YouTube can be viewed in a variety of ways and is much more than just a place to view viral videos. Not only is YouTube actively influencing watching habits all around the world, but it has also gotten to the point where it is on par with more established media platforms like radio and television. In addition to allowing users to publish and view content, the website also functions as a social media platform by allowing users to share, like, dislike, and comment on videos. 

Reaction videos are a new genre that is emerging under the vlogging category.
Self-recorded videos that display one or more people’s reactions are called reaction videos.

For instance, the video “Scary Maze Game” inspired a significant amount of videos showing people’s reactions to it. A computer game mock-up is shown in the vedio, and at one point, a zombie suddenly appears in an attempt to frighten the audience. In this instance, adults playing practical jokes on kids to get an honest and exaggerated response was the subject of a large portion of the videos made with the clip. reaction videos’ ability to give viewers the opportunity to “experience a dangerous thrill without having to encounter it directly” Because of this, viewers respond to these videos in a way that is consistent with Tomkins’ affect theory, which states that people “desiring to maximise their positive feelings and minimise their negative ones” (American Psychological Association). Furthermore, creative people realised that by showing strong emotions, their films were probably going to have higher success metrics. Selecting a viral video to respond to has also been shown to be beneficial in raising the success rate of a reaction video, in addition to the video’s inherent qualities, since YouTube’s algorithm will probably recommend it using the “suggested” option.

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Reference: 

Carolina Carrêlo. ‘The Popular Phenomenon of YouTube Reaction Videos‘. Available at: http://mau.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1775163/FULLTEXT02.pdf