. I hope that reading this article will provide you with a new understanding of current social media content creation.

Recently, because he did not use filters or angles in his travel videos abroad, "cousin" accidentally changed his job from a travel blogger to an "anti-counterfeiting" blogger.

In many people's impressions, Paris, France is an extremely romantic paradise on earth, and even the air is filled with romance. But according to my "cousin"'s experience, there is no smell of perfume in France, only the "smell of poop".

When we arrived at the Eiffel Tower, my cousin complained: "It's not as spectacular as the Xuzhou TV Tower. There are stalls everywhere below, just like a farmer's market in a third-tier county in China."

Arriving outside the Louvre, "cousin" was instantly reminded of Caesar Palace, a bathing center in Xuzhou. He finally squeezed for half an hour to get into the Louvre, and ended up smelling "a strong smell of fart."

When he arrived at the Champs-Elysées, he saw homeless people everywhere and chewing gum all over the road. He almost vomited because the smell on the street was so bad.

People who have traveled abroad may find these things commonplace, but for many netizens, the "cousin" video can be said to be refreshing. One netizen commented: "The places where the 'cousin' has been have lost their poetry and distance."

With the release of a series of unfiltered foreign travel videos, "Cousin" gradually became popular, and netizens joked that he had destroyed the European tourism industry on his own and was a man blacklisted by French culture and tourism. According to statistics from Xinbang's Douyin data tool Xindou, "Cousin" has gained a total of 1.3 million fans in the past 10 days.

So, how did "cousin" become a travel fraud-busting blogger? What traffic code is hidden behind the increase in "cousin"'s followers?

1. By "fighting fake travel" abroad, the blogger gained 1.3 million followers in 10 days

According to his "cousin" during the live broadcast, he runs a small business abroad and is not a full-time blogger. The reason he shot foreign travel videos was because he saw a foreign blogger use a hell filter when traveling to Guilin, "which was a bit of deliberate vilification of China's image."

"My original intention was to let more Chinese people know what the real situation is like abroad. I don't deliberately add a hell filter, I just shoot with my original camera. I don't magnify your shortcomings, but I don't praise you either."

In January 2024, "Cousin" began to record his travel experience in France, such as cucumbers at 3 euros each, haircuts at 33 euros, the shabby French subway, the Champs-Elysées full of homeless people, and French people who took photos on the road without following traffic rules. (Additional note: According to the current exchange rate, 1 euro is equivalent to 7.74 yuan.)

What my cousin couldn’t stand the most was that he walked for 40 minutes in Paris before finding a toilet, which cost 2 euros the last time he used it. Even the subway elevator cost 2 euros, which made my cousin so angry that he had to climb a long flight of stairs.

The most common complaint of "cousin" is the price of goods in Paris, and netizens describe him as "rich and stingy"

After watching the video posted by "cousin", one netizen commented: "'cousin' successfully made Paris, France look like an 18th-tier small county town combined with the feeling of a luxurious bad movie."

Paris, France? The City of Romance × Farmers Market √

From France to Italy to Egypt, the complaints became more and more frequent, and the videos became smoother and smoother. The "cousin" gradually formed a video style in which he appeared on camera to explain, and his wife filmed and spoke behind the scenes, and also had catchphrases such as "Little Paris", "Little Louvre" and "Little Venice".

On March 2, "Cousin" released a 10-minute video of experiencing the Egyptian pyramids, which finally became a big hit, accumulating 1.03 million likes, and the number of fans began to grow rapidly.

Image source: New Dou

In Egypt, the "cousin" continued to complain. When he saw the Egyptian Museum, he felt it "looked like the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Xuzhou" and when he walked into Katebay Castle, he felt it "looked like the house of a demolished household, with nothing in it."

Standing under the Egyptian pyramids, my cousin solemnly testified: "The Egyptian pyramids are not made of cement, but of real stone. But it is a rumor that paper cannot be inserted into the cracks between the stones of the pyramids. Even your hand can be inserted into them."

After entering the pyramid, the cousin kept complaining: "It's hot, stuffy, and smelly, with a smell of stinky shoe insoles," "No air conditioning? The stairs are so small? I spent hundreds of dollars to get in and there's nothing. Why did you let me in?" At the end of the tour, the cousin concluded: "I really don't want to come here. It's warm, smelly, hot, and sweaty."

After watching the "cousin's" video, one netizen left a comment: "I always thought Egypt had a weird sense of mystery, until I saw your video, I kind of wanted to visit the farmers' market in my hometown."

As more and more of his videos are posted, netizens gradually realize that his cousin really wants to show everyone a different foreign country. "At first, I saw him traveling as a minefield clearing. Wow, after watching too much, the whole world is full of mines, and there is no need to leave the house."

Venice, the city of water, was a place where I thought I could experience the romantic water scene, but it turned out to be not only "a smell of bathhouse water, warm and smelly", but also "a city of fakes, with all the products in the shops made in China". Because the gondola driver cheated me out of 10 euros, my "cousin" scolded me from morning to night.

Switzerland has good public security and beautiful scenery, but you can't find food there and it's very expensive. "Spending more than 2,000 yuan a day is not romantic at all. Ordinary people only have time to spend, not to relax. This kind of scenery is too common in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. I ran more than 10,000 kilometers just to see its mountains? I can't even see all the mountains in China."

In this way, under the chatter of the "cousin", netizens gradually learned about the other side of foreign travel. Many netizens even began to recommend some destinations to the "cousin" in order to avoid pitfalls in advance: "You save the cost of a ticket, and we save the cost of a ten-day trip to Europe."

In response to the requests of many netizens, "cousin" recently revealed in a live broadcast that he will travel to Thailand in April, Spain in May, and New Zealand in June.

2. Behind the increase in followers, the ordinary travel style of "cousin"

Why is “Cousin” so popular?

A very important reason is that "cousin" records his overseas travel experience in an entertaining, more ordinary and more believable way, helping netizens to narrow the information gap and get to know a different foreign country. In the words of netizens , "cousin" is the most real and most like an ordinary person's travel.

There has always been a lot of misplaced information about foreign travel. In order to create a perfect persona, bloggers often make the travel process extremely dreamy. Some people even exaggerate to varying degrees to promote travel products. Even ordinary people can't help but add filters and post the best photos and videos they carefully selected on WeChat Moments. Some netizens also believe that because of the existence of "Paris Syndrome", people who have traveled abroad will not share too much of the not-so-good side of foreign countries.

Except for a small number of people who have been abroad or have more information channels, most ordinary netizens' impression of traveling abroad is a fairy-tale world, which can be proved by the surprise of many netizens in the "cousin" comment section.

Although some bloggers have previously shared the not-so-romantic side of traveling abroad sporadically, such as "He Dantong" who once shared her experience of being robbed in Paris, "Cousin" may be the first blogger to present the not-so-romantic side of traveling abroad in a high-density and systematic manner. Coupled with "Cousin"'s very social and likable personality, he has successfully seized a market gap.

Although the traffic is good, "Cousin" may not be able to achieve commercial monetization and sustain traffic by "fighting counterfeiting" in overseas travel.

In terms of monetization, the smoothest way for travel bloggers to monetize is to recommend travel products. However, as a "counterfeiting" blogger, it is difficult for "cousin" to follow this path unless he adjusts the content direction. For example, "Can Bottle in the Netherlands", a travel blogger from Xuzhou, attracted 12.65 million fans on Douyin by filming Europe as a fairy tale world, and successfully ran business models such as purchasing agents and travel consulting.

Venice and Paris through the lens of "Cans and Bottles in the Netherlands"

However, the "cousin" once revealed during a live broadcast that his current popularity is more to satisfy his desire to be a conspicuous bag. He currently has no plans to monetize the bag, and he also explicitly rejected the purchasing requests from netizens in the live broadcast room.

In terms of traffic, in recent years, due to changes in the social environment, content involving foreign countries is more likely to cause controversy. Although "cousin" repeatedly emphasized that he was not trying to discredit foreign countries, for example, "People often ask me if I was robbed in Paris. If no one robbed me, then I won't talk nonsense." But his private messages still received a lot of abuse.

In fact, "cousin" does not always complain. For example, when visiting the resting place of Napoleon in France, "cousin" seriously explained Napoleon's heroic deeds like a tour guide. But because the video does show the not-so-good side of foreign travel, "cousin" is likely to be involved in some online battles.

3. Breaking the filter is becoming the new traffic password

Not only when traveling abroad, if you expand your perspective, you will find that breaking the filter is becoming the new traffic code.

Different from the pursuit of exquisite makeup and perfect personality in the past, more and more bloggers began to appear without makeup and share their chaotic lives; different from the high-end study abroad life in the past, many study abroad bloggers began to share the food that makes people collapse abroad...

From the user's perspective, more and more people realize that the world is a huge makeshift team, and there is no need to look at the world through filters. Overly embellished content has begun to lose its former great appeal, and may even be criticized as "hypocritical and pretentious." Users are becoming more and more sober, and some bloggers who love to tell the truth and share real life are beginning to be liked by more people.

From the perspective of creators, filters that go beyond reality are becoming more and more stressful and less profitable. As the user threshold increases, bloggers have to make their characters and scenes more sophisticated and inward-looking. For creators, abandoning filters and sharing the real content that was previously hidden is also a relief.

From the platform's perspective, a healthy content ecology requires not only filtered content, but also anti-filter content. Only in this way can it attract the broadest number of users.

Recently, blogger "Shirley Lin" has become popular along with "cousin". According to statistics from the new Douyin, because of her top-notch family, good looks, and talent, she can easily complain about the bad lunch at the United Nations headquarters. Netizens think she is the real-life version of Lin Wanyu, the daughter of Lin International Bank. "Shirley Lin" gained 3.36 million followers on Douyin in 40 days.

"Shirley Lin" and "Cousin" are two bloggers whose followers have increased significantly recently. One embodies netizens' fantastic imagination of the vast unknown world, and the other reveals that the world may be a "huge makeshift team", ultimately forming two popular content directions.

Together, they have demonstrated that the content industry has developed to the point where a de facto content stratification is forming.

In my opinion, unlike the saturated involution of filter-based content that emphasizes modification, content without filters and modification still has a considerable traffic opportunity due to insufficient supply. In the future, perhaps more "cousins" will appear.

Author: Yun Feiyang Xiaoba Source: WeChat public account "Xinbang"