Potsdam/New York | Looking through the keyhole: influencers open other people’s doors

What’s special about these short videos: Viewers get a personal look at private spaces with their own stories. It’s like looking through a keyhole. Or the crack in a door. What remains usually hidden becomes apparent through the form. Simpson has already uploaded several such videos to Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube. He films an artist in her lighthouse in New York, a photographer in his apartment in Paris or an architect in his own apartment in Hong Kong.

Caleb Simpson and his opinion

Even if he does not see himself as the initiator of the movement, Caleb Simpson is one of the most famous content creators on Tiktok, leading tours of houses and houses around the world. The idea for his videos came about two years ago when he saw on social media how people were “just” asking about their rent on the street. “Then a light bulb came on me and I thought, ‘What if I could go into this person’s apartment?'” recalls the 32-year-old American.

“At the same time, I also thought it was the worst idea,” he says with a laugh. Who would let someone into their apartment? But: If it worked, everyone would be talking about it. In the beginning, he remembers asking about a hundred people in one day before anyone would let him in.

After the first videos, he quickly became famous, especially in New York City, says Simpson. Since then it was easier to schedule such apartment tours. He is now even getting inquiries from people who would like to show their apartment. And some famous people also appear in his videos – such as the actress Scarlett Johansson. Although she only shows her office in New York, more than 50 million people have now seen this video.

The social media movement is coming to Germany

Like Caleb Simpson, the movement itself is sweeping the world. In France, Samuel and Victoria film expensive apartments in Paris, Toulouse and Marseille. In Texas, Spencer Moore asks strangers on the streets of Houston and Dallas about their rent. And the social media phenomenon has already arrived in Germany.

He considers himself a “real estate entertainer,” but certainly not a real estate agent: Leon Sandhowe, better known on social media as “Mr. Unreal Estate” (German: “Mr. Unreal Estate”). The name says it all – in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg, Sandhowe takes you through “unreal” houses and apartments . He was always interested in what it was like behind the doors of other apartments. “There is nothing more private than home. “Home just says so much about you,” he says. explain.

The young man has two video looks, dressed smartly in a white shirt, black bow tie and suspenders – one of which is based on the principle of Caleb Simpson. “I accepted it because I thought it was really cool and I realized that nobody in Germany was doing it yet,” says the 27-year-old from Potsdam. After its launch in early 2023, “Mr. Unreal Estate now has 240,000 followers on Instagram. In his other video series, which he created himself, he takes you through luxury homes for sale.

The reason for success

But why do millions of people like to look into other people’s homes? It can be assumed that these videos meet very different psychological needs, explains Josephine B. Schmitt, communication scientist at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS, Bochum). “Many people find it exciting to see and experience things that would otherwise be hidden,” said Schmitt. This curiosity can be satisfied through a glimpse of otherwise closed spaces.

In addition, viewers may compare themselves to others when they look into someone else’s apartment. According to Schmitt, this conscious or unconscious “social comparison” can have two effects: viewers may feel validated (like: “My apartment is better”) or be wants to improve (like: “I would like to have a table like that too”). These effects could arise from the perspective of the lives of strangers as well as famous people. But Schmitt says that the “reference values” much more interesting and engaging when it comes to glimpses into the lives of celebrities.

Spaces show a “mental thing”?

“How much rent are you paying?” and “Would you be willing to show me your apartment?” there seem to be two questions that many people answer. Is there a pattern to what type of person gives private viewings? That’s hard to say, says Caleb Simpson. He would probably say it would be people who are on social media – ie 30 years old or younger.

In Germany it is generally difficult to find people who will let you into their own four walls, says German “real estate entertainer” Sandhowe. “It’s just a mental issue here in Germany,” explained the 27-year-old woman. The Germans would not be so open about their private lives. In his opinion, that is what makes the form so powerful, precisely because it makes the “impossible” possible. So anyone traveling in Germany’s major cities in the future will know when they hear the question: “How much rent will you pay?”