Imagine you have just spent a day shopping at the mall. You come home with your haul of goodies, start up your web-cam and begin a show-and-tell of every item you have purchased. You describe in detail each feature of your new ever so totally cute purchases! You have just made a haul video! Yes, this actually exists and it is a growing Internet phenomenon. There are over 150,000 “haul” videos posted on YouTube and counting! Haul videos blend shopping and technology, two of teenagers favorite things! They consist mainly of giddy teenage girls showing off their purchases, usually telling where the purchase was made, how much it cost and giving a sort of mini-product review. Their hauls don’t just include clothing, there is everything from accessories, make-up, shoes, and even bargain bin finds found at local drugstores.
Many of the videos have had hundreds of thousands of hits, and some of these “vloggers” or video bloggers, have become big time Internet stars! The vloggers can really cash in too. Some receive compensation and merchandise from retailers. Many of them are in the YouTube Partner Program, this allows them to get paid for making videos, and to get a portion of the ad revenue. Two of the most popular haul vloggers are sisters, Blair Fowler, 16, and Elle Fowler, 21, from Tennessee. Collectively, the Blair sister’s videos have been viewed over 75 million times! Blair and Elle’s 7-year-old sister is also posting her own videos. Her very first video post was seen over one million times! These videos can also be very good for retail sales, in one Fowler sister’s video posting when the sisters gushed over a watch purchase, that watch sold out within 24 hours on the company’s web-site, and the company’s web-site crashed from the heavy volume of traffic!
The rising cost of college education forces too many students to take on high loan debt burdens and many have to work long hours that interfere with their academic study. In this difficult economy, when competition for jobs has increased and at the same time student’s ability to pay for college has decreased, it is important for the federal government to make smart investments in our students. It is believed that these investments will make our young society and our economy more competitive in the global marketplace.