A while ago, a family member jokingly suggested that I make my fortune on YouTube with a how-to video for putting together Ikea furniture, since the directions are pretty unintelligible. At the time, I just laughed and forgot about it, but recently I started to consider the phenomenon of Youtube star, some of whom are doing extremely well for themselves. Here are two Business Insider articles on Youtube stars who are making millions of dollars: here and here. Smosh, TheRadBrad, Michelle Phan…are any of these names familiar to you? They may not qualify as household names yet, but just taking one example, Michelle Phan has built an enormous fan base (with over 7 million subscribers), for doing hair and makeup tutorials. Her estimated net worth is over $3 million.
What makes these video logs (a.k.a. “vlogs”) so compelling for the viewer? Our biology programs us to imitate behavior. Mirror neurons are a special class of brain cells that fire both when we act and when we observe someone performing the same action. These neurons are found in the premotor cortex and supplementary motor area, 2 areas of the brain that are associated with the control of movement. They are also found in the primary somatosensory cortex, associated with the sense of touch and inferior parietal cortex, which also processes sensory inputs from the skin (e.g. temperature and pain). The function of mirror neurons has been linked to everything from empathy to automatic imitation. How does this manifest? Mirror neurons are thought to be the reason that you recoil in sympathy when a character in a horror movie is being hacked up. And they are also the reason that you are programmed to mirror the actions of your favorite YouTube star.
I would also like to refer back to my second blog entry on the dopaminergic system, in which I talked about how people like to use technology to be social. What works on YouTube is different from other platforms, like tv, because it feels more social and interactive. We love Youtube stars because they appear more sincere and real and they talk to us like we are their friends.
The take home message: If you want someone to do something on your website, then show someone else doing it. How-to videos and YouTube channels are the way of the future.