Comments on: Rabbit Muckrakers http://blog.nextnewnetworks.com/2007/02/15/rabbit-muckrackers/ Just another WordPress weblog Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:45:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Bill C. http://blog.nextnewnetworks.com/2007/02/15/rabbit-muckrackers/#comment-74 Bill C. Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:34:12 +0000 http://blog.nextnewnetworks.com/2007/02/15/rabbit-muckrackers/#comment-74 There are a bunch of problems with the believability of YouTube stats. One of those is the fact that the videos are on auto-play, which means that if you watch the video, follow a link then click 'back', that video ends up getting two hits when you don't actually watch it the second time. You may not have watched it the first time. The way their sidebar menus are set up, they change if you follow a link, so the easiest way to get to a different video you want to see is to go back so it resets the menu to what you had before. Another problem is it doesn't track unique visitors. You can visit your own video 1,000 times and nobody will know the difference between that and a video that 1,000 people visited once each. Another problem is that YouTube "features" videos. When a video is featured, it's more likely that people are going to check it out. There's been a lot of hubbub about exactly HOW people's videos are chosen to be featured..... Another problem is that it's YouTube culture to watch videos that you intend to demean, and then demean them. There's no distinction between hits from fans and hits from 'haters'. Also, posting a video reply to an already popular video is going to get you automatic hits out of curiousity, which is ZERO indication of your ability to cultivate or maintain an audience on your own. etc etc etc... Anyway... YouTube is an example of what happens when you toss around a ping-pong ball in a small room. It keeps coming back. The number of "views" that a video has is way less important than the reasons why, and IMO shouldn't be used as an indicator of either popularity or talent. Perhaps the number of subscribers could be an indication of popularity, but the question is "does that translate to the world outside YouTube?" There are a bunch of problems with the believability of YouTube stats. One of those is the fact that the videos are on auto-play, which means that if you watch the video, follow a link then click ‘back’, that video ends up getting two hits when you don’t actually watch it the second time. You may not have watched it the first time. The way their sidebar menus are set up, they change if you follow a link, so the easiest way to get to a different video you want to see is to go back so it resets the menu to what you had before.

Another problem is it doesn’t track unique visitors. You can visit your own video 1,000 times and nobody will know the difference between that and a video that 1,000 people visited once each.

Another problem is that YouTube “features” videos. When a video is featured, it’s more likely that people are going to check it out. There’s been a lot of hubbub about exactly HOW people’s videos are chosen to be featured…..

Another problem is that it’s YouTube culture to watch videos that you intend to demean, and then demean them. There’s no distinction between hits from fans and hits from ‘haters’. Also, posting a video reply to an already popular video is going to get you automatic hits out of curiousity, which is ZERO indication of your ability to cultivate or maintain an audience on your own.

etc etc etc… Anyway… YouTube is an example of what happens when you toss around a ping-pong ball in a small room. It keeps coming back. The number of “views” that a video has is way less important than the reasons why, and IMO shouldn’t be used as an indicator of either popularity or talent. Perhaps the number of subscribers could be an indication of popularity, but the question is “does that translate to the world outside YouTube?”

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