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I hate those titels, too, but let's be honest: They're a necessary sharade. If you want to earn any money from YouTube or even just get views, you need to pleas

I hate those titels, too, but let's be honest: They're a necessary sharade. If you want to earn any money from YouTube or even just get views, you need to please the algorithm. Sure, you can work without them, but it's like driving with the handbrake pulled. The content of the videos is what matters. The advertising is annoying, but necessary.

charcircuit 4y ago
>you need to please the algorithm Don't blame the algorithm. Blame people themselves. It's not YouTube's fault that people find those kinds of titles more interesting.
- strbean 4y ago
  Google put huge amounts of effort into punishing the search rankings of sites that attempted to manipulate their ranking in shady ways. YouTube could put in some amount of effort towards the same end. Of course, that would probably reduce engagement...
  - amanaplanacanal 4y ago
    > Google put huge amounts of effort into punishing the search rankings of sites that attempted to manipulate their ranking in shady ways. From the search results I get, it appears that they abandoned that effort long ago.
  - hiptobecubic 4y ago
    "Making people want to click the video" is not shady in the same sense as SEO. A comparable trick might be jamming a bunch of keywords into the description. Your real complaint is that people like stupid videos, but that's not YouTube's problem or fault.
    - couchand 4y ago
      The concern with SEO is that the goal is to drive traffic to a site without meaningfully improving the content. Doesn't the same argument apply here? If the video doesn't change, and it's just the title and thumbnail changing in an effort to get more clicks, how is that materially different from SEO?
      - hiptobecubic 4y ago
        Because it's the viewer deciding to choose the video, not some algorithm deciding what they get to choose from.
tambourine_man 4y ago
I think we can aspire to better than that. I do at least.
- hiptobecubic 4y ago
  People click those titles and don't click other titles. No one cares that's it's not sufficiently uppity to satisfy the intellectual elite.
  - couchand 4y ago
    Evidently, at least two people care.
  - phs318u 4y ago
    Really? Titles that are factually reflective of content are “uppity”, and not liking obviously intentional click-bait titles makes you “intellectual elite”? Wow. Welcome to the idiocracy.
    - hiptobecubic 4y ago
      Don't shoot the messenger
- revscat 4y ago
  Alternatively, you could accept what is at root a rather small thing, and adjust you own reaction. That’s what I did when those kind of titles started to become common.
  - tambourine_man 4y ago
    I deal with it, of course. I'm a heavy Youtube user. The net result is positive. But it's extremely distasteful and I'm not willing to lower my standards because of this stupidity.
    - phs318u 4y ago
LordDragonfang 4y ago
Derek of Veritaseum made a video laying out why "clickbait-y" titles like that are necessary, and I feel like it makes a pretty good case. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2xHZPH5Sng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2xHZPH5Sng The tl;dw is that the most effective titles come right up against the edge of what an average target audience member would consider unacceptable on the axes of withheld information (to create a curiosity gap) and misleading sensationalism (to maximise the perceived importance of the topic); and you have to play the game of having effective titles because otherwise no one clicks on your video and it stops being recommended to people who would find it valuable.
- fergal_reid 4y ago
  I felt that this change reduced the quality of Veritasium, for me. I know it's just the titles, but it feels more bait and switch. I understand why he did it, but wish he didn't. If I was a leader at YouTube I'd be pretty concerned about this - long term, it drives your platform in the direction of clickbait. Yeah there's benefits to that, but could also turn into a competitive weakness for YouTube. I think they should improve the recommender to make this unnecessary.
- tambourine_man 4y ago
  I saw that video. I don't need an explanation of why it's being done, it's pretty obvious and it works. What I'm saying is that we can do better than 50 year olds making child-like expressions with clickbaity titles.
- drdeca 4y ago
  When he did this is basically when I decided to no longer watch his videos, and I don't regret this decision.

charcircuit 4y ago

>you need to please the algorithm Don't blame the algorithm. Blame people themselves. It's not YouTube's fault that people find those kinds of titles more interesting.

strbean 4y ago
Google put huge amounts of effort into punishing the search rankings of sites that attempted to manipulate their ranking in shady ways. YouTube could put in some amount of effort towards the same end. Of course, that would probably reduce engagement...
- amanaplanacanal 4y ago
  > Google put huge amounts of effort into punishing the search rankings of sites that attempted to manipulate their ranking in shady ways. From the search results I get, it appears that they abandoned that effort long ago.
- hiptobecubic 4y ago
  "Making people want to click the video" is not shady in the same sense as SEO. A comparable trick might be jamming a bunch of keywords into the description. Your real complaint is that people like stupid videos, but that's not YouTube's problem or fault.
  - couchand 4y ago
    The concern with SEO is that the goal is to drive traffic to a site without meaningfully improving the content. Doesn't the same argument apply here? If the video doesn't change, and it's just the title and thumbnail changing in an effort to get more clicks, how is that materially different from SEO?
    - hiptobecubic 4y ago
      Because it's the viewer deciding to choose the video, not some algorithm deciding what they get to choose from.

tambourine_man 4y ago

I think we can aspire to better than that. I do at least.

hiptobecubic 4y ago
People click those titles and don't click other titles. No one cares that's it's not sufficiently uppity to satisfy the intellectual elite.
- couchand 4y ago
  Evidently, at least two people care.
- phs318u 4y ago
  Really? Titles that are factually reflective of content are “uppity”, and not liking obviously intentional click-bait titles makes you “intellectual elite”? Wow. Welcome to the idiocracy.
  - hiptobecubic 4y ago
    Don't shoot the messenger
revscat 4y ago
Alternatively, you could accept what is at root a rather small thing, and adjust you own reaction. That’s what I did when those kind of titles started to become common.
- tambourine_man 4y ago
  I deal with it, of course. I'm a heavy Youtube user. The net result is positive. But it's extremely distasteful and I'm not willing to lower my standards because of this stupidity.
  - phs318u 4y ago

LordDragonfang 4y ago

Derek of Veritaseum made a video laying out why "clickbait-y" titles like that are necessary, and I feel like it makes a pretty good case. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2xHZPH5Sng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2xHZPH5Sng The tl;dw is that the most effective titles come right up against the edge of what an average target audience member would consider unacceptable on the axes of withheld information (to create a curiosity gap) and misleading sensationalism (to maximise the perceived importance of the topic); and you have to play the game of having effective titles because otherwise no one clicks on your video and it stops being recommended to people who would find it valuable.

fergal_reid 4y ago
I felt that this change reduced the quality of Veritasium, for me. I know it's just the titles, but it feels more bait and switch. I understand why he did it, but wish he didn't. If I was a leader at YouTube I'd be pretty concerned about this - long term, it drives your platform in the direction of clickbait. Yeah there's benefits to that, but could also turn into a competitive weakness for YouTube. I think they should improve the recommender to make this unnecessary.
tambourine_man 4y ago
I saw that video. I don't need an explanation of why it's being done, it's pretty obvious and it works. What I'm saying is that we can do better than 50 year olds making child-like expressions with clickbaity titles.
drdeca 4y ago
When he did this is basically when I decided to no longer watch his videos, and I don't regret this decision.