Don’t fake it.

That’s the main lesson for corporate types who want to use video sites like YouTube to promote their message, according to researchers at the Cass Business School. Viewers apparently don’t like to be taken in.

This is based on preliminary research into the viewing statistics for a sample of YouTube videos. Caroline Wiertz, a senior lecturer in marketing at Cass, says they show that authenticity is a big issue. Viewers react badly if they think professional content is being passed off as something amateur. "It is a dangerous game to try to dupe them," she says.

The other early finding from this analysis of viewing habits: embarrassment works. Viewers like to squirm, and they go back more often to videos that offer this vicarious thrill.