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I tend to do my own research, often on Reddit or YouTube, rather than trust sites like Wirecutter. I’m often able to find much more individualized information o

I tend to do my own research, often on Reddit or YouTube, rather than trust sites like Wirecutter. I’m often able to find much more individualized information on a wider variety of products. I think people have gotten smarter and know to treat any listicle with a grain of salt. Although Wirecutter may vet their content better than anyone else, many readers probably assume they’re reading a standard affiliate-link listicle.

squokko 3y ago
If you are doing your own research on Reddit or YouTube do you think you are the first person to think of that? The marketers got to Reddit and YouTube before you did
- danielfoster 3y ago
  And your point is I should do what? Of course there are marketers on these channels as well, but they don't dominate.
  - xmprt 3y ago
    > they don't dominate How do you know this? Outside of a few niche interests like mechanical keyboards or PC building, I'm not sure that most of the people on subreddits like vacuumcleaners.reddit.com are huge vacuum cleaner enthusiasts. It's just as likely that the people there have more skin in the game and are either marketers or resellers.
  - duckmysick 3y ago
    Befriend and talk directly to people who use or service particular items for a living. They have first-hand experience and went through different models. They know their quirks, tradeoffs, workarounds. It doesn't scale and that's the point. If someone has a scalable audience, the incentives change.
  - astura 3y ago
    They absolutely dominate - 90%+ of "reviews" on YouTube and Reddit are shilled in some way. They only don't look like marketing because they are explicitly designed to look like legitimate content.
yread 3y ago
For some products all videos on YouTube are paid promotion. When one company has way more videos over their product than their competitors it's suspicious. The only categories I trust are repair videos. 'I've used this thing for a few years but it stopped working after the kids threw it on the ground, here is how to open it up and oh it was just a loose connector' - they use it so it doesn't suck and it can be easy to repair and I know how to get in

squokko 3y ago

If you are doing your own research on Reddit or YouTube do you think you are the first person to think of that? The marketers got to Reddit and YouTube before you did

danielfoster 3y ago
And your point is I should do what? Of course there are marketers on these channels as well, but they don't dominate.
- xmprt 3y ago
  > they don't dominate How do you know this? Outside of a few niche interests like mechanical keyboards or PC building, I'm not sure that most of the people on subreddits like vacuumcleaners.reddit.com are huge vacuum cleaner enthusiasts. It's just as likely that the people there have more skin in the game and are either marketers or resellers.
- duckmysick 3y ago
  Befriend and talk directly to people who use or service particular items for a living. They have first-hand experience and went through different models. They know their quirks, tradeoffs, workarounds. It doesn't scale and that's the point. If someone has a scalable audience, the incentives change.
- astura 3y ago
  They absolutely dominate - 90%+ of "reviews" on YouTube and Reddit are shilled in some way. They only don't look like marketing because they are explicitly designed to look like legitimate content.

yread 3y ago

For some products all videos on YouTube are paid promotion. When one company has way more videos over their product than their competitors it's suspicious. The only categories I trust are repair videos. 'I've used this thing for a few years but it stopped working after the kids threw it on the ground, here is how to open it up and oh it was just a loose connector' - they use it so it doesn't suck and it can be easy to repair and I know how to get in