Tom uses his research on first impressions to explain why he subscribes to certain YouTube creators. Likability forms in the first 10-15 seconds through facial cues and body language. He names creators he finds likable (Peter Geriatric1927, Mike, Jeepert) and others that are acquired tastes, and argues you can cultivate likability through positive energy and attitude.
¡Hey, guys! Good morning, it's Tom. I was just looking at my YouTube subscription list, you know, the people whose videos I subscribe to, and I was thinking, why do I subscribe to these people? What is it that makes them, makes their videos interesting to me? And I came back to a factor that I thought I'd just briefly throw out for your thoughts today. And the factor is one that's really, really important in being successful in life, but one that I don't know that everybody really thinks about. And the factor is likability. You know, likability is one of these factors that it's hard to really pin down what what details come together and combine to make somebody likable. But it's a, it's a, you know, a pretty spontaneous kind of a reaction that we have to people. You know, you look at people's faces and, you know, there's all kinds of work, research work being done on faces today and, you know, kind of You know, the shape of the face and the way faces are configured has tremendous impact on us. Going way, way back in research, we've always been interested— look at portraits. Portraits are— why do you walk through an art gallery and look at portraits of people who've been dead for hundreds of years? Well, part of it is that their faces are so interesting. There's so much contained in the face, and likability is one of those things that, you know, you immediately kind of resonate with a face or you don't resonate with a face. And so, um, so one of the things that I like to look at is on my list is, you know, like, who's likable on my list of— how many subscriptions do I have now? I think I have, uh, 30, um, 35. I have 35 subscriptions. And when I look down that list of subscriptions, I go, well, who's— who do I subscribe to because they're likable? And who do I subscribe to because even if they're not likable, they're interesting. So, you know, for example, the very first subscription I ever had on YouTube was Peter, Geriatric1927, and clearly there's a likable person. I mean, there's so much to like about his tone, his body language, the way he closes his eyes and is thinking about things when he talks. I mean, for me, there's a lot of likability there. Now compare that with somebody like Renetto. Excuse me. Who is, for me, a more complex character. Sometimes Renato is likable, sometimes Renato, for me, is not so likable. He's, you know, there's some kind of energy there that's driving him forward that kind of makes him sometimes, for me, not so likable. He's always interesting. I watch his videos, I enjoy them. But just on the likability dimension, you know, I kind of am not sure sometimes about him. Um, uh, Argent009. Now Mike for me is a likable person. There's something about his presentation, his openness, his tone that I find really likable. Jeepert is a very likable person. Paperlilies I find very likable. Kimberly. I'll have all these links if you don't know these people. I'll have all these links on the side. And there's 2 more on my subscription list that I just have to be sure I get in on the likability factor. And those 2 are Crazy Mammal, who's really, really very, I think, very, very likable. And Sut Steve. Now, Sut Steve is another, I think, of those complicated likability kind of instances. Sud Steve, if you haven't seen him, maybe he's an acquired taste, but he's a delightfully, to me, likable person. And I'm not even going to try to think about why. So if you don't know these people, I have all these links on the side. But anyway, I just wanted to address the issue of likability and to suggest that it's something that you can actually work on a little bit if you're interested in improving your likability. One of the keys to improving likability is a positive attitude in dealing with other people. I know that sounds very, you know, Dr. Phil-y and very kind, but it's a really important part of relationships between people. You know, that first presentation, that first encounter, that very first— I did my doctoral dissertation on getting to know other people and the amount of judgment that that takes place within the first 10 or 15 seconds of any new relationship, any new encounter, is really crucial. And that has so much to do with the amount of positive energy that you bring to the situation, your mindset, you know, your frame of reference when you're there. So anyway, just wanted to kind of throw that out. Who's likable for you on YouTube? And maybe we can share our likability list with one another. So, uh, thanks. Talk to you again soon. Take it easy. Bye.
