Difference between revisions of "YouTube Beauty Community"
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | The '''YouTube Beauty Community''' is a group of people of all ages, races, and skill-levels who upload beauty related videos on YouTube.com. Labeling themselves as “beauty gurus”, they give advice and tips on how to stay updated on the most current trends. They usually upload videos of make-up tutorials, | + | The '''YouTube Beauty Community''' is a group of people of all ages, races, and skill-levels who upload beauty related videos on YouTube.com. Labeling themselves as “beauty gurus”, they give advice and tips on how to stay updated on the most current trends. They usually upload videos of make-up tutorials, product reviews, styling tutorials, and skin-care remedies. Some have extended their videos to discuss general life topics after they have gained reputability and fame through their beauty videos. |
([[Tops & Categories|Back to index]]) | ([[Tops & Categories|Back to index]]) | ||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
| − | <nowiki>The beauty community | + | <nowiki>The beauty community started small in 2006. It has grown to be so popular that it has earned its own category, 'How to & Style,' on YouTube. YouTube members may subscribe to their favorite gurus as a way of easily keeping up-to-date. The amount a guru uploads varies from daily postings to monthly postings. Professionalism also varies - some gurus shoot their video in an informal setting (e.g. bedroom floor, kitchen table, couch) while other gurus shoot their video with the help of hired film and editing staff. |
</nowiki> | </nowiki> | ||
| − | The most popular gurus have been able to make a sustainable living | + | The most popular gurus have been able to make a sustainable living from their YouTube channels - thanks to YouTube and company partnerships. Currently, the most subscribed-to beauty guru is Michelle Phan (michellephan) with over 1.6 million subscribers. From her YouTube success alone, Michelle is a Lancôme representative, has done makeup during the 2010 Fashion Week and has appeared in multiple media articles, including Seventeen, Vogue, and Forbes.<ref name="MichellePhan">[http://www.michellephan.com/about About - Michelle Phan]</ref> Other top beauty gurus include Elle and Blair Fowler (allthatglitters21 and juicystar07) who have their own cellphone accessory line through Cellaris, book deals, and online store. All of the top gurus state YouTube and the community as being the stepping-stone to launch their careers. <ref name= "ElleandBlair">Boudreau, Abbie & Singh, Natasha (May 31, 2011) [http://abcnews.go.com/Business/shop-haul-videos-turn-shopping-sprees-potential-profits/story?id=13694508 Shop-And-Tell: 'Haul Videos' Turn Shopping Sprees Into Potential Profits]. ABC News</ref> |
| − | Studies have shown | + | Company endorsement does not always have a positive impact on the trust consumers place in a guru's recommendations. Studies have shown that when people are paid and/or given products to promote, fewer people view their videos. Subscribers make the assumption that the guru's recommendations will be altered by the guru's personal incentives. |
==Topics== | ==Topics== | ||
| − | Topics vary | + | Topics vary between gurus, but these are a few types of common videos. |
| − | ===Haul=== | + | ===Haul=== |
| − | A haul video is a video that shows the most recent purchases at a particular store(sometimes from | + | A haul video is a video that shows the most recent purchases of a guru at a particular store (sometimes from multiple stores). Products range from drugstore purchases to boutique purchases of many things including makeup, clothing, and grocery store food. The video-bloggers (vloggers) will hold up their purchases and elaborate on the details of each item. |
| − | Hauls have become extremely popular, with more than 159,000 posted as of 2010. Retail companies support the influence of these videos | + | Hauls have become extremely popular, with more than 159,000 posted as of 2010. Retail companies support the influence of these videos; they consider them to be free promotion. Companies such as JCPenny and Forever 21 have hosted haul video contests where entry videos show how they would style the company’s clothes and create fashionable ensembles. Judged by the company, other peers, or a panel of stylists, winners of these contests can win thousands of dollars.<ref name= "hauls>Schaefer, S (August 19, 2011) [http://foreword.mbsbooks.com/?p=1854 Translating Tech-Savvy Students’ Opinions into Valuable Marketing]. Foreword Online, MBS Textbook Exchange</ref> |
===Product Review=== | ===Product Review=== | ||
| − | A product review video is done after a guru has used the product for a period of time and describes her | + | A product review video is done after a guru has used the product for a period of time and describes its use, value, and his or her overall satisfaction with a product. Typically, a guru will discuss particularly good and bad features of the product. At the end of the video, the guru will say whether or not he or she recommends the product to viewers, as well as put links in the description bar of the video to direct viewers to locations where the product is sold. |
===Tag=== | ===Tag=== | ||
Revision as of 21:49, 14 December 2011
The YouTube Beauty Community is a group of people of all ages, races, and skill-levels who upload beauty related videos on YouTube.com. Labeling themselves as “beauty gurus”, they give advice and tips on how to stay updated on the most current trends. They usually upload videos of make-up tutorials, product reviews, styling tutorials, and skin-care remedies. Some have extended their videos to discuss general life topics after they have gained reputability and fame through their beauty videos. (Back to index)
Contents
History
The beauty community started small in 2006. It has grown to be so popular that it has earned its own category, 'How to & Style,' on YouTube. YouTube members may subscribe to their favorite gurus as a way of easily keeping up-to-date. The amount a guru uploads varies from daily postings to monthly postings. Professionalism also varies - some gurus shoot their video in an informal setting (e.g. bedroom floor, kitchen table, couch) while other gurus shoot their video with the help of hired film and editing staff.
The most popular gurus have been able to make a sustainable living from their YouTube channels - thanks to YouTube and company partnerships. Currently, the most subscribed-to beauty guru is Michelle Phan (michellephan) with over 1.6 million subscribers. From her YouTube success alone, Michelle is a Lancôme representative, has done makeup during the 2010 Fashion Week and has appeared in multiple media articles, including Seventeen, Vogue, and Forbes.[1] Other top beauty gurus include Elle and Blair Fowler (allthatglitters21 and juicystar07) who have their own cellphone accessory line through Cellaris, book deals, and online store. All of the top gurus state YouTube and the community as being the stepping-stone to launch their careers. [2]
Company endorsement does not always have a positive impact on the trust consumers place in a guru's recommendations. Studies have shown that when people are paid and/or given products to promote, fewer people view their videos. Subscribers make the assumption that the guru's recommendations will be altered by the guru's personal incentives.
Topics
Topics vary between gurus, but these are a few types of common videos.
Haul
A haul video is a video that shows the most recent purchases of a guru at a particular store (sometimes from multiple stores). Products range from drugstore purchases to boutique purchases of many things including makeup, clothing, and grocery store food. The video-bloggers (vloggers) will hold up their purchases and elaborate on the details of each item.
Hauls have become extremely popular, with more than 159,000 posted as of 2010. Retail companies support the influence of these videos; they consider them to be free promotion. Companies such as JCPenny and Forever 21 have hosted haul video contests where entry videos show how they would style the company’s clothes and create fashionable ensembles. Judged by the company, other peers, or a panel of stylists, winners of these contests can win thousands of dollars.[3]
Product Review
A product review video is done after a guru has used the product for a period of time and describes its use, value, and his or her overall satisfaction with a product. Typically, a guru will discuss particularly good and bad features of the product. At the end of the video, the guru will say whether or not he or she recommends the product to viewers, as well as put links in the description bar of the video to direct viewers to locations where the product is sold.
Tag
Tag videos vary across different themes, but are a set of questions that one answers in a video and then selects her friends to answer the same questions. The most popular tag in the beauty community is “What’s in my purse?” where gurus display the contents of their bags and give any tips as to what items to carry or how to organize their bag. Other tags include “monthly favorites” where gurus display their most used and preferred products of the month as well as “products I regret buying” which gurus showcase products not worth the purchase as a way of warning their subscribers.
Make-up Tutorials
Make-up tutorials are videos in which the beauty gurus teach you how to create a specific look. For example, a natural-look make-up tutorial would teach you how to use different make-up products and different techniques to create a natural look. In the video, they would usually go through the whole process step-by-step. While they are teaching, the beauty gurus would usually inform the audiences what brand of make-up and accessories that they are using. They may also provide links and store locations of where the users can obtain these products. Topics of make-up tutorials vary a lot, typical ones include smoky-eye tutorial, clubbing make-up tutorial, halloween make-up tutorial and more. Some of the other popular ones out there include tutorials that teach you how to do make up in 5 minutes or make up tutorials that are specifically designed for a season or holiday.
Ethical Concerns
The lack of transparency on the relations between the gurus and the industry has caused some issues due to dishonesty. Before FTC ruling in 2010, gurus and bloggers did not have to tell their viewers they were being compensated for a review or sent free products by a company. Viewers became upset when many reviews from unknown companies would be uploaded at the same time. Overall trust in particular gurus fell dramatically, and many received backlash from their viewers. What was supposed to be a place for honest reviews from peers turned to blatant commercialism.
Today, under FTC law “bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.” If a blogger is caught not disclosing this information they will face a fine of $11,000.[4] The new FTC rule attempted to increase the level of transparency between the vloggers and their viewers as a way to decrease deceptive and unfair practices. However, due to little enforcement, the beauty community is still very ambiguous about their product affiliations. Level of compliance can range from gurus clearly stating their ties with the company such as what they were given, and if they are being paid or may leave a simple sentence such as “I am being paid for this review. All thoughts are my own.”
Distrust between viewers and the beauty community expanded to the companies as well, especially after an incident with guru Teresa Ulrich (juicytuesday) and online retailer HotMiamiStyles.com. In April 2010, Ulrich gave a review of the clothes she was sent for free by the company. Although the company had asked her for only positive reviews, Ulrich gave an honest review stating, “my loyalty is to my subscribers… this [dress] is very awkward. It’s bad. I would wash my car with this.” Within twelve hours and 5,000 views, a HotMiamiStyles representative emailed Ulrich asking her to take her video down due to a drastic decrease in sales causing the company to have to fire two employees who “have babies to feed.”[5] Ulrich argued that her video alone could not cause such a drastic decrease in that short amount of time. Subscribers were thankful and appreciated Ulrich’s video proclaiming their general distrust of the company due to the only raving reviews from all the other videos.
References
- ↑ About - Michelle Phan
- ↑ Boudreau, Abbie & Singh, Natasha (May 31, 2011) Shop-And-Tell: 'Haul Videos' Turn Shopping Sprees Into Potential Profits. ABC News
- ↑ Schaefer, S (August 19, 2011) Translating Tech-Savvy Students’ Opinions into Valuable Marketing. Foreword Online, MBS Textbook Exchange
- ↑ Ostrow, Adam (October 5, 2009) FTC to Fine Bloggers up to $11,000 for Not Disclosing Payments. Mashable
- ↑ juicytuesday The truth behind " HOTMIAMISTYLES". Youtube
