- If you make anything for any online platform,
and even if you don't,
you've likely heard of this all-powerful entity
known as the algorithm.
The bane of many creator's existence,
the algorithm has the power to literally make
or break whatever you're trying to build.
Or does it?
So please don't get the wrong impression.
I'm not trying to become the next YouTube guru.
I'm just trying to combat a trend that I've noticed lately,
and it's a trend that I think
is doing a lot more harm than good.
Go to YouTube and search for YouTube algorithm.
You'll be bombarded with video after video
trying to explain the secrets, hacks,
and inner workings of this mysterious beast.
And it's constantly changing, so there's a new wave
of these videos like every three months.
And I mean, honestly, who doesn't wanna grow their audience?
I definitely do.
Making things in and of itself is rewarding.
But honestly, it kinda sucks
when you work really hard on something,
and you put it out there, and nobody sees it.
Algorithms aren't inherently evil,
and every platform has its own algorithm.
But for the sake of clarity in this video,
I'm talking specifically about the YouTube algorithm,
since YouTube is my main platform,
and making and sharing videos
is the thing that I like to do the most.
And the YouTube algorithm has one really simple
and really specific goal,
and that's to keep you watching YouTube.
Out of the nearly 500 hours of content
that's uploaded every single minute of every single day,
the algorithm tries to find the stuff
that it thinks you're most likely
to click on to keep you on the platform.
And don't get me wrong,
I've seen firsthand how the algorithm giveth
and the algorithm taketh away.
The most popular video on my channel right now
is an Apple Watch comparison
where in the first week that I made the video,
it was getting more than 10,000 views per day,
which, for me, is huge.
And then suddenly, literally overnight,
it dropped from getting 10,000 views a day
to barely a couple hundred views a day,
and then just kind of dropped lower and lower than that.
Now when it comes to tech videos like that,
it's natural that interest would wane over time
as the tech becomes older
and fewer people are searching for it.
But this was not a natural decrease in interest.
This was a clear example of the algorithm
picking up a video, promoting it,
and then suddenly dumping it
likely in favor for another video.
Yes, there are certain things like thumbnails, titles,
and tags that can help your video be found.
But there's no real reliable way
to hack the algorithm and get views.
If there were, everybody would have a million views.
But there's not, and that's why we don't.
The algorithm is essentially a machine
that was designed to think like people.
So in trying to hack the algorithm,
we become people who are trying to think like a machine
that was built to think like people.
And that's kinda crazy.
Now the second most popular video on my channel
is a Procreate tutorial for the iPad.
And I made this video,
and in the first six months after I made it,
it literally just sat there and barely got over 100 views.
And then one day I decided to change the thumbnail.
I didn't change anything else.
I just switched out the original thumbnail
for one that was a little prettier
and like a little more interesting.
And then literally, it just took off,
and the video quickly jumped to 20,000 views, 25,000.
It's over 30,000 views now, and keeps growing,
usually getting 200 to 300 views per day.
And I didn't change anything else
other than the thumbnail image.
So the algorithm probably didn't know that one image
was prettier than the other image.
What it probably did notice
was that when that video was popping up
in search results after I made the change,
more people were clicking on it because it looked nicer.
And then it started showing it to more and more people
who had viewing habits who were similar
to the people that were clicking on the video.
And because it had a nicer, more interesting thumbnail,
more people clicked on it,
and it kept growing, and growing, and growing.
But there was no inherent good or bad there.
It was just I did something that people liked.
The algorithm noticed more people seemed to like that,
and so it gave them something
that they were reacting positively to.
Pretty much everyone I know who has a YouTube channel,
and who's had at least one video take off
in one way or another says pretty much the same thing,
which is the videos that you work
really hard on get no interest,
and the ones that you just throw together really,
really quickly get really, really popular.
That Procreate video I mentioned
was made in under 90 minutes
as part of a 30-day upload challenge
I was doing at the time.
And that Apple Watch video,
which is currently the most popular video on my channel,
I didn't even intend to make it.
I was actually in the middle
of recording a totally different video
when my watch got delivered,
and I just thought it'd be fun to compare the speed
between the new watch and the old watch.
So from the time I had the idea to make that video
to the time that it was uploaded and available on YouTube
was literally less than two hours. (chuckles)
Now this doesn't mean that you
shouldn't put effort into your work.
Both of the videos that I mentioned,
even though they were made quickly,
were still pretty well-made.
At least in my opinion, I tried really hard on them.
But the main takeaway is that those videos
are very, very human.
I wasn't trying to predict what an algorithm would want.
I wasn't obsessing over trends and analytics.
I wasn't trying to think like a machine.
I was just making something
that I thought would be interesting,
and then putting it together in a way where if I saw it,
I would wanna click on it.
And that's really the key.
So here's my proposition to any creators
who may be struggling against the algorithm.
Don't.
Don't try and think like a machine
that's trying to think like you.
Just be you, and make what you want, and then share it.
And for me, this idea is the best possible solution
to the algorithm issue,
because one, it gives credit to all the really smart people
who made the algorithm in the first place.
It's a really advanced piece of artificial intelligence
that was put together by people who are are really smart
and really good at what they do.
And so by not trying to hack it,
and by just using it like a human,
you're letting it do what it was designed to do.
And number two, this idea takes the burden off
of the people who make stuff.
And it lets us just make what we want, and that's it.
And finally, number three,
this idea assumes the best in all parties involved.
And I know that might be a little naive,
but at the end of the day,
I prefer to assume the best in others rather than the worst.
And so approaching the algorithm this way
assumes that the people who made it
didn't intend to create something evil.
They just wanted to make a thing
that's gonna help build their platform,
and that the people who see success through that
can be people who just make stuff that they're interested,
and share it, because they're interested in it,
and they think it's neat.
So what I hope you take away from this video, I guess,
is confidence, or at least a bit of confidence.
And that's the confidence to make what you want,
and make it the way that you want, and then share it,
and then move on and make the next thing.
So go ahead and change the thumbnails when you need to,
and have good keywords,
and write an interesting description,
but just don't go overboard.
Just make the thing, share the thing,
and move on to making the next thing.
(upbeat chiptune music)