On Youtube there's probably thousands of unboxing videos by now. Probably hundreds of thousands, in addition to PR advertisements and/or advertainment projects that get posted up. Remember the post-classic era of YouTube when these things started to happen with regularity? The products became rather professional and even mildly interesting, generating a lot of baseless enthusiasm for various products.
One of the earliest and most viral types of YouTube marketing was the "Will It Blend?" series, which clusterfucked all kinds of product placements and madness into one video every few days. In a way the series was a metaphor for itself. People jumped onto these videos because they were more exciting than Lonelygirl15 and easier to find than interesting, creative, niche videos. I don't know if Blendtec sold a lot of blenders on the strength of this noteworthy advertising campaign, since it made everyone think that even food blended in the machine would turn into poisonous dust, but they sure got a lot of attention.
But I'm talking about the olden days of YouTube. These things all happened years ago. People actually got angry that Lonelygirl15 deceived them about being a real vlogger. For a while you'd see all kinds of angry comments about whether or not it was really a lone girl posting those videos. Most people came to their own conclusions, and in the end they turned it into a 'meh' series of shorts. This series didn't advertise for much except the performers in it.
However, the two corporate creations mentioned above gave some PR or adman the idea that you didn't have to create a persona to sell products and advertise on YouTube. Blendtec was too silly, Lonelygirl15 didn't really sell anything but belief that vlogging was worth anybody's damn – and the jury is still out about that. The solution is brilliant: just go to a real person who wants to get hits, give them an exclusive product to vlog about, and have them sell it for you.
Showing posts with label minecraft videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minecraft videos. Show all posts
4/8/11
State of the Internet
There was a glorious time when lots of TV series were freely available on YouTube, and there weren't just nonsense links. That era peaked maybe four years ago, at this point in time. Piracy is obviously still rampant, but when you could rustle up a genuine, entire series on, at last resort, a Chinese or French video site – happier days. Now you look around and your feet start kicking rebelliously at the leash. Unboxings, music videos, shout outs, 'viral videos': the entire goddamn world's PR department, is what this nonsense is. Oh look, some Minecraft videos, failblog videos, LPs, bro? Rants? No, YouTube is still of some definite worth.
I have been following at some distance The Young Turks' channel on YouTube; they always play a good hand at the stories they go after. Then there's the University of Nottingham's chemistry channel which is a nice blend of theory and sci-porn (mostly the former, obviously). There are also about 20 channels, each with three or four subsidiaries, which show up regularly (daily) in the top 100 - which as a rule I mistrust. Those view numbers are scary things, when you start thinking about the raw amount of time they represent. More or less, though, right?
Russia Today is always worth watching if you're in the habit of watching news and analyzing things as they are reported: I find that, between all the sources you are given as options, you get some shadowy idea of events, but very sharp impressions from the camera. That sounds in theory like a bait and switch scenario, right? I'm not trying to say anything that's just a consequential thought. Valid question I suppose.
And there are lots of niche channels that could appeal to you on YouTube and a fair bit of actually interesting or informative or pirated (good luck to the cyber detectives) material that can be found with the investment of a few minutes' thorough work.
Clearly, every wise person on earth would've thrown out their books if the internet was really the summit of civilization, so I think that book-apocalyptics stories about the internet, while dismally abundant, are still kind of a trite narrative device. So many noxious books have been printed and sold and hoarded and worshiped that, even counting the good ones, you have a general argument that a lot of paper was wasted and a lot of dirty solitary habits created. Some public habits, entire modes of thought, dependencies: you could go and talk about it.
But I recommend you read about it somewhere, instead.
I have been following at some distance The Young Turks' channel on YouTube; they always play a good hand at the stories they go after. Then there's the University of Nottingham's chemistry channel which is a nice blend of theory and sci-porn (mostly the former, obviously). There are also about 20 channels, each with three or four subsidiaries, which show up regularly (daily) in the top 100 - which as a rule I mistrust. Those view numbers are scary things, when you start thinking about the raw amount of time they represent. More or less, though, right?
Russia Today is always worth watching if you're in the habit of watching news and analyzing things as they are reported: I find that, between all the sources you are given as options, you get some shadowy idea of events, but very sharp impressions from the camera. That sounds in theory like a bait and switch scenario, right? I'm not trying to say anything that's just a consequential thought. Valid question I suppose.
And there are lots of niche channels that could appeal to you on YouTube and a fair bit of actually interesting or informative or pirated (good luck to the cyber detectives) material that can be found with the investment of a few minutes' thorough work.
Clearly, every wise person on earth would've thrown out their books if the internet was really the summit of civilization, so I think that book-apocalyptics stories about the internet, while dismally abundant, are still kind of a trite narrative device. So many noxious books have been printed and sold and hoarded and worshiped that, even counting the good ones, you have a general argument that a lot of paper was wasted and a lot of dirty solitary habits created. Some public habits, entire modes of thought, dependencies: you could go and talk about it.
But I recommend you read about it somewhere, instead.
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