How I Use Youtube Now
A First Step in Using the Internet Better
I’ve been trying to reshape the internet.
That sounds really ridiculous. It sounds like I’m Neo flying about the Matrix trying to liberate people. No no. What I’m doing is not nearly as grandiose.
What I mean to say is that I’m trying to reshape what I see when I open my web browser. Perhaps a better way to say this is…
I’ve been reshaping my internet.
My wife once said something about surfing the internet, and I joked that no one surfs the internet any more because there’s only like 5 sites that anyone goes to on a day to day basis. And half of them are owned by google. Almost all of them are selling you something.
The joke was not “ha-ha” funny.
It was more “We had years of freedom and all we produced was the cuckoo clock” funny.
There’s been lots written on how the internet has been sectioned off into “silos”. Insulated platforms that are built around keeping you locked in. Whether that’s as a viewer, infinitely scrolling your favorite social media app, or as a creator streaming games on Twitch, you’re incentivized to stay “locked in” because this is where the biggest audience is, this is where the best ad revenue payouts are, this is where you can find your audience and your audience can find you.
But it’s not exactly like that is it?
I mean it was, for a spell - but discoverability is a bizarre mistress now. You have to read the algorithmic tea leaves, and divine what trend will play well. Don’t make video too long. Make two thumbnails and change both the thumbnail and title a few hours after posting to get a viewer bump from your audience who thought they were clicking on a new video.
There are all kinds of weird quirks to playing the algorithm to get viewers, and so many people who play those games, often post empty, pithy videos that add nothing of substance to most likely a topic of little substance as it is.
The site I probably time-sink the most is Youtube. And a couple years ago I really, really tried to see if I could retrain it to give me more videos that mattered, and get less of the ragebait, clickbait emptiness that flows from its servers 24 hours a day.
I wanted less distractions and more value. More enrichment.
CAST OUT YOUR DEVILS
So Youtube gives us two tools to shape our feed. Both are not visible at a glance.
1. “Not interested.”
2. Don’t recommend channel
I’ll be honest, “Not interested” is mostly not worth it. Like say you keep getting recommended a video in your home feed that you’ve already seen. Like you just watched the damn thing. Sure you can click “Not Interested” and it’ll take you to another option “Tell Us Why” and you can take more time out of your day explaining to Youtube that you’ve already watched it. Or that you didn’t like it.
Using Not Interested is kind of like pulling weeds by hand instead of using Round Up. And in this case, we’re not worried about the environment. Youtube is a nuclear wasteland as it is, we have to clear away the mess to find the good.
No no, I focus on the real devils of Youtube. The clickbaiters. The time-wasters. The folks who make videos that just make you feel anger with nowhere to put it.
The first ones to go were American News channels. MSNBC. FOX. CNN. I generally don’t watch news, I read it, so these are worth less than nothing to me. Out they go.
Then went the podcasters. You know the ones. They just get in a studio and fart around until something funny happens. Or doesn’t happen. But maybe they’ll tell one good story and clip it. They need you to know their opinion about everything and are quick to comment on a trend. I’m sorry I just don’t have the time for this anymore.
To be clear, I don’t have a problem with podcasting. I mean, I have a podcast. But I do think a lot about what we communicate and how, and there is something about low-effort podcasting(no matter how nice the studios or sponsors) that doesn’t sit well with me.
After this I realized a new creature had it’s claws in me. The Short. Quick hits of disposable dopamine hits that quickly ensnare my attention and make it difficult to get away.
I remember being very happy when I discovered a button to tell the platform not to recommend Youtube Shorts.
This button has gone through some changes over the last year. It used to remove Shorts from your home page for 30 days. Now it just says “Show fewer shorts.” Whatever that means. It’s just vague enough that you realize how little control you have in the matter.
After a while, this was helpful. I stopped seeing videos about shit I didn’t care about. And I started to see… videos about stuff that I watched like one time and now Youtube thinks I need to see the creator’s whole oeuvre. You know what I mean.
That’s when I realized the Home page was trash. It could not be fixed.
The true answer had been there the whole time. Right in front of us.
LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE, THEY SAID
I watched a Youtuber the other day, whose videos routinely amass over a million views, confess that only 3% of their views come from people who discovered the video in the Subscriptions Feed.
3%.
And many creators before that have lamented that their subscriber base is no longer getting recommended their videos on the home page. Another creator I know says their number is about 9%. Yikes.
From the beginning we were told by every creator with a channel to LIKE. AND SUBSCRIBE. (And then “click the little bell icon” you know the spiel). We were told this because this would ensure the creator would get views, and the views would help the creator get pushed out to more people and potentially even that sweet sweet ad-revenue.
But then things changed and creators started to see dips in their viewership and the algorithm was blamed. It wasn’t prioritizing subscriptions, it was prioritizing whatever you were into - right now.
Did you watch Mitski’s Washing Machine Heart 5 or 6 times yesterday because it’s a good song but painfully short? That video now sits at the top of your feed forever, waiting for you to give in and listen to it again. And again. And again. Even though you don’t even subscribe to her channel. Even though you’d probably like to listen to something else right about now.
You could tell it you’re not interested because you’ve already seen the video, but what if it never comes up again and you forget that song existed like you forgot about that one song from the Drive soundtrack… no not that one. The other one. The other other one. Yeah the third most popular song from that sound track. It’s a good song, but easy to forget.
Anyway.
The system seems a bit broken, and it tends to favor the kind of content that I’d refer to as “empty calories.” so what the hell do we do now?
Oh yeah.
The subscriptions page.
It’s literally a page in Youtube that is just the shit you subscribe to in chronological order.
And when I open up a new tab, I’ve made sure the Youtube link goes to that page instead of the Home page. I avoid the Youtube home page most of the time now.
This is a really simple solution, that I’m sure seems kind of dumb. Like, of course you could just go to your Subscriptions Page. Why write about it?
Because it’s had a profound effect on my viewing habits.
OH YEAH THAT GUY
For one, I’ve discovered that I subscribe to a LOT of channels. Some have died on the vine years ago. Others have been chugging along this whole time and I didn’t even know. Like Townsends is making really cool cooking videos using recipes from the settler days. I had no idea and I’ve been a subscriber since I watched him make a canoe from a tree SIX YEARS AGO.
It’s a fun channel and I feel like I learn something. I probably haven’t been recommended a video from them in over three years.
But the most interesting aspect of using the Subscriptions Feed is that I don’t feel like scrolling forever looking for something to watch. The creators I subscribe to make things I actually care about. And if I watch a video from them, I feel satiated. I don’t feel like I have to keep scrolling for constant stimulation.
Youtube feels infinite in its content (even though I’d argue that so much of it is really just the same, recycled over and over). But it just keeps feeding you as much as you can eat and more.
My Subscriptions Page feels like I took an infinite resource and turned it into a finite one. Every time I watch a video, I click to “hide” it, so it’s no longer in the feed. Not only does it feel like I’m decluttering, but it feels like I’m in control of what I’m seeing, and don’t feel a need to infinitely explore.
The amount of time I sink into Youtube has greatly decreased, and the time I do spend on it feels more enriching.
DISCOVERY
I brought up all this to my wife, and she asked about how I discover new channels. And honestly, I hadn’t put much thought into it. I felt like I’d “discovered enough.” But she has a good point.
Most of my energy was spent trying to avoid Youtube’s recommendations altogether. In order to avoid the recommendation ribbon on the side, I keep my videos in “theater mode” so it pushes recommendations down. I still get recommendations at the end of a video, so there’s that, but the whole point was to get less youtube - not more.
But discoverability is an issue that I’m interested in. Obviously I’d love for people to discover my own work - and I’d love to discover more creative people that help me see and understand the world a little more.
How do we find anything?
I think what I want is an environment where creatives are more inclined to acknowledge other creators or content that inspire them. Not just responding to stuff that you dislike for clicks.
I think most folks are so desperate for views, that they’re unwilling to talk about other stuff because then it wouldn’t be about them. It’s not because they’re conceited or selfish (well, hopefully not) but because it’s already so hard to get views as it is. And it’s scary to recommend other people or boost someone’s signal, especially if you don’t know them.
There’s a niche area where table top gaming and crafting converge. I often find that creators in this area are more vocal about their inspirations, calling out creators videos that inspired them to make their own. I love that.
I think lots of creators’ are afraid being labeled a “clout chaser”, piggy-backing off of a more popular creator’s content in hopes of being recommended in the algorithm. But why hide our influences and inspirations? Are we really trying to fool people into thinking we’re so smart that everything we create comes from our own genius? Do we fancy ourselves “a prime mover - themselves unmoved?”
My point is, I don’t want Youtube to recommend me new channels anymore.
I want you to recommend me new channels.
I want creators to talk about the people who inspire them.
I want us to take over the reins.
Changing how I use Youtube was the first step in trying to approach the internet with more intention. We can’t rely on the platforms to save the creative from oblivion or become homogenized click bait machines. And I don’t know if we can either - but I like our odds more than if we just leave it to the algorithm.
Inspirations and Further Reading
Here’s a list of links and ideas from other people that have inspired me to put more effort and intention in how I use the internet, and how I’m making my own space on the internet.
Maggie Appleton : A Brief History of the Digital Garden
Maggie Appleton : The Dark Forest and Generative AI
Fred Rocha: Small (web) is beautiful
Tracy Durnell: The open web as gift economy
ProZD: the future of this channel is uncertain
ProZD: youtube emailed me directly about my search-banned video
Bill Making Stuff: Big Bot Bash 2 Playlist (This is a collaboration project among crafters)
STAY OUT OF DEPTH
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Thanks