YouTube Oddities

YouTube is a very odd platform with a very strange algorithm.

In my last blog (a while ago), I outlined a plan for growing my YouTube Channel. I didn’t make it easy to update and report back so decided to write another blog and let you know where I am at, currently.

YouTube filmmaking has very much gripped me such that I am always carrying around with me ideas for films and areas to concentrate my research on. I set up the Croydon Local History Research Facebook group recently as a way of engaging with others with similar interests and I am keen on growing that over time. I am slowly increasing my delivery rate, I would like to release new content every 10 days on average and will do my level best to meet that target.

The comments on some of my videos make it so worth doing. People are enjoying nostalgia trips, learning about local history and respecting the research time I put into it - thank you all.

I will gradually add to what I do in terms of production. Some things are technical and others may relate more to engagement and my stories. I won’t give anything away but stay tuned (subscribed).

But . . . . the whole YouTube engagement model is really odd to me. I see videos that are poorly filmed and edited, with spelling mistakes on captions and yet are watched by thousands of viewers in a relatively short timeframe. I see people with huge subscriber counts and they literally go for a walk with the camera pointed forward - no commentary, no captions, no story, that’s it. Again, tens (sometimes hundreds) of thousands of subscribers, viewers and comments. I know that for each video I make I carry out the research, the “technicals”, take care over the edit and make sure it would be something enjoying to consume - at least I think I do!!

Part of the problem is all channels are different so what do you compare to? I am only in my second year of presenting what I do so maybe my expectations are way off. Well you would think so except some of the examples given above relate to channels that have only been live for less than five years.

I filmed my day at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations in London just last week (Thursday 2nd June). I liked what I did and published it to my channel on the evening of Sunday 5th June. Guess what? Within minutes of it being published one of my subscribers, unsubscribed! What??!! I thought by adding currency of the upload along with a subject that thousands of people would be searching for, would see it rise more quickly than normal in terms of engagement. Nope, just trickling along like a slow thing through treacle.

I have to be patient with this, I know that. Perhaps at some point it will click and YouTube will somehow present my content and channel in front of people and they will add it to their subscriptions. But I was an analyst in a professional capacity and it is not easy to shake off the desire to get into the numbers, so the biggest battle is realistically between me and myself, rather than me and YouTube.

The experts in these things say that you have to be consistent in terms of content and timing of delivery. That’s all well and good but I have received good comments (relative to my channel size) across all the subject matters I cover: Local History, Nature, Airfields & Travel plus one or two others. So I will continue to deliver across these areas as that is what I represent in the YouTube world.

So let’s see what the next few weeks & months bring. I will continue to track the numbers (I can’t help myself) and will report back again at an appropriate time. I will remain positive and continue to produce the best work I possibly can in an entertaining and informative way.

#YouTube #algorithm #channel #growth #analytics #engagement