How YouTube can help you

Farmers will find much of value on this hugely popular website, says Greg Miles.

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On Valentine’s Day this year, YouTube was nine years old. Now owned by Google, it has more than one billion visitors every month. A hundred hours of video are uploaded every minute and more than six billion hours of video are watched each month. Visits YouTube played a crucial role in launching a business (GoPro) and helped it become hugely successful.

YouTube earns revenue through video advertising. Ever noticed that just before the video begins a commercial starts playing? Well, a company or individual paid YouTube to have their commercial aired. If a video is popular – in other words, it goes ‘viral’ – the company or individual behind the video can earn a percentage of the revenue generated whenever someone clicks on the ad. A 57-second British family video of children proved so popular that the parents earned R2 million.

For farmers
Recently, I watched a step-by-step video, in slow motion, of how a baler knotter works. It gave me a much better understanding of the machine, which will make it easier to troubleshoot and make running repairs next time my baler plays up. And a US-based farmer, going by the username ‘Farmboy30117’, has an entire series of videos covering most problem areas in a New Holland baler, which can be very helpful.

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Fun stuff
The Internet is awash with lighthearted entertainment too, of course, and farmers have also got in on the act. Three brothers from the Peterson family, who farm in Kansas, became famous for their video ‘I’m farming and I grow it’ – a parody of the hit song ‘Sexy and I know it’ by US duo LFMAO. Their younger sister Laura did most of the filming.

According to journalist Cathryn Wellner, “feeding cows, baling hay and growing corn are not generally considered fast routes to attracting women, but the Peterson brothers are out to prove otherwise. The instant success of the video is a lesson for the farming community and for consumers.“ The brothers have since been inundated with requests to speak to the media.

Thank you, boys, for the good publicity!



Source: The Peterson Farm Bros YouTube Channel