How Aaron Rupar leveraged Snapstream to amass more than 4 billion video views on Twitter

The number of quote tweets Rupar gets is indicative of why so many people follow him. They see he’s posted an interesting video and want to offer their take on it. In a way, Rupar is providing Twitter users with content to put in their own feed so they can express their own views on news, politics, and current events.

Rupar is careful with how he puts together the moments he posts. He provides enough context to protect against accusations of taking statements out of context, but he also has to make sure the videos he posts will be interesting and digestible for his audience. He says he spends considerable time making sure his videos fairly represent what people are saying but are also likely to engage Twitter users, along with his commentary.

“You could post a two minute clip from a Biden interview, but if the clip you really want people to see within that is buried a minute in, way over half the people will never get there to see that,” Rupar says. “It’s that fine line of making sure you have ample context, and it’s informative and doesn’t leave people guessing as to what’s going on, but you don’t want it to be so long that it’s boring and people don’t want to watch it.”

David Clinch, a media consultant who’s been in the industry for over 30 years, says Rupar’s experience as a journalist is an important part of his success. Anyone could start posting videos of what’s going on in politics and get some attention, but a good journalist knows how to find the moments that matter and represent them fairly. 

“The way in which Aaron combines his experience as a journalist with his social media savvy to be able to quickly identify the clips that will get the most traction, and describe them in a responsible way, makes him the perfect practitioner for SnapStream,” Clinch says. “He can monitor and search multiple incoming channels at the same time and make quick decisions about what to clip, but is also always careful to make sure his descriptions and framing are accurate.”

"There's always been a big demand for clips but now in this modern era everybody can have access to them. You don't have to be a producer with a library of footage," Rupar said in an interview with SnapStream’s Rakesh Agrawal in 2022. "It does kind of turn everybody into a reporter."

Rupar says he’s found SnapStream is “by far” the easiest and quickest way to post video clips on Twitter, and he says it’s only gotten easier as the platform has grown. He credits SnapStream with helping him grow such a large audience, having just shy of 6,000 followers when he first became a user of the product. He says it was a crucial part of him being able to build on his success at Vox and to start his own business as an independent journalist. 

Aaron Rupar spoke with SnapStream CEO Rakesh Agrawal about how video clips and moments have been integral to his career as a journalist in front of a live audience at the Online News Association conference in September 2022.

How have we made your clipping process more sustainable, more reliable?

SnapStream recordings are very reliable, so I can rest assured that even if I can’t catch an event live, it will be there for me in the SnapStream library when I get around to watching.

How have you been able to get content you wouldn’t have found otherwise?

There have been many instances where I’ve seen someone post something online about a notable cable segment that just happened, and I’ve used SnapStream to go back and post a clip. In that way SnapStream helps me stay on top of the news even when I’m not watching.