Leveraging a passion for filming with an inherent knack for arcade games, journalism and social media student Erik Kane has garnered more than two million subscribers on his YouTube channel, Arcade Warrior.
“My favorite place to go on the weekend was the arcade,” Kane said. “I realized there were other people who enjoyed that type of content and I just hit my 13th anniversary on YouTube this past summer.”
Kane’s gold YouTube Play Button for reaching one million subscribers.
Now a veteran in the field of social media, Kane started uploading videos to YouTube when he was only 13 years old.
“Since I had content that was niche, it helped me stand out,” Kane said. “It was a little luck, but a lot of consistency. On the weekends I would film a ton of content, then I would come home from school and edit those videos.”
Nowadays, most people are aware that you can start a career creating content online. In the early stages of YouTube, it wasn’t nearly as simple or lucrative, but in only a few years, Kane managed to monetize his social platforms which have functioned as his sole source of revenue for over a decade.
“It’s an investment. You need a certain number of followers and viewers before you can monetize your platforms,” Kane said. “I also receive sponsorships from local and national businesses to create content. Just recently I worked with Dave and Buster’s for National Video Games Day.”
As social media and content creation evolved over the years due to changes in viewer/user behavior, Kane began to branch out on the type of content he created while adapting to the constant changes. He moved toward creating more short-form content and launched a second channel called Erik and America, where he travels the country visiting local hot spots.
“It was difficult at first to take my content and make it work in under a minute or less. Long-form content always felt more personable,” Kane said. “Social media is always changing. You have to adapt to it if you want to continue to get the most out of it.”
“Social media is always changing. You have to adapt to it if you want to continue to get the most out of it.”
Erik Kane
After more than a decade of working full time creating content online, Kane returned to school and joined SUNY Brockport’s Department of Journalism and Social Media to pursue a degree in journalism and broadcasting.
“As a 17-year-old graduating high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I had no interest in college at that time,” Kane said. “It gave me the opportunity to figure things out while traveling the country and working with a ton of different people.”
As SUNY Brockport prepares to launch a new social media major in the fall of 2026, Kane offered a key piece of advice for prospective students interested in pursuing a career heavily involved in creating content on social media.
“You have to do something that will stand out,” Kane said. “Bring some personality to your content and find an avenue that works for you. Sometimes it takes a bit of trial and error to find out what works for you.”