Beauty Bloggers

A couple of examples of some instructional "How To" videos that are hugely popular are cosmetics tutorials by users such as Elle Fowler (AllThatGlitters21) and Blair Fowler (Juicystar07). The two girls are sisters who each have hundreds of videos on their channels featuring product reviews, tutorials, and discussions of make-up related topics along with thousands of subscribers. They were recently featured on Good Morning America and were both make-up artists at New York Fashion Week 2010; Blair is actually the youngest make-up artist to appear at Fashion Week.

They began as normal users, with no professional make-up training. One reason Blair gives for starting her channel is that her sister told her not only was she giving make-ups tips to viewers, but they in turn were giving her tips back. The are essentially building a collective intelligence through interacting and sharing tips, strategies, and opinions with other users. Their tutorials which have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times have helped them earn lots of opportunities with national cosmetic and beauty publications and companies.

Here's an example of a video produced by Blair; both girls film and edit the videos themselves:



And here's a video produced by Elle; it was posted about a week ago, and it already has 230,000 views:


While the sisters aren't the first to make these types of videos, nor the last, they've become the most popular, not because of what they are explaining, but how they explain it. I learned about these girls through a friend of mine, Brandy, who's absolutely obsessed with watching their videos. When I asked her to explain why she prefers to watch Elle and Blair over other "beauty bloggers" she writes, "Their versions of explaining things in a 'how-to' concept is a lot more than, 'Okay do this, this, this and this.' They both add a lot of personality to their videos which is one of the reasons I believe they got so successful." The girls are open to opinions and welcome advice. They are also easy to relate to; Brandy says that Elle is the same age with a similar style, while Blair has a similar skin tone and hair color. It's easier for the young women and teenagers to relate to these normal girls, rather than celebrity stylists. Elle and Blair provide a personal and realistic aspect to their videos.

Collective Intelligence

Why do users post instructional videos? Jenkins discusses collective intelligence and participatory throughout the text, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. After reading Jenkins, it's easy to conclude that the reason users post instructional videos is to be apart of the culture; to show what they've learned, and to receive feedback. To become teachers to those wanting to be a part of a certain community, and to improve their own expertise. Users want to share their own excitement or experience and add their input to the collective intelligence of the community.

Having sat through two class periods of presentations during New Media, we all saw several "How To" videos created by our own classmates. An example of one of these effective demonstration videos is from the blog, The Texan Angler. The blog, run by Rand and Mike, posts a variety of information about fishing from news stories, to condition updates, personal experiences and, of course, how to videos. Here's a video they made about how to spool line:



Mike and Rand both have great enthusiasm for the sport of fishing. Mike has told me himself that one goal of the blog is to get people excited about fishing, to get them involved and active; to get readers to go out and have fun fishing, regardless of experience level or any other barriers. Their blog is a way to help others learn and showcasing their expertise. It serves as a good example of collective intelligence.

How to Read Peoples Minds

This is a video that is trying to demonstrate an acurate way to read someone's mind. The guy in here is a complete creeper and I'm not quite sure why he's half naked wearing Indian jewelry. The responses were not good, most of them said they've wasted 3 minutes of their lives watching it and just basically saying how ridiculously dumb it is. It doesn't have many views, but the ones it has and the comments are pretty harsh.

How to Shower: Women vs. Men

Here's a "How To" video a couple made to provide information on the proper way to shower for a man and a woman.

Do NOT try this at home...

Today's video is brought to you by Katie and myself. We made this instructional video to illustrate how easy it is for any random stranger to post an instructional video to YouTube without having any qualifications.

How to Talk like a Pirate

This is an instructional vlog of people demonstrating how to talk like a pirate. It is hard to belive that people can really make silly videos like this and them become somewhat popular. Why others watch this and comment on it is interesting.

Why YouTube?

There are so many different avenues a person could take to seek instruction from manuals, professionals, friends, family, etc, yet so many people flock to the internet, and specifically YouTube to get help from people they've never met. One reason for this is easy access; it's pretty simple to go to YouTube and search rather than drive to a store or place where someone knowledgeable can help. With the internet, comes an extraordinary collection of knowledge and it's easier to find someone on the internet who knows the answers than to seek it yourself.

Another element that makes YouTube an ideal place for people to go to seek instruction is the visual factor. People can read an instruction packet, but the diagrams on the page don't move and you can't see the process of assembly. A person can call a help desk but if they don't understand the jargon or technical language involved with the task, it can greatly increase the level of difficulty of the task. Whether it's someone putting together a crib or a clarinet, it's easier to imitate a process when you can see someone going through the motions rather than it is to just read the steps or being told directions over a phone.

In addition to the visual element, there's also the personal touch and experience involved when watching someone do the steps. For the same reason people like to watch vlogs, people like to watch instructional videos because the people giving the instruction are seen experiencing the same issues and problems the viewer has had. Many of the users who create these instructional videos can tell viewers where they had trouble doing something or shortcuts to accomplish the task more easily.

An example of a series of instructional videos that have become immensely popular is Fix Your Own Xbox. They have a handful of videos advising users how to fix common problems found with Xboxes including something called a "red ring of death" and broken disk drives. One of their most popular videos is "How To Open An Xbox 360":



This video is extremely effective and one of the most popular instructional videos regarding fixing problems with an Xbox. He uses language that even the most incompetent person can understand, he shows the process all the way through, he lets you know what's going to be difficult, what's easy, the best ways to do certain tasks. These videos have been so successful, he and his partners in the Xbox-fixing world have opened a site to help viewers purchase parts.