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Thoughts Toward YouTubers, Influencers, and Content Creators

S

spunkystrawberries

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 20, 2024
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19
Hey folks —

As I read through these forums, especially around new product launches, I get the vibes of very strong feelings and opinions toward a lot of popular YouTubers and their reviews and such.

I'm curious — What do y'all like about specific YouTubers or other so-called influencers? What makes certain ones (if there are any for you) better than others? And if you have strong feelings against the general community of these creators, then what would you like to see different?

Thanks in advance for your perspectives!
 
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I ignore them.

I am usually pretty certain about choices and any deliberation/research I have about a choice is generally internal for me. Sometimes, I do look up internet reviews for a product but I'm never viewing influencers. Most of them seem to have a lifestyle or interest/bias that is not aligned with my own or how I would personally do things. So, if they influence anyone, it's not me.

Basically, I prefer doing my own thing.
 
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Youtube offers levels of knowledge into products we never would have had before. Can you imagine shopping for anything without doing at least a cursory YouTube search on that new car, computer, phone, whatever? I love YouTube for the informational aspect of it, it allows me to indulge interests that I don't have the time or resources for at the moment. Example I love the idea of sailing across the ocean (while it also terrifies me). I can watch various YouTubers who are basically just documenting their voyages and I am learning as they go. So it is a learning and knowledge base that does influence what I buy at times. I could care less about their opinions on religion, politics or anything else like that.
 
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eyoungren said:
I ignore them.

I am usually pretty certain about choices and any deliberation/research I have about a choice is generally internal for me. Sometimes, I do look up internet reviews for a product but I'm never viewing influencers. Most of them seem to have a lifestyle or interest/bias that is not aligned with my own or how I would personally do things. So, if they influence anyone, it's not me.

Basically, I prefer doing my own thing.
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Well said.

The very noun "influencer" makes me want to aim a parabola of puke in the direction of whoever came up with such a self-important, self-obsessed, narcissistic term; in other words, anyone who describes themselves as such will evoke an instant and immediate reaction of an exceedingly negative nature from me.

Moreover, their world view, perspectives, interests, biases, and activities neither interest me, and nor do they align with my own values nor how I personally would do to do things.

Thus, my answer to the question asked in the OP will echo - align - quite closely with what @eyoungren has already written so eloquently.
 
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As paper magazines slowly die off I depend on a few of them to keep up-to-date about what's out there. MKBHD/the Waveform podcast are a couple of favorites. I really enjoy Gary at macmost.com; he doesn't really do product reviews as much as "how-to's" for Mac OS and iOS. Just a quick, 5 to 8 minute how-to daily, and even if its a simple subject (like cut and paste) I will always learn something new. He's the only Patreon account I have, very valuable to me.
 
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I mostly think of them as entertainment, but not much else. I don't know if it's because consumer tech has become so similar and unexciting, but tech review videos have virtually no surprises or genuinely interesting information these days.

So yes, it might be entertaining to watch 15 minutes of how the new phone is just like the old phone but slightly better, and the cameras are a little better but "you can't tell the difference unless you pixel peep," and also how channel sponsor dbrand has skins available for this phone so I can "slap a dbrand skin on it," and so on and so forth...

There's not really anything of substance, but I might watch it while making a sandwich or something. 🥪
 
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Like just about everything else, it depends highly on the content... are they just a shill? Are they sent products for free to review?

Just about the only YT reviewer I watch regularly is ProjectFarm. On the tech side, GamersNexus. Oddly, as I am not a musician, I do find myself watching reaction/reviews from classically trained musicians listening to more modern music, such as The Daily Doug, The Charismatic Voice and Beth Roars. There is nothing finer that hearing classical artists explaining that some heavy metal isn't just noise, there are really great musicians in metal!

I won't watch obvious shills or "smash that like button" idiots that are more interested in flashy presentation over content.
 
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eyoungren said:
I ignore them.

I am usually pretty certain about choices and any deliberation/research I have about a choice is generally internal for me. Sometimes, I do look up internet reviews for a product but I'm never viewing influencers. Most of them seem to have a lifestyle or interest/bias that is not aligned with my own or how I would personally do things. So, if they influence anyone, it's not me.

Basically, I prefer doing my own thing.
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Yep, 100% this.
I ignore YouTube like the plague, just like anything else social media…
 
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spunkystrawberries said:
Hey folks —

As I read through these forums, especially around new product launches, I get the vibes of very strong feelings and opinions toward a lot of popular YouTubers and their reviews and such.

I'm curious — What do y'all like about specific YouTubers or other so-called influencers? What makes certain ones (if there are any for you) better than others? And if you have strong feelings against the general community of these creators, then what would you like to see different?

Thanks in advance for your perspectives!
Click to expand...
I couldn’t name any tbh. I watch a couple of photographers but not for gear reviews.
The popular influencers are good for one thing. Self promotion.
 
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YouTuber? Too broad a term. It would be me having an opinion about a whole ethnic group.

Influencer? A useless bunch. The worst of the lot are entitled garbage. Above them are the begging choosers. The best of the lot are narcissist. In short, I would only condone genocide if it targets only influencers.

Content creators? 98% rubbish (influencers mostly, a lot of what did I just watch? and people trying to make a buck off their kids😠). 1% incredibly useful teaching aid. I learned how to fix a lot of my car problems via no bs, no blah-blah-blah, easy to follow videos. 1% super satisfying videos that's a great stress relief. Watching God-level woodworkers do their magic is super satisfying.
 
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Mousse said:
YouTuber? Too broad a term. It would be me having an opinion about a whole ethnic group.

Influencer? A useless bunch. The worst of the lot are entitled garbage. Above them are the begging choosers. The best of the lot are narcissist. In short, I would only condone genocide if it targets only influencers.

Content creators? 98% rubbish (influencers mostly, a lot of what did I just watch? and people trying to make a buck off their kids😠). 1% incredibly useful teaching aid. 1% super satisfying videos that's a great stress relief.
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Finding the 1% is the tricky bit isn’t it?
 
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Everything that's on youtube doesn't exactly fall under the labels mentioned in the OP.

I never watch anything that might be in the social media category featuring lifestyle influencers. If the focus is on some "personality", I'm not interested. And I don't watch product reviews, nor any of the videos of pranks, stunts, gags and assorted silly fun activities. And I don't watch political videos or current events "explainers" on youtube.

But I do watch instructional videos, for me that's usually something explaining how to use various software apps or fix various computer problems. There are also lots of good music videos.
 
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I7guy said:
I love watching YouTube. As @icanhazmac mentioned some good YouTubers out there. But when I’m product shopping for expensive items I go to forums to confirm my decision. And usually my mind is made up.
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Really? I speak to Mrs AFB on expensive decisions and find she has made my mind up for me! :)

What's wrong with the old one? You don't really need it! No you can't have it!
 
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I watch a lot of YouTube. I watch more YouTube than I do TV. Yes, there's plenty of crap on YouTube, but you need to expand beyond the Mr. Beasts of the world to find the decent stuff. If a video has been up for only an hour and it already has millions of views, it's probably nothing good. You have to be a bit of hipster about it. I watch mostly travel and book-related content. I enjoy finding out about new places to explore and new literature to read, and I've found watching people who are passionate about the same things I'm passionate about is a better way of spending my time than getting riled up by the news or political content. There's a world of content beyond the clickbait thumbnail, the 2-minute sponsor ad, and the constant smash cuts to "keep your attention".
 
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spunkystrawberries said:
Hey folks —

As I read through these forums, especially around new product launches, I get the vibes of very strong feelings and opinions toward a lot of popular YouTubers and their reviews and such.

I'm curious — What do y'all like about specific YouTubers or other so-called influencers? What makes certain ones (if there are any for you) better than others? And if you have strong feelings against the general community of these creators, then what would you like to see different?

Thanks in advance for your perspectives!
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I think they all suck.
 
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Youtube reviews are best with the sound off.

It's sometimes helpful to see what things look like, but I really don't trust the words of anyone trying to get YouTube attention for product "reviews"-- the incentives aren't there for honest, dispassionate content.
 
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spunkystrawberries said:
Hey folks —

As I read through these forums, especially around new product launches, I get the vibes of very strong feelings and opinions toward a lot of popular YouTubers and their reviews and such.

I'm curious — What do y'all like about specific YouTubers or other so-called influencers? What makes certain ones (if there are any for you) better than others? And if you have strong feelings against the general community of these creators, then what would you like to see different?

Thanks in advance for your perspectives!
Click to expand...
You shouldn't have brought this up, oh, you shouldn't have. You're about to be disliked and unsubscribed. Now the ananists will come and defend the iJustine channel )))).
 
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