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An ode to The Michalaks

If you know me well then you know that watching The Michalaks vlogs is part of my Sunday routine. Watching their 20 or so minute vlogs takes me out of my own life and transported into theirs and it's strangely therapeutic. But I am not here to talk about me today, oh no. I'm here to talk about The Michalaks, a family of four made up of Dad Stefan, Mum Hannah and their sons Grayson and Rufus.

I've been watching their YouTube channel for three years now and I have observed three things as to why loyal viewers such as myself continue to watch them meaning they can have a continued career on YouTube. The first is their authenticity. In a recent video Stefan expressed to his audience that the family's viewing figures had taken a bit of a hit in recent months. Now upon seeing these figures many Youtubers would revert back to the old style they made videos in order to regain views and in turn money. However, although their views had been depleted by a few thousand, The Michalaks didn't change the direction of where their channel was headed. They didn't stop talking about subjects that matter. They didn't turn to click bait titles. They remained their authentic selves and I can do nothing but commend them for that. Now I'm not saying the channels that do change their content for views are abhorrent as I completely understand why they do this. YouTube is their job and like any other profession we do our job for the financial benefits. But to me by The Michalaks remaining true to themselves highlights their creative job is more than just a job to them. They would rather stick to the high quality of vlogging they are creating rather than do a challenge or collab with a bigger Youtuber for more money. I know when I watch their vlogs I'm not going to be bombarded with plugs to buy loads of things from them and I know when they share an opinion that I can genuinely trust it. When they do have a sponsorship deal I know that they've only taken it because they either love the product or see potential in it, instead of force feeding me content in order to have a bigger bank account.

The second reason people come back to watch them is similar to the first reason so we'll just call it authenticity part 2. This reason centers all around their content but for a different reason. Youtubers in couples such as Alfie and Zoella post videos that seem idyllic. They never have a disagreement on camera, no real discussion about topical issues and the way they portray their lives online is as though they live in a YouTube bubble where no one but their friends and them star on YouTube- just to prove my point in a recent video Alfie and Zoe said that they were the reason beauty vloggers and 'boy' vloggers came together to hang out *sigh*. But in contrast to this The Michalaks display a real family setting. For example, although they don't have arguments on camera, they were transparent with their audience in a recent video explaining they took a week off after they had had a blazing row and they didn't want to film. This translates to the audience that they are a real couple who go through real things like the rest of us do. In addition to this, alongside slow motion shots of hugging their children and highlighting how polite they are, they also feature if Grayson is having a tantrum or if Rufus is being fussy. This is why so many of their viewers invest in them as not only a YouTube channel but as a genuine family.

The third reason and one of the most important, is the way in which they treat their children. There are many channels that use their children for views, sharing their child's most intimate moments and shoving a camera in their face for their entire childhood. However, The Michalaks take care in not oversharing. They share as much as themselves with us as possible but their children only have a small feature. I love this as they'll be able to grow up off camera and decide themselves if they want to be on screen more when they're older. What is magical about the small amount that they feature in the vlogs though is how Stefan edits it. He makes it feel as though they are the focus for many shots of the vlog without having a camera on them 24/7. The way he orchestrates the video it seems as though they are heavily featured without their lives being completely on camera.

If you don't believe me about how great these vloggers are just see for yourselves and get back to me.

Sarah.

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