I started to write a script for a video about how clickbait have really damaged the platform, clickbait taking it to the point the make the creators says “it’s okay, we need monetize, we need to catch your attention somehow, this is the only and the good way”, and I need to make some field research gathering some people opinions about it (I going to ask to some people IRL too). So what do you think? Feel free to answer any of the questions below, and add whatever come to your mind, everything it’s appreciated.
- Do you use youtube mainly?
- Do you care about clickbait?
- Did clickbait make you stop seeing some creator?
- Did you use youtube but clickbait (among other things) made you to stop using it’s platform?
- Do you think clickbait is the major of the YouTube’s problems?
- Do you see something good in clickbait among the bad things? Like, which ones?
- Could we see clickbait as a necessary evil?
Thanks again! Have a nice day.
Edit: format added to the questions.
I have many thoughts. Number 3 will surprise you!
Times like this I miss Reddit gold
Done :)
Thank you! Honestly that means way more to me than getting reddit gold ever did.
Do you use youtube mainly?
For watching short video, yes. Not as social media.
Do you care about clickbait?
I fucking hate it.
Did clickbait make you stop seeing some creator?
Yes. I’ve seen useful, thoughtful channels turn into life-wasting mouth noise in order to chase clicks.
Did you use youtube but clickbait (among other things) made you to stop using it’s platform?
Not yet.
Do you think clickbait is the major of the YouTube’s problems?
I think that monetisation ahead of any other concern is the major problem, and clickbait is just one symptom of it.
Do you see something good in clickbait among the bad things? Like, which ones?
No.
Could we see clickbait as a necessary evil?
No.
Thank you for writing my comment for me. Way better than AI. I didn’t even know I wanted to post this until I read it.
Username checks out. What they said verbatim.
Between the clickbait, YouTube “enhancements”, exploding AI slop videos and the atrocious search facility, the platform is rapidly becoming completely unusable for finding relevant information when you’re looking for answers.
As an entertainment platform it’s forcing creators to make long form content and making viewers sit through more and more low quality content.
It’s evolving, but I’m pretty sure it’s heading towards extinction, rather than greatness.
For many years, YT have been taking steps towards beginning more like TV. Shows made by corporations, made to be enjoyed by “all audiences”, filled with ads and so on.
This made me realize just how much YT doesn’t know what it wants to be, with introduction of YT shorts and other social media features.
They know that they need to make more money. Everything else is secondary.
I think it’s a spectrum. I mostly hang out in fairly nerdy and middle-aged corners of YouTube, so I don’t see the worst of shitty clickbait. If a video from an unknown creator is suggested to me a clickbaity or ragebaity headline will probably make me avoid them.
But I don’t mind an attention grabbing title “These AWFUL ingredients were ESSENTIAL for medieval peasants” or “This IMPOSSIBLE theory lead to the discovery of oxygen”. It’s kinda lame, but it still says what the topic of video is. Worse, imho, are things like “Why do smart people keep believing this” which uses the mystery / anticipation to suck you in. From a creator I like, it won’t put me off (tbh, I probably won’t even think about it as clickbait because I know their work is usually good) but it’s not cool, and would put me off an unknown creator.
Basically, I don’t care that much about headlines (or the stupid YouTube faces), but I hate shitty, shallow content. And a lot of the time, a clickbaity headline indicates a shallow video, so it has a negative effect on my interest.
Youtube video titles that have been really bugging me lately (as they have become increasingly common) are the weirdly negative ones. Like, “THIS is why you suck at >insert your hobby here<”. It’s annoying because the video could raise a good point, but fuck, dont frame it by negging me. If I’m searching for videos on that topic, I want help, not put-downs.
Do you use youtube mainly?
Yes, though not through the website or app
Do you care about clickbait?
I don’t often see it as I use DeArrow, but if I do see it, I just move on unless it’s a video that interests me.
Did clickbait make you stop seeing some creator?
Kinda? Part of it was just getting tired of their style/growing out of it.
Did you use youtube but clickbait (among other things) made you to stop using it’s platform?
No, I still use it.
Do you think clickbait is the major of the YouTube’s problems?
I think there are bigger issues than clickbait on YouTube, such as the sex bots in comments and inappropriate ads
Do you see something good in clickbait among the bad things? Like, which ones?
I don’t see anything good in clickbait, but it’s not something real bad either. To me, it’s more of just something that exists and nothing else.
Could we see clickbait as a necessary evil?
It’s a subjective opinion and differs between people. I personally don’t see it as a “necessary evil”, but maybe someone else does.
I use Youtube a lot and I dislike clickbait. I generally avoid videos with obviously clickbaity titles or thumbnails. That said, some of the Youtubers I watch have resorted to using more clickbaity titles in recent years and as long as their content is still good, I tolerate it to some degree. I understand that making money on Youtube is not easy for small creators and if those strategies get them more clicks, I’m okay with it as long as they’re not being manipulative in a blatantly malicious way.
I watch a ton of youtube. Mostly longform content 20 minutes or longer.
Clickbait has such a wide definition that I feel like setting clear definition would be important for your work.
We live in an attention economy where there is way more content for us to consume then we ever could so the point of descion is crucial and thumbnail and title do a lot of heavy lifting. I only dislike it and think it is a problem when it lies, or the video itself is lacking in substance.
In I a lot of gaming videos the thumbnail and or title is something along the lines of “How hard is it to beat X?” And they don’t answer the question directly, but more they play through it and you answer for yourself by watching them. Some point count this as clickbait, but I’m personally ok with it.
I’m like you, longform curated content exclusively from creators I’ve subscribed to. I just don’t have the time for all the razz ma tazz going on these days.
I paid for Dearrow if that answers your question.
It’s terrible. Especially the ones where the title is a question that can be answered in a single sentence, and the video is 20 minutes long. It’s a symptom though. The root cause is the monetization model, that you need a video to be a certain length to get paid. Or maybe the longer someone is watching it, the better (I don’t know if that’s a thing).
TL;dr: Don’t try to gaslight me and we’re good.
Good‘Meh’ clickbait
Title: She hates him!
Video: She says she "hates "him, but is clearly being ironic.Bad clickbait
Title: She hates him!
Video: She says she didn’t like that one thing he said, but it doesn’t change how she feels about him as a person.Bad clickbait
Title: She hates him!
Video: Editor stitches together unrelated events to make it look like she said she hates him.I use Youtube a lot. If I see a video from a creator I don’t know, or from one I don’t care that much about, and the thumbnail sets off my clickbait alarms, I just open the three dots menu and click “Don’t recommend channel.” I don’t think it’s a big problem, but it does annoy me and this significantly reduces the amount that I have to put up with it.
Sometimes if a thumbnail is borderline I’ll open it in a new tab so I can entertain it for a few minutes and see if they pay off. If they don’t, they get "don’t recommend"ed.
I’ve also done this for creators who put the “like and subscribe” ask before I’ve actually seen the content they’re asking me to subscribe to, if I’m in a particularly petty mood.
Can I suggest you title your video “How clickbait is ruining the Internet and destroying lives”?
Do you use youtube mainly?
I use it pretty frequently. I wouldn’t say “mainly.” It’s a source of education and entertainment for me, but not my only one.
Do you care about clickbait?
It’s a pretty large annoyance to me, so yes, I do care about it to the extent that I wish it would go away.
Did clickbait make you stop seeing some creator?
Yes, I’ve purged creators from my subscription list solely because I was getting annoyed at the clickbait titles and/or title cards they used in their videos.
Did you use youtube but clickbait (among other things) made you to stop using it’s platform?
I avoided YouTube for a while, partly because of all the clickbait, but also because of the amount of ads popping up on the service. I only came back when I learned how to block ads. I tolerate a certain amount of clickbait now.
Do you think clickbait is the major of the YouTube’s problems?
One of the larger problems, yes. But not THE major problem of the platform. I feel issues with censorship, AI moderation, and an abundance of advertisements interrupting videos are worse issues that should be addressed.
Clickbait is more of a creator issue; it could be resolved by creators refusing to use clickbait to draw in viewers. Let the quality of their content speak for itself. But because monetized content is earned based on views, it creates an incentive to get people to click on your video no matter what, which promotes clickbait. If you’re using YouTube primarily to make money, then clickbait is the default most content creators go for.
I guess YouTube could fix that by changing their monetization standard. Maybe base it on popularity ranking over time instead of number of clicks or something. But it would take time to phase out clickbait, and I doubt it would ever fully go away.
Do you see something good in clickbait among the bad things? Like, which ones?
I personally don’t see any value in clickbait. It’s just a way to pull your attention in an ever-distracting online world. It’s the lowest common denominator of recruiting views for your content. I don’t hold any respect for anyone who employs it in their content.
Could we see clickbait as a necessary evil?
Never. It’s a tool used by people who don’t know how to market their own content to the general public. It’s using manipulation to draw your attention to content that typically doesn’t live up to the clickbait title. It’s an extreme action in a distraction-filled world to stand out.
With a little effort, creators could market themselves better and not need clickbait. But it’s the easy way out, and most creators would rather go this route than put effort into expanding their audience.
I only really care about it when it straight up lies, which I don’t see too often. Had this happen just the other day, though, where the video title and the thumbnail made it seem like it was a new cartoon pilot, but then it was just some dude bitching about some Viziepop show and didn’t even show clips.
I block channels that do this shit.
You wanna catch my attention? Just make your thunbnail accurate and colorful, and title the video something descriptive.
