So some of you may have noticed that there's
a problem with YouTube today.
And I'm not just talking about
"Oh, YouTube should listen to its creators more.."
"Oh, they should do this or that differently..."
I am talking about a fundamental problem
with the website itself.
And this isn't just about me.
I'm not making this video because I think that I'M being unfairly treated
in any way, shape, or form.
If anything, I am in a really good position
but this is affecting a lot of people
and I think the reason for it needs to be brought into light.
Now, if you are paying attention to YouTube,
you probably noticed that last week
last Tuesday on October 16, the website went down.
Worldwide for 2 hours, it went down.
Which has never really happened in YouTube before..
and a lot of people wanted to know "why?"
But I have a sneaking suspicion that I know EXACTLY why..
and it all comes down to 1 culprit.
Google+.
And I'm not just using Google+ as a "scapegoat"
and it's easy to do that because it's a terrible thing
that was forced on.. ALL of YouTube
for no particular reason other than "Google wanted to."
To give you a little history on Google+
and why it's so deeply ingrained in Youtube..
you have to go back to 2014 when Google decided
that it was going to be manditory
for creators on YouTube to GET a Google+ account.
You had to tie your YouTube channel INTO Google+
no matter what.
It didn't matter if the service was good, or that they cared about natural growth.
They wanted to force it down people's throats
so that they could have a Facebook competator.
Now, this isn't about the morals or Google+ being integrated into YouTube
That's not what this video is about
and frankly, I'm not the best to even argue about that.
I'm telling you this to emphasize
how deep this really went.
To see how much of YouTube
had Google+ embedded inside of it.
It came down to every single programmer being
incentivized to integrate Google+ as much as they could.
They had BONUSES implemented into Google+
so that programmers would be rewarded the more
they were able to force it into YouTube's code.
And.. with that in mind, that leads into TODAY.
Because, before the crash on YouTube
on October 8, I believe,
it was announced that Google+ was shutting down completely
because of some embarrassing privacy leaks.
Google didn't want to be exposed to irregulations, so
they shut it down completely to try to avoid any fanfare about it.
And in doing so, they have fundamentally crippled YouTube.
So, Google+ isn't dead YET, but it has started the process of shutting down.
As they are shutting down Google+,
it is breaking more and more thing inside of YouTube.
And these things are still broken, and they're getting worse
Now, now, it's almost a meme at this point
that people are like "My videos aren't going out to sub-boxes!"
But now, it's actually a problem.
Across the board, a lot of YouTubers are seeing a 30 to 40% dip
in the number of initial viewers and prolonged viewers,
suggested videos aren't working properly,
people aren't getting their notifications properly.
There's a lot of different recipes that are causing problems.
It's not enough that it's completely broken
but it's enough to create a noticeable difference
and an impact on the bottom line of a lot of YouTuber's.
Just to show you how deep this actually goes
if I go into my channel here
This is- This is basically my channel
The back-end of my Creator Studio where I manage all videos
There are certain pages in here that just don't actually work.
If I click on these pages in here
some of them take up to a minute to load
*NO!*
Some don't load at all... They just break
And I've told them about this, and they still haven't gotten back to me
And I think the reason is...
is because they don't know how to fix it.
And I think that's the main problem with YouTube right now
The problem is so big
because Google+ was so deeply integrated into YouTube
They have no idea how to separate it out at this point
So here's my guess in what happened...
They pushed a code change on Tuesday
that caused all of YouTube to crash.
They reverted the change
And now they're trying to analyze exactly what happened
And because it's so big
they're gonna be very slow about it
And the worst thing about it
is that this wouldn't be nearly as big a problem
If YouTube actually communicated that there was a problem
You can't just pretend that there's nothing wrong on the platform
For people like me,
those who are high up on the platform
I don't really have a problem with it because I can weather these issues month to month
But there's a lot of creators out there
That can't...
That really rely on this on a day to day basis
And as much as this is a fun job to have-
As much as it's cool to entertain people
There are people that now, like, rely on this.
Rely on the consistency of it.
The sad truth is that we are called partners with YouTube, but we are not partners.
We're less than employes
YouTube doesn't actually care about it's creators-
And I'm not saying that in a very... like-
"Ah. The worlds ended. YouTube doesn't are about us"
They legitimately don't...
Because they can't
Or at least they don't have the the system in place to do so
They can want it...
They can hope for it...
But until they put the system in place that actually gives benefits towards its creators,
nothing's gonna change
People are still gonna suffer
There's still gonna be this negative attitude towards YouTube
because they rely on code and algorithm
As opposed to real people, interacting with the real people who are making content on this platform
And until they treat the humans that are making the content with humans that are supporting the content
It'll never work
I might be wrong about the specific reason,
but that doesn't change the fact that there is a problem with Youtube.
And it doesn't change the fact that
Youtube won't tell us that there is a problem
If Youtube is going to be a place where creators can thrive,
and people can whatever content they want,
then you got to start treating us like people,
all of us.
If we really matter... show us that we matter.
and even for someone like me,
who gets preferential treatment on these things,
i'm still kept in the dark about it.
I have to tell them about the problems with their own platform, that they refuse to respond to me about.
and if they treat me this way,
what do they do to people who have less subsribers than me?
It's not ok.
It's really, honestly, truly ,not ok.
They've shoved Google+ down the throats of everybody on this platform,
and now people are suffering from it, because they don't see this platform
as a place for creativity to thrive, they see it as a tool to push their agenda.
and that's fine, they own it, it's their right, but we helped build it.
so anyway, let me know down in the comments if you've seen other issues with the platform,
if you've seen other issues on YouTube. Try to keep it not so much about the morals of it,
and try to keep it down to the technical issues that are happening right now.
We've got technical problems, that need technical answers.
communication is an issue, and hopefully that'll get fixed soon.
But for right now, let's try to fix the problem.
So, thank you everybody for watching, and as alyways see you in the next one. buh-bye.