The Internet has blessed us with many forms of cuteness: Tiny babies, tinier
kittens and adorable photographs of me as a child (thanks, Mom). The Internet
also has given us a particular type of fame -- the Internet celebrity. Some
are silly, such as Star Wars Kid or Trollolol Guy; some are talented: Felicia
Day, Cory Doctorow, Mashable's Pete Cashmore and a host of others.
But perhaps never before have these two qualities been combined so fully
as they are in a new Web series that's getting a lot of attention: How-To With
Annika.
Who's Annika you say? Well, she's an adorable 3-year-old girl (she'll be
4 in October) who knows a surprising amount about dinosaurs, packing for
vacation and the correct methods for picking up a chicken.
Fear not, gentle reader, she's willing to teach you. You and a whole lot
of other people -- Annika's how-to videos have been featured on The Daily Dot
and other online news sites, Christian web sites, countless Pinterest boards
and a host of other places across the Web.
Her parents currently are even in talks with an online children's
programming co-mpany to have them pick up the videos on a weekly basis as part
of their web-based programming.
The videos, which are hosted on YouTube and can be seen on her mother's
blog, baretribe.blogspot. com, are short, sweet and incredibly entertaining.
Annika's mother, Britney (She requested I not use their last name), said
the idea for the videos came to her while watching Annika doing what she does
best -- being cute.
"I was on the blog one day and she was sitting by herself eating oatmeal.
I suddenly felt very convicted about her sitting alone that I went and sat by
her. She started explaining how to make oatmeal and I was like, 'Oh, that's
really adorable,'" she said. "Originally I was going to film it and just send
it to my mom."
But then it occurred to her that Annika's video might be just the reason
she'd been looking for to move away from social networking sites like Facebook
and spend more time writing about family life on her blog.
"I had wanted to get away from Facebook and use my blog more. I thought
this was a cool way to get started," she said. "It's something that we're
doing together; it's fun for her, too. I just thought it would be a cool thing
for her. It's mommy/daughter time."
She said the response has not only been overwhelming, but at times even
touching.
"I've gotten messages, and emails from people -- a couple of really nice
things, too. But a couple have really stood out," Britney said. "One was from
a couple who had a daughter that died when she was 7 or 8. They had a video of
her singing a song and said the videos of Annika just really reminded them of
her. I watched their video and they were right. She was just like an older
Annika. They wanted to thank us, our video helped them remember their own
little girl."
So far, the videos have had a slightly sporadic schedule and there's only
a handful up yet, but Britney said Annika has a lot left to teach us.
"The small things she accomplishes ... we forget those are such a big
deal to children," she said. "These really are precious days with her and I
just want to do what I can to document her little life."
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News Column
Annika Shows How It's Done
Aug. 23, 2012
Travis Webb, Tyler Morning Telegraph, Texas
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Source: (c)2012 Tyler Morning Telegraph (Tyler, Texas) Distributed by MCT Information Services
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