Technology

YouTubers are making a living on videos about Microsoft software

Published

4 years ago

July 10, 2021

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In this article

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Kevin Stratvert produces videos at his home in Seattle.

Tara Brown

When Microsoft updated its Teams communication app with a more sophisticated way to give PowerPoint presentations in January, the company published a 500-word blog post on the feature. People could read the blog post and try to figure out how to use it, or they could consult YouTube.

On the video service owned by arch-rival Google, a former Microsoft employee named Kevin Stratvert published a video on Presenter Mode to his more than 800,000 subscribers, garnering more than 180,000 views and hundreds of comments. Microsoft itself had not published a video on the topic.

“I’ve built a Microsoft audience,” Stratvert said in an interview with CNBC. “Microsoft content drives a lot more viewership than non-Microsoft content. I’ve done Gmail and a few others, but they haven’t done quite as well.”

That might have to do with the reach of Microsoft’s products. The company held 86% of the email and authoring market in 2020, according to technology research firm Gartner, with 1.2 billion Office users.

Not every one of those 1.2 billion knows how to do everything in Office, though, and people also need to keep up with the latest updates that Microsoft pumps out. Videos from Stratvert and his YouTube contemporaries are helping with that — and sometimes getting more eyeballs than Microsoft’s official videos.

Much better off

Stratvert arrived at Microsoft in 2006, the same year Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion. His first YouTube video showed footage from a drone flying over a town in New Jersey. Then Stratvert filmed videos of his travels in the Puget Sound and beyond. How-to videos and gadget-review videos followed.

In 2017 he posted his first Microsoft-related video, in which he toured treehouses on the company’s campus with his wife, Kerry Stratvert, a manager at the company. In the video description, he included a disclosure saying that he was a Microsoft employee.

Two months after the treehouse video, Stratvert was working on the small development team behind Office.com, a website that gives fast access to online versions of Excel spreadsheets and other Office documents. The site was not well known, especially compared with Office applications for PCs, so Stratvert and colleagues asked their peers in marketing if they could spread the word about Office.com. The marketers didn’t have enough resources to help, Stratvert said.

So Stratvert produced a video showing how people could use Office.com to get most features of Microsoft Office free of charge. It performed well, and his manager told him he had done a good job.

He went on to make videos about Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, Windows and Word. Microsoft employees on other teams noticed and started asking him to make videos about their products. They saw how many people were watching and recognized that getting him to talk about their products could bring in new users, which in turn could mean more favorable employee reviews.

“It’s almost like teams appreciate that there’s this other outlet that’s kind of unofficial,” he said.

Then, in July 2020, months after the pandemic sent the Stratverts home, he gave up his position at Microsoft and began making five times as many videos as he was before. He no longer needed to include disclosures in videos that he was a Microsoft employee, and he could talk more freely about competing products such as Slack and Zoom.

YouTube users have hit the subscribe button. Today he has 85% more subscribers than the official Microsoft 365 YouTube channel focused on Teams and other Office applications, which he said has a team of 20 to 30 people producing content.

“Economically I’m much better off,” he said. His wife still works at Microsoft.

Promoting external creators

Historically, developing and maintaining products has been the core of Microsoft. Today nearly 50% of employees work in engineering. Marketing is a considerably smaller part of the business, and employees work on ads, materials for Microsoft’s website, events and other methods of promotion.

In the past few years, a group inside Microsoft began focusing more on YouTube.

“On YouTube specifically, we’re starting to explore the concept of what it looks like to do something native to YouTube,” Sonia Atchison, a market research lead who worked on the Microsoft Creators Program, said on a podcast last year.

People often turn to YouTube when they want to get a better understanding of Microsoft software, and while Microsoft has plenty of its own videos available on YouTube, they don’t always come up at the top of the site’s search results, Atchison said. Videos from outsiders can receive higher rankings.

Sometimes a video from a Microsoft employee might be there. The company does have employees with large audiences, including Mike Tholfsen, a 26-year company veteran whose videos show how teachers and students can use Teams and other applications.

Microsoft wanted more people like Tholfsen. The company formed a group to help people working on different products learn how to build sizable YouTube channels, said Jon Levesque, who posted YouTube videos as a senior platform evangelist at Microsoft before taking a job at DocuSign in March. There were issues at times. Some employees asked why they were concentrating on a service owned by a top competitor, and teams didn’t always agree with everything that employee-creators said in videos, Levesque said.

The effort didn’t get far, and Microsoft began promoting videos from non-employees instead, with the establishment of the Microsoft Creators Program. The company started including outsiders’ videos in its video playlists, and it offered to use their videos for customer support. That led to some additional video views, said Jason Sele, whose YouTube channel goes by the name Sele Training. In late June, Microsoft announced plans to put the program on pause.

Among the dozens of people who joined the Creators Program, the most popular is Leila Gharani, a software instructor in Vienna, with over 900,000 subscribers. After picking up skills in Excel and other software on the job, Gharani began teaching classes in person and online. She made her YouTube debut in 2016, with the hope of enhancing her filming skills.

The channel took off, and that brought in money, plus it drew more students to her premium courses, which her company, XelPlus, continues to offer. With the company growing, her husband left his position as a chief financial officer to join her. They brought on an editor and a writer, too.

Many of Gharani’s YouTube videos detail parts of Excel. That doesn’t mean she completely ignores the competition. One of her more popular videos in 2020 was called “Google Sheets BEATS Excel with THESE 10 Features!”

Like Stratvert, Gharani has heard from Microsoft employees. After she posted a video on the Whiteboard app, a program manager said the team loved her video and offered to show her updates that were coming soon. The program manager didn’t tell her to make a video but instead wanted to see if she thought the enhancements would be video-worthy, Gharani said.

She said users might ascribe greater authority to YouTube creators who work at Microsoft, unlike her.

“People appreciate that they’re at Microsoft,” she said. “‘They must know what they’re saying. They’re not going to say it if it’s not true. That authority thing does come with it. But not a lot.”

Jason Sele makes YouTube videos from a high-tech RV.

Jason Sele

It hasn’t stopped Gharani from growing into a major entity. She boasts more subscribers than almost all of Microsoft’s YouTube accounts. The Xbox channel remains a top attraction, with over 4 million subscribers.

Sele would love the type of YouTube success that Gharani and Stratvert have had. Videos of his that contain tips and tricks on Excel and other applications have received more than 1 million views, but he’s not an on-camera star. Sele, who makes videos from his RV after 25 years of exposure to Microsoft products as a director of information technology, narrates while giving all the visual attention to the video feed from his computer. He said he spends time carefully writing and editing scripts before hitting record. The YouTube money is enough to live on, he said.

He said he isn’t worried about competing with Microsoft. “They’ll crank out all this training, but it really isn’t training you can just hand to your employees,” he said. “It’s either too high-level or low-level.”

Entertainment

While YouTube has no shortage of software walk-throughs, YouTube is more than just a destination for careful learning. It’s a venue for entertainment. Gharani gets that.

“It’s more passive, they don’t have to really concentrate,” she said of people who watch her videos. “They can let themselves also think about other things and come back and just watch and still get something out of it. You can’t get that out of writing.”

She strives to keep her YouTube videos moving along at a fast pace. She doesn’t want the videos to be too boring. Otherwise she won’t have many people watching.

“It’s not necessary that they actually learn something, but they just see the potential that they could learn something, or they feel like they’ve learned something,” she said. Her online courses have a different purpose. There’s no background music, they’re slower, and there’s less of her talking on camera.

The thumbnail images for her videos on YouTube always show her face, and her channel uses her full name, rather than some jumble of words such as OfficeIsSuperGreat, which helps her work stand out in search results.

The same can be said about Stratvert’s channel.

But his videos can be longer. Some run well past 20 or 30 minutes. He keeps them from becoming tedious by talking about how he uses software inside his made-up corporation, the Kevin Cookie Company. In one video about holding webinars in Teams, Kerry Stratvert made an appearance, posing as a Kevin Cookie Company employee who wanted to air her concerns. As the person running the meeting, he turned off her microphone and camera, demonstrating what webinar hosts can do in that situation in real life.

For years she had called Stratvert’s YouTube channel a hobby and pointed out that he hadn’t recouped the investment in production equipment. She didn’t think he could ever go full time. Then, last year, he did.

“It’s done extremely well,” he said. “My wife looks at that — ‘Oh, man, working at home, cranking out a video a day, maybe I should do this, too. Maybe I should pull together videos.’ Same with her sister, too.”

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Technology

Okta raises forecast as CEO says economic conditions were ‘better than we thought’

Published

3 hours ago

August 26, 2025

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Okta raises forecast as CEO says economic conditions were ‘better than we thought’

Okta CEO Todd McKinnon appears on CNBC in September 2018.

Anjali Sundaram | CNBC

Okta shares rose 4% in extended trading on Tuesday after the identity software maker reported fiscal results that exceeded Wall Street projections.

Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:

Earnings per share: 91 cents adjusted vs. 84 cents expected
Revenue: $728 million vs. $711.8 million expected

Okta’s revenue grew about 13% year over year in the fiscal second quarter, which ended on July 31, according to a statement. Net income of $67 million, or 37 cents per share, was up from $29 million, or 15 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

In May, Okta adjusted its guidance to reflect macroeconomic uncertainty. But business has been going well, said Todd McKinnon, Okta’s co-founder and CEO, in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday.

“It was much better than we thought,” McKinnon said. “Yeah, the results speak for themselves.”

U.S. government customers are being more careful about signing up for deals after President Donald Trump launched the Department of Government Efficiency in January.

“But even under that additional review, we did really well,” McKinnon said.

Net retention rate, a metric to show growth with existing customers, came to 106% in the quarter, unchanged from three months ago.

Apple announces launch event on Sept. 9, iPhone 17 expected

Published

7 hours ago

August 26, 2025

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Apple announces launch event on Sept. 9, iPhone 17 expected

Apple announces an iPhone event on Sept. 9.

Courtesy: Apple

Apple on Tuesday sent invites to the media and analysts for a launch event at its campus on September 9 at 10 A.M pacific time.

The tagline on the invite is: “Awe dropping.”

Apple is expected to release new iPhones, as it usually does in September. This year’s model would be the iPhone 17. It also often announces new Apple Watch models in September.

While Apple’s launch events used to be held live, with executives demonstrating features on stage, since 2020 they have been pre-recorded videos. Apple said it would stream the event on its website.

Analysts expect Apple to release a lineup of new phones with updated processors and specs, including a new slim version that trades battery life and cameras for a light weight and design.

Meta used National PTA to promote child safety efforts, report finds

Published

9 hours ago

August 26, 2025

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Meta used National PTA to promote child safety efforts, report finds

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on Orion AR glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25, 2024.

Manuel Orbegozo | Reuters

Since losing her 15-year-old son Riley to suicide following a sextortion scheme through Meta’s Messenger app, Mary Rodee has worked with advocacy groups to push for stronger protections for children online.

“I hold them solely responsible,” Rodee said about Meta in an interview with CNBC. “They have a responsibility for the safety of their users.”

Rodee is among a number of parents who are increasingly critical of organizations that are supposed to help children stay safe but accept money from Meta and other social media companies. Among these groups is the National Parent Teacher Association.

The National PTA is a nonprofit with more than 20,000 chapters and nearly 4 million members across the country that works with schools and families to advocate for children. The group’s website says its members “share a commitment to improving the education, health and safety of all children.”

A report published Tuesday by tech watchdog organization Tech Transparency Project alleges the group’s relationship with Meta “gives a sheen of expert approval” to the social media company’s “efforts to keep young users engaged on its platforms.” The report claims that Meta’s tactics are used to counter concerns that services like Instagram can be harmful to teens in an attempt to shape the public narrative.

“As Meta has come under growing pressure over its impact on kids and their well-being, the company has responded with a range of tactics to influence the public debate,” TTP wrote.

Meta has sponsored the National PTA for years, while the education advocacy group has promoted the company’s child safety initiatives without always noting its financial ties, TTP found.

The National PTA and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, have worked together since at least 2010. Meta’s presence is listed in the group’s events and social media posts.

“It’s unforgivable,” said Rodee of Canton, New York. “I just can’t get over these groups that convince themselves that there’s not blood on their hands, that this money is clean.”

Both Meta and the National PTA declined to share how much the social media company has contributed to the group.

“We’re proud to partner with expert organizations to educate parents about our safety tools and protections for teens, as many other tech companies do,” a Meta spokesperson told CNBC in a statement.

In a statement to CNBC, the National PTA said that it doesn’t endorse any social media platform and it accepts sponsorship from Meta to have a “seat at the table” and to be a “strong, clear voice for parents and children.”

“Our collaboration with Meta provides an opportunity to help inform families about safety on its apps and the available tools (e.g., parental controls, age-gated features) and resources (e.g., parent’s guides, online safety centers),” the National PTA said in its statement.

Mary Rodee lost her 15-year-old son Riley to suicide following a sextortion scheme through Meta’s Messenger app.

Mary Rodee

Meta worked with the National PTA in 2017 to help roll out Messenger Kids, a chat app for children under 13 that the company said was developed in consultation with parent and safety groups, TTP wrote in its report. Facebook became a founding sponsor of the PTA Connected initiative the following year in 2018, the National PTA said in its statement to CNBC.

The National PTA can often be seen supporting Meta products on its Instagram account. For example, a post shared in June shows a group of PTA members at a digital safety workshop in front of a poster with Meta and the National PTA’s logo.

Riley, Rodee’s son, was a victim of sextortion on Meta’s platforms. Sextortion is the act of threatening to expose sexually compromising information unless certain demands are met. He was blackmailed by a person posing as a teenage girl on Facebook Messenger, Rodee said.

The fake account demanded Riley pay $3,500. He then took his own life, Rodee said. Sextortion schemes like this are on the rise across social media. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security received more than 3,000 sextortion tips in 2022, according to the Justice Department.

The Federal Trade Commission accused Meta in 2023 of misleading parents about their ability to control who their children communicate with on the Messenger Kids app. Meta has denied wrongdoing and is challenging both the FTC’s proposed restrictions and the constitutionality of the agency’s process.

A federal master complaint filed in March 2024 in California by school districts and local governments as part of a multi-district lawsuit against major social media companies alleges that platforms like Instagram and Facebook were intentionally designed to be addictive to young users. The complaint names the National PTA as one of the organizations Meta uses to reach children in schools.

“While Instagram may try to characterize this work as helpful to addressing youth mental health problems, they were more candid in other documents about using this as a strategy to get more teen users,” the filing states. “The goal of the parents plan was to get ‘parents to think, my kids are on social media, and my FAVORITE app for them to be on is Instagram, bar none.'”

In September 2024, Meta announced Instagram Teen Accounts, which gives users between 13 and 17 certain safeguards on the app. The release announcing the accounts included a quote from National PTA President Yvonne Johnson, without disclosing that Meta was a national sponsor of the organization.

“Given that parents today are grappling with the benefits and challenges of the internet and digital media for their teens, our association applauds Meta for launching Instagram Teen Accounts,” Johnson said in the release.

Instagram’s Teen Accounts feature has received mixed responses when it comes to how effectively it protects kids. Some users still saw inappropriate content on Instagram, according to a report from ParentsTogether.

“This strategy of telling parents that these products are safer than they really are puts kids in danger,” said Shelby Knox, online safety campaign director at ParentsTogether.

The Meta spokesperson said that Teen Accounts give protections to limit who can contact teens on Instagram.

Other parent groups like Smartphone Free Childhood U.S. and Parents for Safe Online Spaces have reached out to the National PTA to voice their concern of accepting money from social media companies that they say are dangerous to their children.

The National PTA’s other sponsors also include Google, YouTube, TikTok and Discord.

In 2024, TikTok gave the National PTA more than $300,000 for programs about teens and social media, even as the platform itself faced mounting criticism over its impact on teens.

The PTA is just one example of Meta’s strategy, according to the TTP report. Meta also created Trust, Transparency & Control Labs, also known as TTC Labs, in 2017. The organization works to collaborate on safety efforts.

While TTC Labs is clearly labeled as a Meta creation, TTC has produced reports on Instagram Teen Accounts and Horizon Worlds. Meta has cited these reports as evidence of its commitment to child safety.

Meta and other social media platforms have been blamed for causing harm to children.

A bipartisan group of 42 attorneys general sued Meta in 2023, alleging features on Facebook and Instagram are addictive and are aimed at kids and teens.

In July, Meta said it eliminated 600,000 profiles linked to predatory behavior and enhanced direct messaging protections on Instagram.

“PTAs in schools are trusted organizations, so their support of companies that are using people and children for profit is just unforgivable,” Rodee said.

If you are having suicidal thoughts or are in distress, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor.

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