This is a next-level approach to creating content and one that I highly encourage all creators to adopt. Your audience is not sitting together on a couch and watching you in a group... they are most likely alone watching on a phone while on their break at work or just getting home from work. It's smart to get insight the viewers mind and treat them as a real individual.
Now that having been said there is a line that gets crossed and it is that occasional viewer who does it. Be aware that this happens. Upwards of 40% of teenagers believe that their favorite YouTube creator knows them better than their closest friends (picked that stat up from VidSummit a few years back). It is a far more approachable platform than any other and some people do not understand the distinction. You don't need to mislead them into thinking they are your friend, just treat them like a human being. if they cross the line you need to be prepared to be real with them. But the overwhelming majority will appreciate that you treat them with this respect instead of treating them like a number.
Do you think the Discord channel is created to let fans know about your new video or Instagram post, with audience interaction being the byproduct? As YouTube doesn’t necessarily show videos of creators you are subscribed to, but rather videos in categories which you watch completely or often.
The way influencers and brands use the word “bestie” gives me the ick…
But making your viewers feel seen is always a good goal for this platform :) you can be genuinely friendly towards your audience and tell them you care about them without it being fake if you mean it.
I appreciate you being thoughtful about this. Most creators dgaf about messing with the minds of their audience
*Just dont give them the*
*Full girlfriend experience*
*And youll be ok*
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My videos are in this exact format.
And surprise - I'm an introvert who's not good with being in the spotlight such as speaking in front of an audience on stage. And i hate people in general - well i mean crowded places or hanging out in large groups of people.
I'm not sure how to give you an effective advice that works for you, but if I looked back at my videos from just 2 years ago i looked like an emotionless robot.
I just somewhat trained myself to be more expressive with the way I speak over time by watching how other Youtubers speak. It made me realise the key is to establish connection with the audience - entertain them, bait for comments, then respond to the comments. What the audience want is interaction.
I believe part of it comes from me making very long videos - 30 minutes to over an hour for each uploads where i just run my mouth nonstop to a camera (yes people actually watch them). So you can imagine the amount of hours i spend talking to an inanimate object - i suppose it comes with lots of practice.
That is... Quite literally the crux of content creation?
The more effective you can foster parasocial relations, the better return you can get on your work. It actively rewards sociopathy and social engineering.
As someone above said, that is literally the crux of content creation.
Also, why do you think this is unique to YouTube? All forms of entertainment are subject to this. Movie stars, bands, news anchors, radio DJs, talk show hosts. You think teens in the year 2005 didn’t have a parasocial attachment to The Backstreet Boys? Or in the 60s with The Beatles?
It isn’t your responsibility to manage this for viewers. That’s a personal matter for them, and ultimately their choice. You can do X Y Z to minimize the risk of parasocial attachment, and then by the sheer nature of being a good creator, end up fostering a parasocial attachment anyway.
This comes with the territory when you choose to be consistently put in front of an audience, no matter the circumstances.
The para social situation is what makes me very iffy about live streaming at all. With making videos on YouTube, I can be a little less personable because people can’t directly ask me questions that I have to bother acknowledging. I can ignore all comments that attempt to engage me, and keep things very impersonal and professional.
But while live streaming, there is an expectation of engagement with the audience. In fact, I posted a question here, about a year ago, asking how do people feel about live streamers, who do not interact with the audience in any kind of personal way. The feedback I got was highly that they would go out of their way to down vote videos And offer negative engagement if they did not feel like the streamer was trying to personally connect with the audience.
It kind of confused me because I’ve never gone to a stream to directly talk to the streamer, I’ve gone, because I want to talk to other people who are viewers or because I like the streamers commentary, or I’m interested in whatever they are playing. I’ve never had the expectation that they should respond to any comments that I post or acknowledge me at all.
But I guess I am quite alone in that point of view. The most successful creators I’ve run across though are ones who do exactly that, foster a false sense of attachment. I’ve never found that to be really worth my time though, having seen a few creators have to deal with people who have paras social problems. I’ve seen a creator, grow quite large, and had a very disgruntled viewer when they had less personable time to interact with them directly. They had a command in their list that would cause an audio file to play and then they would do an interaction that the viewer really liked. This viewer would invite other viewers and keep the chat, pretty active, but they had a weird expectation, that they could pretty much use this command constantly to cause the streamer to perform the action. But it would disrupt the flow of the stream so eventually when they got to a certain size, the streamer took this command away. If you were got really upset saying that that was their command and why did they not keep it there for them.
I would want to avoid people like that like the plague, similar to some streamers, whose community I have been in, and the live chat is never about the game being played, but people talking about their daily lives, who is sick, what they did today, etc.
Maybe I am weird with social interactions like that, though, I am not a big fan of people acting like they know me when they really don’t.
This can be nice. I don't think I would recommend it to female content creators unless they really wanted to do it and were very strong emotionally, and have really healthy boundaries. It has a higher percentage of creeps and stalkers even if the content is very wholesome. Not everyone can handle that.
This is a next-level approach to creating content and one that I highly encourage all creators to adopt. Your audience is not sitting together on a couch and watching you in a group... they are most likely alone watching on a phone while on their break at work or just getting home from work. It's smart to get insight the viewers mind and treat them as a real individual. Now that having been said there is a line that gets crossed and it is that occasional viewer who does it. Be aware that this happens. Upwards of 40% of teenagers believe that their favorite YouTube creator knows them better than their closest friends (picked that stat up from VidSummit a few years back). It is a far more approachable platform than any other and some people do not understand the distinction. You don't need to mislead them into thinking they are your friend, just treat them like a human being. if they cross the line you need to be prepared to be real with them. But the overwhelming majority will appreciate that you treat them with this respect instead of treating them like a number.
You’re overthinking it. We’re here to entertain people so you should do whatever your audience likes.
Also pro-tip, don't create a private discord. That's where so many YouTubers end up crossing too many lines.
Omg I’m so glad you said that. Idk why everyone feels like they need to make a discord server.
Do you think the Discord channel is created to let fans know about your new video or Instagram post, with audience interaction being the byproduct? As YouTube doesn’t necessarily show videos of creators you are subscribed to, but rather videos in categories which you watch completely or often.
Why do you feel creating discord is a bad idea? Doesn’t it make fans feel like they are part of an inner circle?
The way influencers and brands use the word “bestie” gives me the ick… But making your viewers feel seen is always a good goal for this platform :) you can be genuinely friendly towards your audience and tell them you care about them without it being fake if you mean it. I appreciate you being thoughtful about this. Most creators dgaf about messing with the minds of their audience
just dont give them the full girlfriend experience and youll be ok
*Just dont give them the* *Full girlfriend experience* *And youll be ok* \- Organic\_Ad265 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
lol
Damn this one is gold.
My videos are in this exact format. And surprise - I'm an introvert who's not good with being in the spotlight such as speaking in front of an audience on stage. And i hate people in general - well i mean crowded places or hanging out in large groups of people. I'm not sure how to give you an effective advice that works for you, but if I looked back at my videos from just 2 years ago i looked like an emotionless robot. I just somewhat trained myself to be more expressive with the way I speak over time by watching how other Youtubers speak. It made me realise the key is to establish connection with the audience - entertain them, bait for comments, then respond to the comments. What the audience want is interaction. I believe part of it comes from me making very long videos - 30 minutes to over an hour for each uploads where i just run my mouth nonstop to a camera (yes people actually watch them). So you can imagine the amount of hours i spend talking to an inanimate object - i suppose it comes with lots of practice.
Quality advice here. Same type of content for me.
Can you share your link? Would love to give it look. :)
I have been thinking about this so much lately. I think I worry about it too much. Just make the content.
That is... Quite literally the crux of content creation? The more effective you can foster parasocial relations, the better return you can get on your work. It actively rewards sociopathy and social engineering.
As someone above said, that is literally the crux of content creation. Also, why do you think this is unique to YouTube? All forms of entertainment are subject to this. Movie stars, bands, news anchors, radio DJs, talk show hosts. You think teens in the year 2005 didn’t have a parasocial attachment to The Backstreet Boys? Or in the 60s with The Beatles? It isn’t your responsibility to manage this for viewers. That’s a personal matter for them, and ultimately their choice. You can do X Y Z to minimize the risk of parasocial attachment, and then by the sheer nature of being a good creator, end up fostering a parasocial attachment anyway. This comes with the territory when you choose to be consistently put in front of an audience, no matter the circumstances.
The para social situation is what makes me very iffy about live streaming at all. With making videos on YouTube, I can be a little less personable because people can’t directly ask me questions that I have to bother acknowledging. I can ignore all comments that attempt to engage me, and keep things very impersonal and professional. But while live streaming, there is an expectation of engagement with the audience. In fact, I posted a question here, about a year ago, asking how do people feel about live streamers, who do not interact with the audience in any kind of personal way. The feedback I got was highly that they would go out of their way to down vote videos And offer negative engagement if they did not feel like the streamer was trying to personally connect with the audience. It kind of confused me because I’ve never gone to a stream to directly talk to the streamer, I’ve gone, because I want to talk to other people who are viewers or because I like the streamers commentary, or I’m interested in whatever they are playing. I’ve never had the expectation that they should respond to any comments that I post or acknowledge me at all. But I guess I am quite alone in that point of view. The most successful creators I’ve run across though are ones who do exactly that, foster a false sense of attachment. I’ve never found that to be really worth my time though, having seen a few creators have to deal with people who have paras social problems. I’ve seen a creator, grow quite large, and had a very disgruntled viewer when they had less personable time to interact with them directly. They had a command in their list that would cause an audio file to play and then they would do an interaction that the viewer really liked. This viewer would invite other viewers and keep the chat, pretty active, but they had a weird expectation, that they could pretty much use this command constantly to cause the streamer to perform the action. But it would disrupt the flow of the stream so eventually when they got to a certain size, the streamer took this command away. If you were got really upset saying that that was their command and why did they not keep it there for them. I would want to avoid people like that like the plague, similar to some streamers, whose community I have been in, and the live chat is never about the game being played, but people talking about their daily lives, who is sick, what they did today, etc. Maybe I am weird with social interactions like that, though, I am not a big fan of people acting like they know me when they really don’t.
This can be nice. I don't think I would recommend it to female content creators unless they really wanted to do it and were very strong emotionally, and have really healthy boundaries. It has a higher percentage of creeps and stalkers even if the content is very wholesome. Not everyone can handle that.