My tongue in cheek point above was that of an evolution/adaption of social media (primarily youtube, but its all over Reels, Tok, and the rest) went from normal Joe's and Jane's putting a camera (yes, it started with camera's before the phones) on a tripod and filming their cooks, to a fully paid commercial ad for one product (line) or another.
When I first got a Blackstone 5 or so years ago, I stumbled upon a loose knit group online in which a woman calling herself Blackstone Betty was cooking up all kinds of stuff. Just a Southern (sounding) woman out on the deck cooking up griddle items and putting it online.
In the past 5 years, she and a group of other Blackstone users were assembled, by Blackstone, to do exclusive content on somewhat of a Blackstone "set" using wall to wall Blackstone products. They rolled it out when they expanded their product line from griddles to the entire outdoor cooking environment.
It was a smart move by Blackstone. They pull together 5 or 6 people that already have an online following, give them all a bunch of your new line up of griddles, pizza ovens, airfryers, deep fryers, etc and you have an instant following and an instant library of reference material for people considering your product(s) to see them in action.
They all promote these videos under one Blackstone Griddles branded Y-Tube channel.
I also have watched a guy named Johnny Brunet who, although he has thousands and thousands more views as the griddle market took off, he has pretty much stayed just a backyard (side yard, actually) kinda guy in Columbus Ohio who is just a regular Joe that will be standing out in the cold on the side of his house with a breakfast beer in one hand and splitting time between (I think) a beat up Blackstone and a Camp Chef griddle(s) cooking away. Nothing fancy. No constant mention of a product line he is pushing. Honest reviews of all the brands.
He might influence the beer I'm drinking, but thats about it.
For the life of me I can't imagine the need for an outdoor air fryer or anything else the corporate (Blackstone was my example) infomercials are pushing, but to each his own.
I'll tell you one thing I do like to do, is break out of the "influence" of the Y-Tube algorithm. I access y-Tube through a few different portals. I have the app on my Xbox, on the Firestick, on the laptop, and on my phone. I am not logged in as the same user on any of these devices and when I search for similar content on the various portals, the rabbit holes y-Tube sends you down can be quite different because they think your profile might want that content. It's kind of funny, but it does give me a better variety of results than I have found on one profile that might continually push me in the same direction.
Maybe its the algorithm itself that is more influential than the content?
And whatever that thing is that Blackstone Betty has going on with her eyebrows now, I find her unwatchable and irritating. My wife laughs when she hears her keep talking about her "sexy eggs". What would that be, a defluencer?
When I first got a Blackstone 5 or so years ago, I stumbled upon a loose knit group online in which a woman calling herself Blackstone Betty was cooking up all kinds of stuff. Just a Southern (sounding) woman out on the deck cooking up griddle items and putting it online.
In the past 5 years, she and a group of other Blackstone users were assembled, by Blackstone, to do exclusive content on somewhat of a Blackstone "set" using wall to wall Blackstone products. They rolled it out when they expanded their product line from griddles to the entire outdoor cooking environment.
It was a smart move by Blackstone. They pull together 5 or 6 people that already have an online following, give them all a bunch of your new line up of griddles, pizza ovens, airfryers, deep fryers, etc and you have an instant following and an instant library of reference material for people considering your product(s) to see them in action.
They all promote these videos under one Blackstone Griddles branded Y-Tube channel.
I also have watched a guy named Johnny Brunet who, although he has thousands and thousands more views as the griddle market took off, he has pretty much stayed just a backyard (side yard, actually) kinda guy in Columbus Ohio who is just a regular Joe that will be standing out in the cold on the side of his house with a breakfast beer in one hand and splitting time between (I think) a beat up Blackstone and a Camp Chef griddle(s) cooking away. Nothing fancy. No constant mention of a product line he is pushing. Honest reviews of all the brands.
He might influence the beer I'm drinking, but thats about it.
For the life of me I can't imagine the need for an outdoor air fryer or anything else the corporate (Blackstone was my example) infomercials are pushing, but to each his own.
I'll tell you one thing I do like to do, is break out of the "influence" of the Y-Tube algorithm. I access y-Tube through a few different portals. I have the app on my Xbox, on the Firestick, on the laptop, and on my phone. I am not logged in as the same user on any of these devices and when I search for similar content on the various portals, the rabbit holes y-Tube sends you down can be quite different because they think your profile might want that content. It's kind of funny, but it does give me a better variety of results than I have found on one profile that might continually push me in the same direction.
Maybe its the algorithm itself that is more influential than the content?
And whatever that thing is that Blackstone Betty has going on with her eyebrows now, I find her unwatchable and irritating. My wife laughs when she hears her keep talking about her "sexy eggs". What would that be, a defluencer?
