Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy
by _jal on Friday October 27, 2023 @12:17PM
(#38040480)
> They went with the stupid title and thumbnail because "the algorithm demands it"
The end result is I don't use their discovery crap at all, because it all looks like garbage I don't care about.
My use of Youtube has become very similar to my use of Xitter - never log in, almost never look at content on their domains, only on other peoples' sites.
I'm sure it works for them on average.
Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy
by bee_rider on Friday October 27, 2023 @12:40PM
(#38040729)
I do not understand the gobsmacked face thing. It has been going on for years. There’s no way Google doesn’t know about it. I guess we should assume they… want it that way?
Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy
by xethos on Friday October 27, 2023 @01:18PM
(#38041208)
Why would elgooG give a gosh-darn about the amazed facial expression of some of their most popular creators? I assume they care about their metrics, and this drives engagement, especially with younger viewers. And because younger viewers have the most time, that in turn drives hours of YouTube watched, ads viewed, and on and on.
We can assume the metrics, we can see the results, and both seem to line up.
Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy
by tiznow on Friday October 27, 2023 @01:25PM
(#38041306)
Thumbnails with the creator's face are proven to attract more views. The stupid expression seems to enhance that effect.
Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy
by PH95VuimJjqBqy on Friday October 27, 2023 @12:46PM
(#38040804)
I have a tendency to ignore anything with strong wording as I know I can't trust the intentions of the author.
When you DO click on them they're almost always the most mundane things imaginable.
Re:The Slow Death of Authenticity in an Attention Economy
by adventurer on Friday October 27, 2023 @01:07PM
(#38041070)
The Mr. Beast thumbnail O face because everything you post has to be something you HAVE to click on.
A number of times now Youtube has shown me a video recommendation that I ignored for days. The thumbnail with that stupid "gobsmacked" expression of the creator (:-O) with some dumb headline in big block letters ("IS GRAVITY A LIE?"). You know what I'm talking about.
Then I finally get around to looking at it closer, and it turns out it's one of my favorite channels with an awesome video! They went with the stupid title and thumbnail because "the algorithm demands it". The actual video itself is great.
These creators get an automatic click from me as well, except when I'm mislead by the thumnail and title into not even realizing it's one of them. Then it takes time for me to discover it. There's been a couple of times where the video I'm mentally spam-filtering appears on the HN front page, and it turns out to be a great video. But had I not seen it here, I would never have clicked on it.