Massive Duck. C.M.
Banned
It weirds me out when people call these dudes by their first name
It's also usually people defending their shitty behavior
It's also usually people defending their shitty behavior
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Is it dangerous that people see YouTubers as "their friends"?
- Thread starter Chairmanchuck
- Start date
Mr. Nice_Guy
Member
Depends on the person, but I could definitely see it leading towards dangerous things. I've never liked anyone who does the whole, "I'm you're friend" shtick anyway. It's disingenuous at best and purely manipulative at worst.
I did that to Ted Raimi once, but it was right after his producer told me that he has the worst memory for people. So if you pretend like you know him, he'll assume that you'd met at some point and treat you like an old friend. Thought that was pretty funny.
As for YouTubers, most of them tend to go by their first name anyway. Otherwise, I'd probably be inclined to call them by their stage name in person.
Finale Fireworker
Member
Yeah i dunno Beyonce's and Rihanna's last names lol for example. And honestly i never liked people using last names more i prefer calling people by first name. Youtubers and stuff like that tho? Well i go by their media username same for idols with artist names.
For on topic well no one is your friend unless you do something with them alot or know em irl, just facebook or social media friends also don't count. You can have thousands or 100s of facebook friends but the ones peoole actually interact with are real friends. Friends also don't purely make money off you. So artists etc are not friends but entertainment providers for money.
Kinda Funny is the channel I've seen it most on. Their whole best friend sthick was really sickening to me. When I used to watch their content it felt like their very best friends were the ones who paid the most money. It's been a year or so since I've listened to them so I dunno if it's changed but that's what drove me away from them.
Reminded me of this.
No longer when I can ask them questions on Turn Up! Jeff Gerstmann is basically my bestie now.
BigBoss007
Member
Is it dangerous that people see Youtubers?
Period.
Period.
I think it's just another form of celebrity worship. It's not usually going to end well anyway but I can see how the "bro army" stuff that these guys do to rally a community would make them feel even more personally involved. The extreme examples like Pewdiepie or JonTron are really scary honestly (impressionable teens siding with the alt-right to defend a gamer, nice) and there's not really any way to stop it.
IdreamofHIME
Member
Greg Miller says we're his best friends. You calling him a liar?
IgotElbows
Member
Let's Players/Twitch people always felt like this because they talk to the viewer.
Always felt like group streams and group videos are a different vibe because you aren't being talked at, you are just listening to a conversation. Which is a more common media, since being listen to sports commentators, and watch movies where all it is is watching people, but you don't really consider them your friends.
Always felt like group streams and group videos are a different vibe because you aren't being talked at, you are just listening to a conversation. Which is a more common media, since being listen to sports commentators, and watch movies where all it is is watching people, but you don't really consider them your friends.
Muppet of a Man
Member
Unless you associate with someone on the regular in real life, they are not your friend.
Social media was a mistake.
Anti-
AkimboChainz
Neo Member
Because there's a lot of bad news around youtubers lately, I figured I'd share my thoughts. When I was in middle/high school I dealt with anxiety and depression which led to me being home schooled for 5 years, which led to me not having any friends. That led me to playing a lot of games and watching a lot of youtube videos. While there are obviously bad youtubers out there, the ones I watched had communities built around them where people became friends and just had a good time watching and playing games together.
I've made a lot of friends through youtube/twitch and had a lot of fun (still do now that I'm 21 and doing much better) I think the notion that all youtubers just want people's money, while true to some particularly those with millions of subs, isn't as wide spread as some think. I've never felt the need to give money to youtubers/streamers, although I have given like $50 total over the years to a few different people. I view it the same way as donating to a patreon or subbing to Giant Bomb premium.
One tip I would give is to avoid larger channels like PDP, I watch probably 10 or so different youtubers/streamers and none of them have more than few hundred thousand subs. You can definitely tell the difference between them and most channels over a million
I've made a lot of friends through youtube/twitch and had a lot of fun (still do now that I'm 21 and doing much better) I think the notion that all youtubers just want people's money, while true to some particularly those with millions of subs, isn't as wide spread as some think. I've never felt the need to give money to youtubers/streamers, although I have given like $50 total over the years to a few different people. I view it the same way as donating to a patreon or subbing to Giant Bomb premium.
One tip I would give is to avoid larger channels like PDP, I watch probably 10 or so different youtubers/streamers and none of them have more than few hundred thousand subs. You can definitely tell the difference between them and most channels over a million
Not according to Facebook and Facebook knows best
ShinMaruku
Member
Friend can be such a empty word.
BasilZero
Member
Muppet of a Man
Member
Yes, Facebook monetizes best.
They're classic mini-cases of cult of personality.
I sometimes refer to this clip from The Life of Brian, and wish more Youtubers would learn from it. The problem is a lot of Youtubers' lives revolve entirely around how many subscribers they have, so they treat them like they're best friends.
I sometimes refer to this clip from The Life of Brian, and wish more Youtubers would learn from it. The problem is a lot of Youtubers' lives revolve entirely around how many subscribers they have, so they treat them like they're best friends.
This...this cant be real....is it?
majority of his audience is like 10-12 year olds. so...
Is this the result of shows asking the kids in front of the TV for advice/hints and pretending like they're hearing them?
phant0m
Member
STOP LIKING THINGS I DON'T LIKE
/s
For real though, this is a very real problem that extends far outside of gaming. Visit /r/technology some time, bring popcorn.
SlasherJPC
Banned
I'll be your friend...if you sub me over at youtube. Lol yeah being a friend is one thing, blindly following said person is ridiculous.
zackmorris
Member
I don't know that it's dangerous. I think it's a little strange, especially when it's grown adults using the term. An adult referring to themselves as a kinda funny best friend just seems so odd to me.
In the last year I moved across country. I haven't had much luck connecting with new people and while I do stuff online with my friends from back home there's only so much overlap we can have with the time difference. The Easy Allies content has kind of filled the void a bit. I know they aren't my actual friends, but they are a jolly bunch of guys that talk about the things I talk about my friends with and they usually respond on social media if I ask them a question, so it feels like it isn't completely one sided. There is a danger there in letting yourself care too much about someone that doesn't really know or care about you though. They are using their on-air persona when you watch them too, so you can't assume you actually know them at all either. So it is definitely more of a worry for kids who don't really have the life experience to know the difference.
Some Nobody
Junior Member
Lol. That's a cute gimmick but I honestly don't see how adults could fall for it.
Having said that, I take a different view of the word "friend" to begin with. Having small talk w/people does not mean I'm friends with them. Typically, you meet people at school or work. If we don't hang out outside of the setting we met, we're not friends. We're acquaintances.
Too many people use the word "friend" lightly.
No, the kid is simply commenting the same way on a recorded video as he does on a livestream, because he never had to compartelize the two since both forms are around and interchangeable on Youtube.
HelloNewman
Member
You mean all your friends don't ask you to like subscribe and ask for donations everytime you see them? Weird you guys need better friends.
Hell, it feels weird to me to call people I talk to every day on Discord by their first names, even though most on the server do it every time (at least for a few people).
Iva Demilcol
Member
Of course it is dangerous for kids.
TV shows and artists don't exist in vacuums where you can insult anyone you like without consequences. YTubers and Twitch streamers have some freedoms traditional celebrities don't have, and they cry when others tell them to be more responsible with the content they produce.
The evidences are there in YT comments and twitter and even in NeoGAF: Most kids believe that asking their favourite YTber not to be a a racist prick is because we are "haters" because they lack the judgement and the experience to rationalize what's happening around the world right now.
TV shows and artists don't exist in vacuums where you can insult anyone you like without consequences. YTubers and Twitch streamers have some freedoms traditional celebrities don't have, and they cry when others tell them to be more responsible with the content they produce.
The evidences are there in YT comments and twitter and even in NeoGAF: Most kids believe that asking their favourite YTber not to be a a racist prick is because we are "haters" because they lack the judgement and the experience to rationalize what's happening around the world right now.
King Tubby
Member
Our technological development has far outstripped our social development, in a sense. I feel like we're headed for some real problems with the next generation of kids who grew up online.
Spunky Monkey
Member
So i went to a youtube convention in the UK earlier in the year. I was actually selling there so seeing it from an outsiders view was very eye opening.
Firstly pretty much everyone there was either self involved or had social issues. There was lots of people walking around by themselves talking to a camera, i saw them over and over again over the three days always by themselves. There was lots of safe spaces for people who can easily chat to millions behind a camera but not deal with one to one interactions. It was werid they could have loads of followers and love it yet were alone when the followers were gone.
I got chatting to a couple of ex youtubers and their families who let me in on a few behind the scenes things as they wern't on the panel areas and loved meeting their fans in the crowds instead. These people were lovely and whilst they were 'big' youtubers in the past they were still small compared to some of the youtubers there and often were big in very serious niches to themselves.
But they told me that the bigger youtubers who are still going and were in the panel areas who generally don't have a theme to their channel except its just them vlogging about their life never interact with fans. In fact at the meet and greets that weekend they often have signs up saying 'no photos, no hugs'. They don't talk to their fans, they sign a poster and then its onto the next fan. To be a youtuber now you have to be a different type of person, you can't do it for fun anymore, you always have to be looking for fans, building your ego up and trying to stay relevant. It's not for certain people anymore, especially those with morals.
I say this because youtubers don't earn much money now through adverts, in fact the bigger ones earn money through seedier things. Free holidays in exchange for 'promoting' certain products. But not as a paid advert, just casually having the product on camera or mentioning it every video subtly. Theres even more underhand ways they earn money, often by using their fans or hiding how they're really doing things.
The fans are even werider, mostly girls in the 10-18 age range (oddly boys don't seem that bothered by youtubers i was told) and they buy gifts for the youtubers, they draw pictures of them and give them to the youtubers, they write poems to give to them and more. If you search twitter many of these post them online hoping their fav youtuber will like it. It's a little creepy.
Except the youtubers don't give a shit, they don't open the gifts or look at them, just add them to the pile and onto the next fan. After the meet and greet they stay in the green room away from their fans waiting for more freebies to arrive from companies etc.
The way the fans react when they meet their heroes is extreamly odd, its not like they're a fan of their work (how can you be a fan of someone vlogging about their life in quick cuts?) but they do feel like they know them, that they're friends and it's almost like they are looking for their acceptance. They know their lives inside out, their dramas, their likes and everything about them. It's a bit like the Truman Show where everyone follows the youtubers and knows them inside out and is fascinated and wish they knew them too.
I've met a lot of youtubers elsewhere in my line of work and they are just so empty and into themselves its quite sad. I remember one big english youtuber whos not actually big here but is in another country was sat by themselves at one show i was at for long periods of time looking miserable. Someone that famous and no one knew who they were or noticed them. I felt sorry for them and was going to say hi till a camera crew turned up and whisked them away to do their paid promotion where you could see it had now become a tedious job. But nearly every youtuber i've met has been like that, always alone, yet when people talk to them theres no connection, no interest for a two way conversation, it's either them not wishing to interact or trying to turn it round to talking about their channel.
So yes, it is dangerous for both ends, it really reminds me of a black mirror episode when you get behind the scenes and see how both sides act and how both sides are lonely despite the connections. Sort of reminds me of when a girl in australia had the most friends on myspace, she didn't, it was just a number.
Firstly pretty much everyone there was either self involved or had social issues. There was lots of people walking around by themselves talking to a camera, i saw them over and over again over the three days always by themselves. There was lots of safe spaces for people who can easily chat to millions behind a camera but not deal with one to one interactions. It was werid they could have loads of followers and love it yet were alone when the followers were gone.
I got chatting to a couple of ex youtubers and their families who let me in on a few behind the scenes things as they wern't on the panel areas and loved meeting their fans in the crowds instead. These people were lovely and whilst they were 'big' youtubers in the past they were still small compared to some of the youtubers there and often were big in very serious niches to themselves.
But they told me that the bigger youtubers who are still going and were in the panel areas who generally don't have a theme to their channel except its just them vlogging about their life never interact with fans. In fact at the meet and greets that weekend they often have signs up saying 'no photos, no hugs'. They don't talk to their fans, they sign a poster and then its onto the next fan. To be a youtuber now you have to be a different type of person, you can't do it for fun anymore, you always have to be looking for fans, building your ego up and trying to stay relevant. It's not for certain people anymore, especially those with morals.
I say this because youtubers don't earn much money now through adverts, in fact the bigger ones earn money through seedier things. Free holidays in exchange for 'promoting' certain products. But not as a paid advert, just casually having the product on camera or mentioning it every video subtly. Theres even more underhand ways they earn money, often by using their fans or hiding how they're really doing things.
The fans are even werider, mostly girls in the 10-18 age range (oddly boys don't seem that bothered by youtubers i was told) and they buy gifts for the youtubers, they draw pictures of them and give them to the youtubers, they write poems to give to them and more. If you search twitter many of these post them online hoping their fav youtuber will like it. It's a little creepy.
Except the youtubers don't give a shit, they don't open the gifts or look at them, just add them to the pile and onto the next fan. After the meet and greet they stay in the green room away from their fans waiting for more freebies to arrive from companies etc.
The way the fans react when they meet their heroes is extreamly odd, its not like they're a fan of their work (how can you be a fan of someone vlogging about their life in quick cuts?) but they do feel like they know them, that they're friends and it's almost like they are looking for their acceptance. They know their lives inside out, their dramas, their likes and everything about them. It's a bit like the Truman Show where everyone follows the youtubers and knows them inside out and is fascinated and wish they knew them too.
I've met a lot of youtubers elsewhere in my line of work and they are just so empty and into themselves its quite sad. I remember one big english youtuber whos not actually big here but is in another country was sat by themselves at one show i was at for long periods of time looking miserable. Someone that famous and no one knew who they were or noticed them. I felt sorry for them and was going to say hi till a camera crew turned up and whisked them away to do their paid promotion where you could see it had now become a tedious job. But nearly every youtuber i've met has been like that, always alone, yet when people talk to them theres no connection, no interest for a two way conversation, it's either them not wishing to interact or trying to turn it round to talking about their channel.
So yes, it is dangerous for both ends, it really reminds me of a black mirror episode when you get behind the scenes and see how both sides act and how both sides are lonely despite the connections. Sort of reminds me of when a girl in australia had the most friends on myspace, she didn't, it was just a number.
Xist2inspire
Member
Yes, it is potentially very dangerous. But it is not new, nor is it a phenomenon attributed solely to youth. Hero worship has been an issue in all forms of media since its inception. Adults are by no means immune to this either, just look at sports and politics for example. The issue with social media is that it promotes a semi-intimate connection by its very nature, therefore increasing the likelihood of negative effects. But again, it's an issue for society, not just youth.
As always, a clear head and proper view of what things really are is needed. Children and youth need their parents, other adults, or even wiser peers/young adults to help them with that, and adults should remain mindful and not automatically assume they have it all together just because of their age.
As always, a clear head and proper view of what things really are is needed. Children and youth need their parents, other adults, or even wiser peers/young adults to help them with that, and adults should remain mindful and not automatically assume they have it all together just because of their age.
AtomskEater
Member
This isn't uncommon among people who get attached to celebrities. And it's kind of the reason streamers and youtubers need to be somewhat personable, spend time on social media, etc. You get glimpses into their lives, pictures of their pet dogs, they might call out your username if you're a regular and you enter the chat while they're streaming, you shake their hand at a convention, all that adds up and makes people feel like they know that person and are friends. It can be dangerous. I saw some performer call out someone in the audience who screamed out "I love you!" and explain (gently) that they don't even know him, they love an ideal of him.
Angelus Errare
Banned
"Some" is a pretty big understatement
Yup, this aspect of celebrity culture's been around far longer than the internet.
Chris_Rivera
Member
Is it dangerous that parents can be bad at parenting?
What did he mean by this?
Member
I dont think kids should be on youtube point blank period. Completely unregulated content. Its ridiculous. Folks getting way too comfortable with the internet. Where the hell is all the fearmongering like back when I was growing up and adults always gave you shit for sitting in front of a tv or videogames and rotting your brain? The internet and Youtube especially are to the nth degree worse yet are packaged in a bully family friendly cushion.
We need more fearmongering
On topic: I dont have a problem with virtual friends. I dont give them money but I see why some do. Meeting people irl who share your interests may make you uncomfortable and real people dont keep up a friendly persona 24/7 like a streamer
We need more fearmongering
On topic: I dont have a problem with virtual friends. I dont give them money but I see why some do. Meeting people irl who share your interests may make you uncomfortable and real people dont keep up a friendly persona 24/7 like a streamer
Complistic
Member
The people on the walls aren't my friends?
For what it's worth, YT does have a safe mode that blocks the comments and a lot of videos.
Some Nobody
Junior Member
Facts. And if I'm being honest, I'd love to talk about that but I think GAF would prolly melt down.
The fuck are you on about mate? That shit didn't work. I don't know what you did, but my friends/cousins and I just made fun of our parents for annoying the hell out of us.
shira
Member
There are a lot of lonely guys with credit cards out there
We always go out for spaghetti and meatballs!
But for real youtubers aren't your friend anymore than the people on TV.
It's a little more complicated than just seeing them "as friends."
If you went up to say, Youtuber(s) like someone from the Super Best Friends or Gamegrumps or what have you at a con when they weren't doing anything and started talking about something they'd revealed they liked on their content like a show they watched, they'd probably be down to hold a short conversation about it with you, and while not something they do as a "friend" it's still a somewhat personal connection between you and them even if it's somewhat superficial.
If you went up to them at a con and tried to act towards them like they act to each other on camera like you knew them personally, they'd probably tell you to knock it off because you're being weird.
Not everyone sees their fans as purely bags of money, and while they're less likely to remember a positive encounter with someone, they're definitely going to remember negative ones like the latter scenario. Your average Youtuber etc. is way more likely to directly respond to you via a tweet/whatever than a bigger celebrity, as well. There's a more personal feeling to it even if the content creator themselves necessarily doesn't see it that way. At the end of the day, if it makes someone feel a little less lonely, there isn't really anything wrong with it unless it enters weird stalker territory.
If you went up to say, Youtuber(s) like someone from the Super Best Friends or Gamegrumps or what have you at a con when they weren't doing anything and started talking about something they'd revealed they liked on their content like a show they watched, they'd probably be down to hold a short conversation about it with you, and while not something they do as a "friend" it's still a somewhat personal connection between you and them even if it's somewhat superficial.
If you went up to them at a con and tried to act towards them like they act to each other on camera like you knew them personally, they'd probably tell you to knock it off because you're being weird.
Not everyone sees their fans as purely bags of money, and while they're less likely to remember a positive encounter with someone, they're definitely going to remember negative ones like the latter scenario. Your average Youtuber etc. is way more likely to directly respond to you via a tweet/whatever than a bigger celebrity, as well. There's a more personal feeling to it even if the content creator themselves necessarily doesn't see it that way. At the end of the day, if it makes someone feel a little less lonely, there isn't really anything wrong with it unless it enters weird stalker territory.