From a different point of view: youtube is a broadcasting platform. You tune in to the personalised stream of what algorithm thinks is best for your viewing pleasure.
My youtube landing looks like a local cable tv variety at 3am, with most popular video clocking 230k views (amazing japanese repairmen „jeans”) from 5 years ago. Just below that is a watercolor painting timelapse from Marcos Beccari with around 1.5k views and some low fi jazz bootlegs follow.
I have a theory that there is a viable way of using youtube, one to which algorithm caters to - the long tail that is. There are people who can watch cable only at certain times, and they are as well interested in venetian gondolas from XV century, or anti-garroting safety systems (thanks for that!).
I know that these people gather in the corner of the dancing parlour and support themselves. And in comparison to the center of the action where millions are - they do something tangible, even or rather despite the fact that it’s quirky and exotic.
This is a powerful advantage of youtube. Broadcast yourself as if noone is watching.
I share links to my accordion videos with friends and family. If one person likes it then it's worth it. (And Mom always likes it, though she doesn't know about "like" buttons.)
For hobby projects, it's good to remember: more users, more problems.
Yeah, I think that's a reasonable use case; my point is chiefly that the platforms that are commonly characterized as worse - Twitter, Reddit, Facebook - actually handle this use case well. Your front page is mostly your social circle and if you post something, it isn't accompanied by a side bar that reads "LOOK AT THIS CUTE KITTEN AND ITS 68 MILLION VIEWS". YouTube, on the other hand, really doesn't have a way to tune this out. You have to deliberately ignore most of the UI.
I've recently thought about this as well. I love videography. It's my favorite hobby. I have two YT channels, one in Croatian, and one in English, and they have maybe 200 subscribers between them. I don't feel entitled to have more - nobody owes you anything - but I'd like to! But, I don't want to optimize for virality. I'd like to make interesting and creative videos that reach an aesthetic and narrative goal I have in mind. And the worst of all is: my taste is developed, so I know how far away I am from achieving that goal. I know exactly how much I suck!
Anyways, videography is difficult and it's not at all easy to get views, even if you have "quality".
I voiced quite a few opinions back in the day, but I don't think this would have made a difference. Not a critique of Google, it's just how things work.
The bottom line is that you have a platform that produces a significant portion of your revenue. Internal debates on peripheral topics, such as content policing, are easy to have because they don't seriously threaten your business. On the flip side, "let's piss off all of our current top influencers to build a better experience for new folks" is just not gonna happen unless the company feels they have no other choice... and as a rule, that's a consequence of external factors, not internal debate.
From a different point of view: youtube is a broadcasting platform. You tune in to the personalised stream of what algorithm thinks is best for your viewing pleasure.
My youtube landing looks like a local cable tv variety at 3am, with most popular video clocking 230k views (amazing japanese repairmen „jeans”) from 5 years ago. Just below that is a watercolor painting timelapse from Marcos Beccari with around 1.5k views and some low fi jazz bootlegs follow.
I have a theory that there is a viable way of using youtube, one to which algorithm caters to - the long tail that is. There are people who can watch cable only at certain times, and they are as well interested in venetian gondolas from XV century, or anti-garroting safety systems (thanks for that!).
I know that these people gather in the corner of the dancing parlour and support themselves. And in comparison to the center of the action where millions are - they do something tangible, even or rather despite the fact that it’s quirky and exotic.
This is a powerful advantage of youtube. Broadcast yourself as if noone is watching.
Substack still shows likes and comments so it's possible to guesstimate number of subscribers based on the average number of those two variables.
Try TikTok already..
I think I'll pass
Wonder what pass is based on.
I share links to my accordion videos with friends and family. If one person likes it then it's worth it. (And Mom always likes it, though she doesn't know about "like" buttons.)
For hobby projects, it's good to remember: more users, more problems.
Yeah, I think that's a reasonable use case; my point is chiefly that the platforms that are commonly characterized as worse - Twitter, Reddit, Facebook - actually handle this use case well. Your front page is mostly your social circle and if you post something, it isn't accompanied by a side bar that reads "LOOK AT THIS CUTE KITTEN AND ITS 68 MILLION VIEWS". YouTube, on the other hand, really doesn't have a way to tune this out. You have to deliberately ignore most of the UI.
I've recently thought about this as well. I love videography. It's my favorite hobby. I have two YT channels, one in Croatian, and one in English, and they have maybe 200 subscribers between them. I don't feel entitled to have more - nobody owes you anything - but I'd like to! But, I don't want to optimize for virality. I'd like to make interesting and creative videos that reach an aesthetic and narrative goal I have in mind. And the worst of all is: my taste is developed, so I know how far away I am from achieving that goal. I know exactly how much I suck!
Anyways, videography is difficult and it's not at all easy to get views, even if you have "quality".
Couldn't agree more. Hope you actually voiced this opinion when it mattered: while you worked for Google.
I voiced quite a few opinions back in the day, but I don't think this would have made a difference. Not a critique of Google, it's just how things work.
The bottom line is that you have a platform that produces a significant portion of your revenue. Internal debates on peripheral topics, such as content policing, are easy to have because they don't seriously threaten your business. On the flip side, "let's piss off all of our current top influencers to build a better experience for new folks" is just not gonna happen unless the company feels they have no other choice... and as a rule, that's a consequence of external factors, not internal debate.