Tube Thambi

One year ago, people searching YouTube for videos about Auroville would have noticed that many of the items that first showed up were produced by people who had visited Auroville for only a few days. Some of these were positive; some superficial and a few even perpetrated falsehoods. But where were the videos made by Auroville itself?

“They were difficult to find and few and far between,” says Ruben, a communications specialist from Mexico City, who has been working as a YouTube channel manager for the past three years. He noticed that Auroville wasn’t collectively doing Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or applying ‘best practices ’in order to get Auroville’s videos ranked higher on Google and YouTube. “SEO is absolutely necessary to get an increase in visibility and traffic,” he says. “Auroville needed to improve its visibility by creating more content that ranks. It’s different from a posting on Facebook or Instagram which will be up briefly and is only visited by one’s own social circle. Auroville’s presence on YouTube and Google is a long-term investment with a more powerful and further reach.” 

Ruben pointed out that the top slots in Google and YouTube search results are conventionally taken by bloggers, vloggers, advertisers and tourism companies paying or being paid for placements. To meet that challenge, Ruben and his wife, Aurotaranti, launched Tube Thambi to bring together the majority of Auroville-produced videos on one YouTube site. It started in March 2020, on the cusp of the first COVID-19 lockdown. 

The name was inspired by a short-lived service unit, ‘AuroThambi’, created by then Auroville youths Muni and Sanjay. In Tamil ‘thambi’ means ‘younger brother’.

Currently Tube Thambi has combined the videos of 125 Auroville units and individuals on one site. Working with units, activities and events to improve their social media presence, Tube Thambi has managed to organically increase subscribers at auroville.com (Auroville’s online shop), Auroville Radio and, more specifically, Krishna Mackenzie’s Solitude Farm channel from 8,000 to 15,000. 

Ruben explains that by helping to improve the SEO and applying best practices, Auroville-produced videos will be organically promoted by YouTube and can eventually help support Auroville projects financially, unlike outsiders’ videos which aim at making money from the Auroville name.

At present, Tube Thambi uploads and publishes between seven to ten videos a week. They not only include the Auroville Radio outputs and the presentations given at Savitri Bhavan, but also virtual reality videos with 360 degrees viewing. The Auroville Bakery can now have a mouth-watering view of its tempting breads and pastries. Also on view are exhibitions at the Centre d’Art at Citadines, the beach at Sri Ma, the Archeological Park, the Unity Pavilion and views of the Matrimandir. 

At any given time, there will be a varied offering of ecological talks, Integral Yoga, musical concerts, up-cycling demonstrations, health tips, farm talks and many other portrayals of the diverse life of Auroville. To improve international understanding, Tube Thambi has the capability of creating voice-overs in multiple languages, and subtitles in more than sixty languages. Part of the SEO process is to publish Auroville’s video content on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Vimeo, Linkedin and Pinterest.

When asked for their deeper motivation for the project, Aurotaranti simply replies “human unity”. “We are like a directory for Auroville, united online,” she says. Tube Thambi’s next step is to increase the Tamil language content to further Auroville’s unity and local relevance. To have Auroville’s online content under one banner is a symbolic and practical step of communal togetherness.