1/ I’m going down the rabbit hole on one of the most fascinating developments in online courses I’ve seen: investigative reporting-style YouTube videos about dishonest practices
Mostly Coffeezilla which has a whole series investigating “fake gurus” youtube.com/channel/UCFQMn…
Mostly Coffeezilla which has a whole series investigating “fake gurus” youtube.com/channel/UCFQMn…
2/ Here’s an example, in which he analyzes the marketing of consulting guru Sam Ovens and finds some inconsistencies
Very interesting that he targets courses specifically, which seem to be a hotbed of scammy and dishonest marketing
Very interesting that he targets courses specifically, which seem to be a hotbed of scammy and dishonest marketing
3/ Here’s another one where he really goes after Kevin David who copyright striked one of his previous critical videos, claiming his name was copyrighted
4/ There’s been online reviews before, but what makes this so interesting is that these youtubers are playing on the same media-savvy, sensationalistic playing field as the gurus themselves, rather than being buried on some blog no one will ever see
5/ Searching for these gurus on google, these kinds of videos are some of the top results for some of them, which I imagine has a huge negative impact on their businesses 
6/ This hour long interview with a marketing guru who presents the other side of the story reveals how nuanced some of these issues can be. There’s a spectrum of scaminess, and it depends on the details
7/ Overall I think this is an extremely positive thing for the industry as a whole, providing some accountability to unethical course marketers where it hurts most: public visibility and reputation. Everyone benefits when the Wild West gets tamed by law enforcement
8/ But I think honest course creators need to be hyperscrupulous in avoiding any sign of these practices. I’m starting a note to document what they are so we can avoid them evernote.com/shard/s204/sh/…
