Small Is Beautiful

This is way overdue, but I've been catching up lately an blogposts I've been meaning to.... post, and this is one of them. (Others can be found here, here, and here.)

I posted this video a while back with a discussion of the "Sub4Sub" practice. As a measure to prevent this, YouTube will not allow you to post a comment with this string of characters, so I ended up receiving some personal messages. I can only find two right now, but if I can uncover any others, I will of course share them below.




Hey Emily,

Thanks for another great video. In case you're wondering, the reason I'm giving my response via private message instead of through the comments section is because once I got about 360 words (or 2115 characters) into what became this email, I realized that my response was too long-winded to post without coming off like complete windbag (a fate I may yet fall to). So I figured I'd PM my thoughts to you instead. You can include them in the larger public discussion, if you want, because this message really is my equivalent of a video response - which is something I'm not quite ready (if ever) or able to do at the moment.

Yeah, I feel the same way as you. Quality is king... or queen, if you prefer. Sometimes the whole subscription model seems like a pissing contest to see who can make YouTube and its partners the most money. Aside from bragging rights, the whole numbers game is about generating revenue.

However, when it comes to the issue of Quantity vs. Quality on YouTube - and to lesser extent other similar types of sites - I kind of feel the inverse of what you're saying. Let me explain....

I'm a subscriber to many YouTube channels. And there are some that pump out new content almost every day (and I'm not talking about VEDA, either), but the overall quality of the content is limited and it doesn't get as good some of my favorite channels, like this one. Not all of the popular and prolific channels are like that. However, generally, a higher level of output tends to (though, not always) equate to a lower level of quality. Then, on top of that (though, again, not always), there's the interaction with the content producers and/or channel Admins themselves. Often times it is, at best, sporadic. These content producers rarely respond to their comments sections, so when a viewer throws in his or her opinion, that person can only hope that some other commentator offers a decent response.

What I'll call, "Author Replies," tend to make for more interesting conversations, and, depending on the author, foster more intelligent responses from their viewership. With some of the more popular channels, this level and quality of dialogue just isn't possible. And that's assuming that at least some of these "authors" even read any of their comments at all. The words of "superfluousness321" seems to echo this experience. To quote:

--start-quote-
"I am a nameless, faceless viewer. There is alot to view. Occassionally I throw a comment down the wires, but my use of this media is primarily one way."
--end-quote-

I'm not blaming the popular content creators, because they themselves are limited by the burden of their own success. They probably do it for a living and are constantly producing SOMETHING... ANYTHING. Not to mention having to actually READ the comments (okay, last time I use all caps, I promise). Have you ever read through the comments sections of some the more popular authors? This is a rhetorical question, though I would like to hear any thoughts you might have on it. Speaking for myself, I have done this. Not all the time, but every now and then. It's usually tedious as hell, especially when people start sharing the same idea or the same now-deader-than-disco joke over and over and over again. It must make the content producers that have to slog through this shit on a daily basis scream out to the vlogoverse: "People, please! For the love of all that is good, read some of the previous posts before sharing your 'unique and original insights'!" I mean, yeah, a person could probably better spend their time doing something other than going through pages of user comments, but if a would-be poster cares enough to produce a response, I believe that that person should at least read *some* of the things other people have said to see if maybe someone else might have had the same thought or made the same points already.

Anyway, pardon my rant, but your video brought to mind a few things that I've been somewhat overdue on expressing in writing. I might yet write an essay of some sort on this topic to get it out of my system, but for now there's just this email, so forgive me.

After seeing CodedLockFilms comments, I'm inclined to agree with, um, hir, as well. I too think the whole Viewer Count issue comes down to a fundamental flaw in the way YouTube is set up. CodedLockFilms nailed it: "it should about connections, not numbers." YouTube needs to be more like a social networking site that fosters more meaningful connections between the producers and consumers in the YouTube ecosystem. Out of all the socially oriented sites I use, I find myself spending an increasing amount of time "interacting" with people on YouTube than elsewhere. And that's because it engenders community through common interest (i.e. viewership). Other traditional social networking sites, like Facebook, feel much more insular as natural result of the way they were designed. On Facebook I only interact with people I know who also know (or knew) me, but on YouTube I've had great discussions with people who were previously total strangers.

In some ways, YouTube is stuck in the network TV mentality of drawing in large, primarily passive, viewers, but its the ability to connect, interact, and contribute that separates the quality of my YouTube viewing experience versus what I get from my TV or movie viewing experience.

If you made this far, I thank you for your time, and, once again, for another thought-provoking video.

-TheAnonymousUs3r


YT won't let me comment on Small is Beautiful
That's why you get the comment as a message:

Bookbinding: I loved it! I had a class in school, and we wrote stories and created our own books. I still have mine smewhere.
I've seen sub4sub logos on different youtube channels. I had no idea that there were facebook groups as well. I rather read comments & have a decent discussion in the comments or per video response. than no comments at all. I do weird stuff sometimes, only because I want others to participate in it, that's why I created Clive's Angels.

[Dome / hubertcumberdale2008]

Other Channels Box

A few months ago, YouTube gave everyone the previously partners-only feature of the "Other Channels" Box. I really liked this feature as a way to shout out some of one's favorite youtubers, and we were all really excited and implemented this feature right away.

It seems that this new feature was not entirely a boon, however. When you click the subscribe button on someone's channel who has this feature implemented, a secondary screen with usernames, check boxes, and an additional subscribe button pops up. I know some people who are new to YouTube and don't care to read everything may get flustered and click that second button, accidentally subscribing to some people they didn't intend to.

Accidentally subscribing to a couple extra channels probably won't be a big deal, it might result in some unsubscribing, but it may result in someone getting a chance to actually check out some youtubers he or she may really enjoy. Accidentally subscribing to 12 or more extra channels will probably result in some sort of anger, frustration, or maybe just someone who doesn't watch the videos in their subscription box.

Going on this, there are whole categories of people who don't watch the videos of the people they subscribe to. Some of these are "sub4sub"bers, and I discuss them a bit in my video Small Is Beautiful (YouTube has blocked the use of sub4sub in the comments and a few people PMed me comments for this video, I need to post them here, I'll get on that soon). These people usually remove themselves if you don't choose to subscribe back (and sometimes they don't even make videos, so really....what's the point?). The group that bothers me more is the iSubbers. These are people who subscribe to everyone in the hopes that some of these people will check out their channel and subscribe back. This has actually been a successful plan for some people. I could probably name you some YouTubers in the 6 digit range who did this.

Don't get me wrong here, this isn't a good plan. It's only good if you're spineless and have no integrity.

Oh, my point. So these iSubbers used to just go through and subscribe to everyone, I'm not quite sure how. Comments? Subscribers of other YouTubers with their subscribers shown? Some alphabetical list somewhere?

But now we've made subscribing to the masses really easy for them. It takes far less clicking, and now a far greater number of YouTubers with subscribers in the three digit range have an actual audience far smaller than their subscriber count. What's the point of subscribing if you don't ever want to watch?

I like when people have a smaller amount of people in their box, because, besides all of the negatives that I've mentioned thus far, I think it places more emphasis on the people named. I'm going to be decreasing the amount of people in my box, probably by the time you see this. Honestly, if I included all the guys on youtube that I love, it'd be at least 4 people longer. I mean, I didn't even include my YouTube crush(es) !:) (or did I? Ha. Whatever)

Also, there seems to be some drama inherent in the whole box thing, as ckXcore refers to it, MySpace Top-8-esque. If I'm NOT including some people that I love the most, I feel that no one can get upset. Right?

So, I'm not saying that however you do whatever you do is wrong, I'm just saying that I'm making some changes and I probably won't mention it in a video because I tend not to talk about my channel on my channel. It's how I do, not right or wrong, it is what it is.

Some people might stay in for longer, and there is reason for that.

You want a screen cap of my box before I changed it? Here ya go.

Triple Digit Club Tour

This means I have to virtually give away my banana cookie secrets.


In which Emily gives you a tour of her house.

I think that some people are subscribed to me twice, if that is possible. They show up on my sub list twice, and when I type out all the names, if I don't include them two times, the numbers don't match. And then some other people who subscribe to me, their subscription box is filled with "We sub4sub!" Which I don't do.... I guess this is the equivilant of all the porn/business bots following me on twitter?

50 Beardos

In which Emily talks beards, subscribers, and gratitudes, which isn't even a real word.

camdogie:
http://www.youtube.com/camdogie

Whiskerino:
http://www.whiskerino.org

Sir Squire:
http://whiskerino.org/2009/beards/sir...
Ryan!
http://whiskerino.org/2009/beards/ryan/