Tech IRL: Online Communities
Ever heard of ASMR? It stands for audio sensory meridian response. First a few and then a lot of “vloggers,” or video bloggers, create videos, like this one, to cater to the ASMR community:
Ilse, who goes by the name TheWaterwhispers, has had over 27 million views over the last three years, explains ASMR and her channel are “for people who enjoy calming voices (whispering, soft speaking), different sounds (tapping, scratching, crinkles ext), personal attention role plays (haircut, scalp massage ext), seeing some perform a simple task (doing the laundry cleaning different object ext) and much more!”
These videos are pretty popular in some groups. How popular? Popular enough to make money doing it? Lizzie O’Leary poses this question to Marketplace Tech host Ben Johnson, who explains the business behind YouTube stars.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
