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Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

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Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#111

Post by dzek69 »

omega3 wrote: post #11

Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. Nowadays I start with a forum/reddit/discord/hn search for a list of hive approved creators and only then go to youtube with that list in hand. Starting the search in youtube (unless for a very niche/non-marketabl…

> Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot.

It drives me CRAZY!

How often I want to know something about a product (something less popular than smartphones, let's say IP cameras) and I find only ~3 reviews, I watch them all and they are all full of BS, because the reviewer has no experience with the product type they are given, they just follow the manual/or some given instructions by the sponsor how to make the product work. So I still know nothing about the product, its pros and cons and I can spot mistakes and BS even in those basic info that was given. In this specific case of IP cameras for example there are TONS of videos NOT showing the real video feed (recordings) from the camera, they just record the smartphone screen with another smartphone/camera and that's it.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#112

Post by codingdave »

adrianN wrote: post #44

The whole Internet hat peaked due to monetization. Very little content is created because somebody is passionate about something and wants to share. Almost all content is created to either directly make money or to collect enough followers to eventually start making money. Everything is fake and optimized to grab attention. What organic content remains is drowned out by the firehose of monetized content.

Everyone saying the Internet is money-driven is correct, but this is not unique to the Internet. It is also true for TV and movies. And for magazines and other publications. And radio.

There are exceptions in every type of media where some people are still putting out content for reasons other than money. The key difference to the Internet is that the cost of content creation remains low. That isn't true of TV, Movies, or radio.

So rather than just saying "It has peaked", I encourage people to take action - put out good content, stop looking at bad content, and stop making the first question when people create something online, "How are you going to monetize this?"

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#113

Post by AndyJames »

grumbel wrote: post #100
omega3 wrote: post #11

Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. Nowadays I start with a forum/reddit/discord/hn search for a list of hive approved creators and only then go to youtube with that list in hand. Starting the search in youtube (unless for a very niche/non-marketabl…

Did that dislike button ever do anything? It made a number go up, but other than that I have never seen any effect of it. If you want to make bad channels go away, hit the three-dots next to the video on the recommendation side and click "Not Interested".

It helped a lot with how to/tutorial videos. When looking for a solution I could see at first glance if I'm watching correct video. If there was more dislikes than likes I could tell straight away to not follow this suggestions.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#114

Post by Volrath89 »

adrianN wrote: post #44

The whole Internet hat peaked due to monetization. Very little content is created because somebody is passionate about something and wants to share. Almost all content is created to either directly make money or to collect enough followers to eventually start making money. Everything is fake and optimized to grab attention. What organic content remains is drowned out by the firehose of monetized content.

That's why many people have migrated to discord communities or private forums. For me they are the only "places" left to find some human discussion that is not directly trying to sell you something

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#115

Post by spacemanmatt »

scoot wrote: post #103
abnercoimbre wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Especially since the removal of downvoting A wake-up call that a single company annihilated our ability to sort out information for ourselves. I'm still rather disturbed and shaken.

"Shaken"? That seems a bit hyperbolic.

Let people be authoritative on their own condition

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#116

Post by junon »

martin_a wrote: post #86
abnercoimbre wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Especially since the removal of downvoting A wake-up call that a single company annihilated our ability to sort out information for ourselves. I'm still rather disturbed and shaken.

> to sort out information for ourselves. How can you sort something you know nothing about? Downvotes, and their ratio to upvotes, were an important signal to get an idea of how good the video overall was.

That's their point.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#117

Post by paulus_magnus2 »

omega3 wrote: post #11

Especially since the removal of downvoting it's hard to get to good quality material. Majority of tech videos are a case of blind leading the blind and unless you know the subject already it's hard to spot. Nowadays I start with a forum/reddit/discord/hn search for a list of hive approved creators and only then go to youtube with that list in hand. Starting the search in youtube (unless for a very niche/non-marketabl…

Opportunity for a browser plugin counting upvotes / downvotes / other useful flags

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#118

Post by chrisseaton »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #48
chrisseaton wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Heads add no value to a technical video Body language. Expression.

None of them is required for this, it just steals valuable time from the actual content. For example when trying to find physical hardware reviews (basically the only reason I can think of where a video can be more preferable to something written). And yet it is incredible how many reviewers think you'll be happy to stare at their faces for the majority of the "review"; practically all this runtime is them advertisin…

I guess not everyone communicates like you do.

Re: Ask HN: Has YouTube peaked?

#119

Post by GuB-42 »

Yep, it is monetization driven, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. Making quality content costs money, and people have to get it back somehow.

Anyways, I think YouTube has peaked, or at least plateaued. One simple reason is that it has saturated its market. It can no longer expand without targeting other markets, like it did recently with "Shorts", which is an obvious attempt by Google to get into TikTok market. Previously, it tried attacking Netflix with YouTube Originals, without much success.

BTW, TikTok seem to still be in the organic / passion driven phase. It may not be what you are looking for, or you may not like "the algorithm" or the fact it is Chinese, but it is much closer in spirit to the early YouTube, with small time creators and regular people who just want to put videos on the internet.

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