algorithmic, recommendation-based model of content distrib.

[PaulKay]

I came across an article talking about how sites like YouTube have designed their browsers and apps to use "algorithmic, recommendation-based model of content distribution" in deciding which content to present.  If you've spent any time on the YouTube home page or in a YouTube app, you can get a sense of what "the algorithms" think you want to see.  According to the article, these algorithms are AI-based.  But basically they just use your prior browsing history to categorize your interests and then tailor recommendations based on that.  In fact much of this technology stems from the google AI-based search algorithms.  

When one of my recent YouTube videos went viral a couple weeks ago, I wondered how it happened to that video and not the others. When it happened it seemed that the "YouTube algorithms" placed the Eric Clapton tag on the video in a manner similar to what Google internet bots do to categorize and index new web pages.  The algorithms must analyze the text in the video description to categorize it.

I tested this theory a couple days ago.  One of the first videos Eric and I recorded was the Clapton version of Hey Hey.  When we released it (probably 2 years ago now), there was no mention in the description of Eric Clapton.  The video wasn't one of our better ones IMHO and had only a dozen views or so. It also had some audio problems as the audio was only in the left channel and had a nasty hum.
So I ripped out the audio, fixed it as best I could, and put it back on the video.  Then I changed the video description to include "Eric Clapton released it on the album Unplugged", and deleted the old video on YouTube and released this one.

Well "algorithmic, recommendation-based model of content distribution" kicked in within 24 hours of its release.  

Hey Hey has been trending with 500 views in the last 48 hours.  
Before You Accuse Me views died out after a few days (it ended up with more than 2200 views).  The AI must decide eventually they are of limited usefulness for ad placement and reduce the number of times it gets recommended.
Once you have a video with over 1,000 views, you can ask YouTube for a piece of the action on ad revenue.  
So to create content that triggers distribution on YouTube, how it is interpreted by "The Algorithms" can make all the difference. 

[epaul]

That's handy to know. I will title my soon to be released Youtube "Pruning Tomatoes the Eric Clapton way". Followed by "The Jesus Elvis trombone solo".

[PaulKay]

Aug 8, 2022 9:47:10 GMT -5 epaul said:

That's handy to know. I will title my soon to be released Youtube "Pruning Tomatoes the Eric Clapton way". Followed by "The Jesus Elvis trombone solo".

...and would probably be amazed at the results.

[dradtke]

Aug 8, 2022 9:47:10 GMT -5 epaul said:

That's handy to know. I will title my soon to be released Youtube "Pruning Tomatoes the Eric Clapton way". Followed by "The Jesus Elvis trombone solo".

The Greg Brown song Jesus & Elvis has 4000 views since 2019, slightly better than your last trombone solo.

[aquaduct]

Hmmm... interesting. So I have a FB page of Pieces of Malarkey music that I'm expecting to continue with as soon as some personal issues (unemployment being the big one) get sorted out and the videos are done on Youtube and then linked to FB. Over a couple years they've both been viewed a few times but not much. Back about 8 months ago my daughter discovered the FB page, liked a couple videos, and then firmly chastised me for quitting. So now some things are happening and getting back into it is looking possible.

So I went into the Youtube channel and added the words "Van Morrison" and "George Benson" to the 2 videos she liked. Can't quite figure out how to crank up FB views but maybe that's all I need.

So both videos, according to YT currently have 9 whole views. Let's see if this does anything. If it does, I'll let y'all know.

[Marshall]

Interesting, but confusing stuff. So you are saying; when you added Eric Clapton's name, the automatic whatchamacallit decided to boost your distribution?

[james]

Monetising YouTube videos is not at all easy. A YT channel must first have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing time in the last 12 months among other things. A lot of YT sailing video creators repeatedly implore viewers to 'like subscribe and comment' on their videos as an attempt to nudge the algorithm  and broaden the exposure they might get.

It seems that the the more complex workings of YouTube's algorithms are something of a mystery to most YT 'creators'.


YouTube marketing and monetisation.


FWIW and from the same site -

influencermarketinghub.com/how-does-the-youtube-algorithm-work/

(I don't really know how reliable/authoritative a guide that is).

[Cosmic Wonder]

Think how many views you could get if you added AC/DC or Whitesnake to the title.

Mike

[aquaduct]

Aug 8, 2022 11:18:46 GMT -5 Cosmic Wonder said:

Think how many views you could get if you added AC/DC or Whitesnake to the title.

Mike

Or maybe Bare Naked Ladies.

[PaulKay]

Aug 8, 2022 10:37:25 GMT -5 Marshall said:

Interesting, but confusing stuff. So you are saying; when you added Eric Clapton's name, the automatic whatchamacallit decided to boost your distribution?

From what I’ve figured out, The key is to focus on the video text description “at the time you release it Youtube”, It does all the analysis and categorization at that time.  Once it’s released, just changing the text doesn’t re-trigger the analysis.

So I had to delete the old video and when adding the new one, adjusted the text description.

[aquaduct]

Aug 8, 2022 11:25:56 GMT -5 PaulKay said:

Aug 8, 2022 10:37:25 GMT -5 Marshall said:

Interesting, but confusing stuff. So you are saying; when you added Eric Clapton's name, the automatic whatchamacallit decided to boost your distribution?

From what I’ve figured out, The key is to focus on the video text description “at the time you release it Youtube”, It does all the analysis and categorization at that time.  Once it’s released, just changing the text doesn’t re-trigger the analysis.

So I had to delete the old video and when adding the new one, adjusted the text description.

Okay. I guess I'll try going back and reworking mine. It's not that I'm concerned about becoming some kind of social media star, but rather just insatiable curiosity.