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YouTube millionaires are not your friends

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Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#101
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After you've watched a person enough on YouTube or Twitch you start feeling that you know them (even though it's completely unidirectional). I think there is a term for this but it's for sure an established phenomena. At that point it feels like watching friends do stuff I guess

I get that. Humans can get close to anything or anyone. But to get there, you have to spend time doing so before it happens. Which means you have to watch many videos where somebody is explaining their school day or reacting to a movie trailer before you get to that point.

> Which means you have to watch many videos where somebody is explaining their school day or reacting to a movie trailer before you get to that point.

Indeed, which is exactly what these creators do. I've watched a few of their videos before and I can't get over how...mundane their content is. There really is nothing of actual substance there. But I assume watching more of that content over time cultivates the same feeling as bullshitting with your friends, hence the parasocial relationship forms.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#102
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how you get from "If you’re taking AI or drop shipping startup ideas from online videos with hundreds of thousands of views, you’ve already lost" to "So nobody can find inspiration and learn about new things from YouTube videos?"

If a startup idea is good, it doesn’t really matter if someone mentioned it in a video that got hundreds of thousands of views. Execution is still the key component. ‘You’ve already lost’ implies that every idea must be completely unique in order for you to ‘win’ whatever that means.

> You’ve already lost’ implies that every idea must be completely unique in order for you to ‘win’ whatever that means.

This is not a correct interpretation. It implies watching YouTube influencer ideas is not a way that gives you much chances of success. That there are better ways to start your business than a youtube video idea. Your interpretation is the most extreme one you can take from what is written.

It's possible for an idea to not be unique but from unique to "3m people watched on youtube" goes a long way, and the type of idea that gets 3m views is probably optimized for entertainment more than business resilience.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#103
post #14

What I find distasteful about these fellas is that they’re not adding anything to the world. They’re taking away. It’s what I love about HN. Sure, most of us wouldn’t mind being rich (sorry, ‘financially independent’), but it’s not the driver. The driver is to make something cool; to make something better. I couldn’t imagine being the sort of person who sold people cheap Chinese shit just so I could buy a ‘Lambo’. Ev…

> It’s what I love about HN. Sure, most of us wouldn’t mind being rich (sorry, ‘financially independent’), but it’s not the driver. The driver is to make something cool; to make something better. Is this sarcasm? If it's genuine, I can think of many reasons. Either you are too young or wearing horse blinds or not living in the valley. Practically every start up is driven by a desire to be rich. This is why everyone s…

HN hasn't been geared towards VC startup founders for probably 10+ years. Compare the old HN, where PG still commented, to today's list of topics.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#104

Just an aside, but I've noticed a lot of popular video trends among the younger generation revolve around watching somebody you don't really know, doing things I would I've done with friends. Reaction videos, eating things, hanging out and making jokes, making a stupid contest, trying some new experience... It's like there is an entire part of the children/teen population that have such a bland life they feel good wh…

It's not "old man yells" - your observation is very on point, a lot of people are simply lonely for one reason or other and I think that this kind of videos or livestreams serve as substitute for real person. There are many popular services where it manifests: twitch, youtube, vtube, OF, etc.

And of course it's not only teenagers who are feeling lonely and isolated and of course answer is not simple "just have friends, lol" There are even quite popular threads from HN, examples below in the footnote.

As I already written in other thread - I'm very convinced that this need will be a target for software developments especially with what's happening recently with AI. There are even early birds like Replika AI but I belive that more will come with more and more advanced "personal assistant/companion". Vision straight from Bladerunner https://bladerunner.fandom.com/wiki/DiJi :)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17279773 - How do you meet new people?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24492550 - How to Make Friends as an Adult

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32197381 - How to make friends in your 30s?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25817605 - Can you treat loneliness by creating an imaginary friend?

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#105
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to get rid of that part of your brain, check my profile and fill out the form on my homepage ... Apart from the lack of personal fulfillment, isn't it good for society, and thus not such a bad job, that fools are parted from their money? After all, consumers decide what our society does. If a consumer is not able to recognize a scam, how can society trust them to make meaningful decisions? A hustle guru w…

Unfortunately the hustle gurus usually spend it on making the world even worse: more scams, content promoting scammy lifestyle, paying scam buddies, paying off politician to pass scam friendly laws etc. I don't really care (that much anyway, I do care a bit) that some useful idiot went broke buying into yet another crypto scam. I do care about the guys running the operation getting more resources though as they will…

Consumers make the world worse, too. The housing bubble exists because useful idiots are willing to pay beyond reasonable market value, destroying prices for everybody.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#106
post #104

Just an aside, but I've noticed a lot of popular video trends among the younger generation revolve around watching somebody you don't really know, doing things I would I've done with friends. Reaction videos, eating things, hanging out and making jokes, making a stupid contest, trying some new experience... It's like there is an entire part of the children/teen population that have such a bland life they feel good wh…

It's not "old man yells" - your observation is very on point, a lot of people are simply lonely for one reason or other and I think that this kind of videos or livestreams serve as substitute for real person. There are many popular services where it manifests: twitch, youtube, vtube, OF, etc. And of course it's not only teenagers who are feeling lonely and isolated and of course answer is not simple "just have friend…

To the 4 questions:

1. Go outside 2. Go outside 3. Go outside 4. No. Go outside.

It sounds dumb, but really. I'm an introvert, I have social anxiety, I've had periods where I don't see another human face for months. On the other hand I've made good friends just from random strangers talking to me in public.

Even the most socially inept can make friends. It's just a matter of placing yourself in the physical vicinity of other human beings on a regular basis. If you struggle talking to people Like I have, have a few drinks. That's been my experience anyway.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly, like latino soap opera but for kids. I never could grasp the former, so maybe that's why I don't get the latter. I browse youtube anonymously and so I get the neutral youtube experience, with what it things the average user wants. Today I say a video suggestion with kids in the pics and a title "we made a blind test to distinguish frozen food from real one". It's a really easy thing to do with your friend a…

No, I meant American sitcoms like Friends, Seinfeld, Home Improvement, Modern Family, etc. None of these shows show anything dramatic or larger than life - it's just a couple of friends or a family going through relatable yet sanitized everyday situations. Many of these shows were the pillar of people's evening ritual - the whole family would gather around the TV to watch a fictional family experience life.

What happen in friends or seinfield is way more creative and dense than those youtube videos. Friends start with a depressed guy wishing fir a girl and a nlond in a wedding dress shows out, follow by a killer punch line.

It's not something you can replicate every day with just having a drink with your buds.

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#108
post #8

Celebrities are not your friends. Remember all those celebrities who claimed they'd bought Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs? That was all a scam.[1] It was put together by a Hollywood agent who represented both a long list of major celebrities and BAYC. Now there's a lawsuit against all the parties involved. Kim Kardashian was already fined a few million dollars by the SEC for that sort of thing. [1] https://variety.com/202…

Celebrities marketing things isn't new

Do you think George Clooney drinks Lavazza coffee? Does that make it a scam?

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#109
post #8

Celebrities are not your friends. Remember all those celebrities who claimed they'd bought Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs? That was all a scam.[1] It was put together by a Hollywood agent who represented both a long list of major celebrities and BAYC. Now there's a lawsuit against all the parties involved. Kim Kardashian was already fined a few million dollars by the SEC for that sort of thing. [1] https://variety.com/202…

The best bit about the Bored Ape craze was that Seth Green (of Robot Chicken and Buffy fame) made a full-on TV-Show about an official Bored Ape NFT he owned.

...then the NFT was scammed off him before the series was released.

Then he was in a catch-22. He could've just released the show without breaking any laws or contracts, but then he would've had to admit that NFTs are bullshit.

AFAIK the show is still unreleased. But he did buy the NFT back later: https://www.ign.com/articles/seth-green-nft-show-boredape-st...

Re: YouTube millionaires are not your friends

#110
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Celebrities are not your friends. > Remember all those celebrities who claimed they'd bought Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs? Well, yeah... This isn't new, it's always been this way. Remember all those people who said they'd leave the US if Trump won?

Claiming to do $X if $Y happens and then not doing it is different than claiming to have done $X already despite this being false. In the first case it could be hyperbole, circumstances could change, it could be a statement made in the heat of the moment, etc. In the latter it is just a lie, or if money is at play, fraud. If I recall correctly there were many republicans that claimed their kind would be deported if B…

> At least those who predicted Trump would act like a fascist got it right.

When? So far, the most fascists of last 3 presidents has been Obama and Biden. They hate checks and balances and want to just rule by fiat.

It pissed me off for giving Democrats anything for politicizing Covid for electoral benefits, but Trump negotiated with Pelosi to get things done. When has Biden negotiated with Conservatives? Aside from calling them all terrorists?

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