So this evening I'm browsing Twitter and I see somebody complaining to Team YouTube, a pretty typical complaint.
"Why aren't the videos in my subscription feed chronological order anymore?"
This is the kind of thing you see all the time, people complaining that the sub feed is broken.
But, this time, Team YouTube actually answered and here's what they said: "Just to clarify,
we are currently experimenting with how to show content in the subs
feed.
We find that some viewers are able to more easily find the videos
they want to watch when we order the sub feeds in a personalized order
versus always showing most recent videos first."
They're finally doing it, you guys! They're finally taking the sub feed! :D
It was the last thing we had, the last sacred piece of YouTube left that wasn't 'optimized'.
They've changed notifications, there's now three tiers of notifications.
Now the notification bell has "Notify me sometimes."
Whatever happened to ringing that bell, dude?
Notifications, sometimes? Isn't that what subscribing is?
If somebody smashes that bell, you better damn well show them my video!
But no, not anymore. A bell smash isn't enough!
A subscription isn't enough anymore.
Why is YouTube obsessed with making it harder and harder for subscribers to get your content?
And now, being subscribed on the sub feed, which was the one sacred place
you could find the content you're subscribed to in chronological order, is now being "optimized".
I'll tell you what "optimized" means, it means YouTube finally now has full control
over what content you see. It means that people who are subscribed to you
notified to you can actually
not have access to your content if YouTube decides that it's not what they want you to see.
Now YouTube can make your channel completely invisible even to your own subscribers.
Ah!
It's a brave new world.
Think about it. The sub feed was the last place where users have control of what content they want to see.
The homepage?
Completely up to YouTube. Nobody knows how it works.
The sidebar and Recommended?
Completely up to YouTube. Nobody knows how it works.
The sub feed was the one place users knew what to expect, but now YouTube has taken control of that as well.
I say YouTube, stop wasting everybody's time,
remove the subscription button altogether, and just show us the content you want us to watch.
I had pretty much stopped making videos
complaining about YouTube and I had to come out of retirement.
Because I feel that this is so important that if they actually go through with this, this is the death of YouTube.
This is them going the way of Facebook. YouTube is so obsessed with watch time,
they actually don't care what the content is or who's watching it. The content is on the way to becoming so homogeneous,
so regulated, so predictable that the watch time - yes, it might go up on the short-term, but I guarantee
now that people can't even get content that they're subscribed to? After a year, maybe a couple months, people are gonna start thinking
"Hey, you know what? I don't like being here. This is depressing."
"I'm getting a BuzzFeed and all this shit I don't care about that just appeals to the broadest audience." And you feel
like when you're on Facebook you feel that there's a cold
algorithm just clocking numbers and trying to figure out how to keep you on that page as long as you can.
There's no soul. So in the long run, YouTube,
yes, your watch time might go up,
but your soul is gone and people are gonna feel it. YouTube, I cannot watch anymore $1 vs. $100 videos.
I can't do it. There's a limit. This is huge. This is a very important turning point.
Because if they take the sub feed, then there's truly nothing sacred left.
And at that point just get rid of the sub button altogether. Let's just be honest with each other.
So YouTube, I'm looking forward to:
Seeing a bunch of BuzzFeed videos. Seeing a bunch of Dude Perfect. Maybe a couple of uh, bin bin bibbin' with Babish.
Those are clean, you know, a little cooking.
Just don't swear. Make sure it's good money for the advertisers. No swearing.
Did you drop an f-bomb? Get rid of his sub button.
Oh, I'm sorry. Was that a f-bomb? get rid of his sub button!
Send him over to Bibbin with Babish. He'll take of ya.
No offense to Bibbin, but...
Don't touch the sub feed. We have let you get away with all this shit, YouTube.
You've stolen the subscription button.
You've stolen the notification button. The bell that people smash!
Now what they've smashed for nothing? I ask you, they've smashed for nothing?
Don't touch the sub feed, YouTube, or this is the end.
Not a threat, just being dramatic.
But, the threat to you is yourself, YouTube.
Dude, I'm not gonna be able to sub4sub anymore.
Pray for the sub feed. I know I will be. Thank you for watching.