High IQ Old vs New YouTube and the Consolidation of the Internet

[ignika98]

YouTube is a very interesting website. Among all the internet giants, YouTube has likely changed the most. To the point where it's purpose now is arguably completely different to when it first launched.

What do I mean by this? Well, YouTube launched as a sort of "video based social media site". Where rather than post text and images, users would post and communicate through the medium of video. The default user icon was a man holding a camcorder, there used to be "video responses" where users could reply to other people's videos with videos of their own, the old tagline of the site used to be "broadcast yourself" in a nod to the sites intended purpose. YouTube was meant to be a place not just to watch videos, but to create and post videos of your own. Watching and uploading were both things the site expected the average user to do. And so you had a lot of early YouTube content just be kids with their parents camera doing stupid shit and posting it for fun. There was no purpose or goal in mind, and dedicated creators were few and far between.

Fast forward to today, and none of this is the case anymore. YouTube is now a site mainly for consuming video content, rather than creating it. YouTube's algorithm is designed to heavily prioritize long form content, effectively killing the reach of videos under 10 minutes and giving rise to the infamous "video essay" format. Audiences now expect YouTube videos to have a certain level of production value. To where if you don't have an intro, background music, 1080p footage and a million different jump cuts, people won't even give you the time of day. Video responses are dead and have been for ages. YouTube now assumes it's average user will only consume content, rather than create it.

The YouTube of today now serves a completely different purpose than it used to. And herein lies the point of this thread. The consolidation of the internet has emptied many niches that were previously filled. To the point where I'd argue the internet is much less useful today than it was 10 to 15 years ago.

Just because YouTube is still called YouTube, doesn't mean it's the same website anymore. Just because Reddit and Discord have become the new social/information hubs of the internet doesn't mean that forums no longer have a place. For the past couple of years, people have operated under the assumption that these new sites could just outright replace the "outdated" ones they were meant to compete with. And in allowing mediums like internet forums and old YouTube to die, we've created a bunch of holes in the online world that have yet to be filled.

But I think that might be about to change.

Do you know what manages to fill the old niche of a video based social media site, where runtime is irrelevant and users are expected to both watch and create content? TikTok. Yes, that's right. TikTok is essentially the replacement for old YouTube. Don't get me wrong, I despise that Chinese spyware crap and never use it myself. But the fact still remains that its design philosophy is more similar to old YouTube than YouTube itself is these days. There's a lot of room for new websites and apps to fill old niches that were left from the consolidation of the internet. And I think this is a great opportunity for the internet as a whole to grow. Especially as we're seeing more and more of these tech giants crumble to pieces these days now that their interest free investor money is running dry. Perhaps forums like this one could pave the way to a new, more diverse era of the internet.

But what do you all think?

 

[Khastle]

YouTube is a very interesting website. Among all the internet giants, YouTube has likely changed the most. To the point where it's purpose now is arguably completely different to when it first launched.

What do I mean by this? Well, YouTube launched as a sort of "video based social media site". Where rather than post text and images, users would post and communicate through the medium of video. The default user icon was a man holding a camcorder, there used to be "video responses" where users could reply to other people's videos with videos of their own, the old tagline of the site used to be "broadcast yourself" in a nod to the sites intended purpose. YouTube was meant to be a place not just to watch videos, but to create and post videos of your own. Watching and uploading were both things the site expected the average user to do. And so you had a lot of early YouTube content just be kids with their parents camera doing stupid shit and posting it for fun. There was no purpose or goal in mind, and dedicated creators were few and far between.

Fast forward to today, and none of this is the case anymore. YouTube is now a site mainly for consuming video content, rather than creating it. YouTube's algorithm is designed to heavily prioritize long form content, effectively killing the reach of videos under 10 minutes and giving rise to the infamous "video essay" format. Audiences now expect YouTube videos to have a certain level of production value. To where if you don't have an intro, background music, 1080p footage and a million different jump cuts, people won't even give you the time of day. Video responses are dead and have been for ages. YouTube now assumes it's average user will only consume content, rather than create it.

The YouTube of today now serves a completely different purpose than it used to. And herein lies the point of this thread. The consolidation of the internet has emptied many niches that were previously filled. To the point where I'd argue the internet is much less useful today than it was 10 to 15 years ago.

Just because YouTube is still called YouTube, doesn't mean it's the same website anymore. Just because Reddit and Discord have become the new social/information hubs of the internet doesn't mean that forums no longer have a place. For the past couple of years, people have operated under the assumption that these new sites could just outright replace the "outdated" ones they were meant to compete with. And in allowing mediums like internet forums and old YouTube to die, we've created a bunch of holes in the online world that have yet to be filled.

But I think that might be about to change.

Do you know what manages to fill the old niche of a video based social media site, where runtime is irrelevant and users are expected to both watch and create content? TikTok. Yes, that's right. TikTok is essentially the replacement for old YouTube. Don't get me wrong, I despise that Chinese spyware crap and never use it myself. But the fact still remains that its design philosophy is more similar to old YouTube than YouTube itself is these days. There's a lot of room for new websites and apps to fill old niches that were left from the consolidation of the internet. And I think this is a great opportunity for the internet as a whole to grow. Especially as we're seeing more and more of these tech giants crumble to pieces these days now that their interest free investor money is running dry. Perhaps forums like this one could pave the way to a new, more diverse era of the internet.

But what do you all think?

I hate them both but they have the normies hooked and they ain't going away anytime soon.

I hope big tech does crumble more and more small forums like this pop up to catch the disfranchised as most sites these days are becoming so lame and controlling.

 

[ThirdyAughtSix]

Fast forward to today, and none of this is the case anymore. YouTube is now a site mainly for consuming video content, rather than creating it. YouTube's algorithm is designed to heavily prioritize long form content, effectively killing the reach of videos under 10 minutes and giving rise to the infamous "video essay" format. Audiences now expect YouTube videos to have a certain level of production value. To where if you don't have an intro, background music, 1080p footage and a million different jump cuts, people won't even give you the time of day. Video responses are dead and have been for ages. YouTube now assumes it's average user will only consume content, rather than create it.

The video essay revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the youtube platform. It nullified the act of unprofessional content as the algorithm didn't like promoting it , which ironically made youtube have to manually recommend small channels which still fail as usual. Humans like reliability and the greatest indicator of that is the high effort content put out constantly on youtube. Its the main reason why you can see 30 minute videos telling you shit you already know in a more digestible and less chaotic way.

Just because YouTube is still called YouTube, doesn't mean it's the same website anymore. Just because Reddit and Discord have become the new social/information hubs of the internet doesn't mean that forums no longer have a place. For the past couple of years, people have operated under the assumption that these new sites could just outright replace the "outdated" ones they were meant to compete with. And in allowing mediums like internet forums and old YouTube to die, we've created a bunch of holes in the online world that have yet to be filled.

totally agreed , better places for sharing ideas and content are sites like those because they essentially force the user to make the content quick and simple. You can digest more things in a given time , and still get the same enjoyment out of it. Like you said tik tok is an extreme example in which it is basically an ADHD giver. It follows this principle to the highest point without much nuance discord, reddit or twitter would give.

ultimately ive been thinking about switching to odyssey one day because of the ad block thing youtubes gonna implement. I feel like youtube doing this will probably be a nail in the coffin for them. Ads are some of the most intrusive and annoying forms of media ever thought upon , they destroy the integrity of a sites layout and generally are fucking cancer to deal with.

 

[ignika98]

ultimately ive been thinking about switching to odyssey one day because of the ad block thing youtubes gonna implement. I feel like youtube doing this will probably be a nail in the coffin for them. Ads are some of the most intrusive and annoying forms of media ever thought upon , they destroy the integrity of a sites layout and generally are fucking cancer to deal with.

The slow realization that many big tech companies are having now is that the whole "free service but with ads" model isn't working and will never work. I expect to see a lot of online services become 100% paywalled in the near future. This will likely lead to many of them shutting down as they struggle to get people to pay as sites like YouTube are notorious for doing the exact opposite of what their userbase wants. When the people funding their website are investors that's all fine and dandy, but when you expect people to pay then you actually need to start doing what they want. And that's not something that most big tech companies are used to doing.

Also I've heard of odyssey before, but never bothered checking it out. Is it any good? Do people actually use it?

 

[Khastle]

The slow realization that many big tech companies are having now is that the whole "free service but with ads" model isn't working and will never work. I expect to see a lot of online services become 100% paywalled in the near future. This will likely lead to many of them shutting down as they struggle to get people to pay as sites like YouTube are notorious for doing the exact opposite of what their userbase wants. When the people funding their website are investors that's all fine and dandy, but when you expect people to pay then you actually need to start doing what they want. And that's not something that most big tech companies are used to doing.

Also I've heard of odyssey before, but never bothered checking it out. Is it any good? Do people actually use it?

Odyssey is good from what I've seen, just lacks activity and normies will never cling to it like they have clung to TikTok and YouTube so it barely poses a threat to them in the online world, just another BitChute.

Now, in the streaming world that's where big changes are happening: I'm sure you've heard about streamers being unhappy with Twitch and YouTube as they want to take even more revenue from them, well this is where Rumble and Kick have came in to snatch up those upset streamers and promising more revenue towards them if they stream on their site. Supposedly they are suppose to be more free speech too hence why controversial individuals such as Andrew Tate, Adin Ross and Sneako have took to using them. Twitch may be in danger and struggle to keep their position in the online streaming world in years to come but I doubt it will go anywhere as its literally owned by Amazon.

It would be a miracle if a true YouTube alternative pops up that truly threatens its throne but its been tried and tried again, and I don't see a pro free speech YouTube alternative ever becoming something big enough that normies will use it. Obviously TikTok poses a threat but that's no better as it's literal Chinese spyware; you either have America or China spy on you is the sad reality of these sites or apps these days unfortunately.

 

[Tedposter]

Youtube its just online tv. There is no better way to describe it. It should remove the "you" from youtube and call it themtube, since we dont have any saying in that shithole anymore. When the owner of youtube decided to sell youtube to google, it was the begining of the end for that site.

 

[Khastle]

Youtube its just online tv. There is no better way to describe it. It should remove the "you" from youtube and call it themtube, since we dont have any saying in that shithole anymore. When the owner of youtube decided to sell youtube to google, it was the begining of the end for that site.

They/themtube is more accurate

 

[ignika98]

Youtube its just online tv. There is no better way to describe it.

I think that was Google's intention from the start. They envisioned their own version of cable basically. Where people (and ideally studios) would upload high production value content that regular users would watch. The average low profile creator was just a stepping stone to get them to that goal.

The problem is I don't think that will ever work out for them. Remember YouTube Red and those originals they had on there? Yeah that never went anywhere.

It would be a miracle if a true YouTube alternative pops up that truly threatens its throne but its been tried and tried again, and I don't see a pro free speech YouTube alternative ever becoming something big enough that normies will use it.

I don't think normies would need to use it. Don't forget that in the "good old days" of YouTube, normies didn't use it much either. What we (and the internet at large) really need are more sites dedicated to smaller groups of people with more specific interests. We don't need huge sites with millions of users and thousands of hours worth of content when most of those users are gay and retarded and 99% of the content sucks.

Also what's with the "High IQ" banner on this post now? I didn't put that there lmao.

 

[Khastle]

I think that was Google's intention from the start. They envisioned their own version of cable basically. Where people (and ideally studios) would upload high production value content that regular users would watch. The average low profile creator was just a stepping stone to get them to that goal.

The problem is I don't think that will ever work out for them. Remember YouTube Red and those originals they had on there? Yeah that never went anywhere.

I don't think normies would need to use it. Don't forget that in the "good old days" of YouTube, normies didn't use it much either. What we (and the internet at large) really need are more sites dedicated to smaller groups of people with more specific interests. We don't need huge sites with millions of users and thousands of hours worth of content when most of those users are gay and retarded and 99% of the content sucks.

Also what's with the "High IQ" banner on this post now? I didn't put that there lmao.

You're right about Google's true intentions and yeah their own programming didn't work so great but a lot of media companies now almost exclusively throw their stuff up on there when it comes to show and movie clips and etc, so there's been small success in that regard.

Also that second paragraph 100%. You're right when normies find these apps or sites they go to shit so tbh the smaller amount of attention probably does them good.

Oh that's the new prefix system and I added that one. With the merging of some of the boards I created it so threads tailored to your interests are easier to find and made some prefixes for the non-merged boards too, the prefix on this thread being one of them.

 

[Tedposter]

 

[ignika98]

View attachment 887

Yup, that's my profile picture alright.

 

[ThirdyAughtSix]

View attachment 887

instead of ongezellig we should make a movement on the sharty shilling for TOLX

 

[Tedposter]

Yup, that's my profile picture alright.

 

[ignika98]

View attachment 914

What, do you like that one better?

 

[user not named]

YouTube is a very interesting website. Among all the internet giants, YouTube has likely changed the most. To the point where it's purpose now is arguably completely different to when it first launched.

What do I mean by this? Well, YouTube launched as a sort of "video based social media site". Where rather than post text and images, users would post and communicate through the medium of video. The default user icon was a man holding a camcorder, there used to be "video responses" where users could reply to other people's videos with videos of their own, the old tagline of the site used to be "broadcast yourself" in a nod to the sites intended purpose. YouTube was meant to be a place not just to watch videos, but to create and post videos of your own. Watching and uploading were both things the site expected the average user to do. And so you had a lot of early YouTube content just be kids with their parents camera doing stupid shit and posting it for fun. There was no purpose or goal in mind, and dedicated creators were few and far between.

Fast forward to today, and none of this is the case anymore. YouTube is now a site mainly for consuming video content, rather than creating it. YouTube's algorithm is designed to heavily prioritize long form content, effectively killing the reach of videos under 10 minutes and giving rise to the infamous "video essay" format. Audiences now expect YouTube videos to have a certain level of production value. To where if you don't have an intro, background music, 1080p footage and a million different jump cuts, people won't even give you the time of day. Video responses are dead and have been for ages. YouTube now assumes it's average user will only consume content, rather than create it.

The YouTube of today now serves a completely different purpose than it used to. And herein lies the point of this thread. The consolidation of the internet has emptied many niches that were previously filled. To the point where I'd argue the internet is much less useful today than it was 10 to 15 years ago.

Just because YouTube is still called YouTube, doesn't mean it's the same website anymore. Just because Reddit and Discord have become the new social/information hubs of the internet doesn't mean that forums no longer have a place. For the past couple of years, people have operated under the assumption that these new sites could just outright replace the "outdated" ones they were meant to compete with. And in allowing mediums like internet forums and old YouTube to die, we've created a bunch of holes in the online world that have yet to be filled.

But I think that might be about to change.

Do you know what manages to fill the old niche of a video based social media site, where runtime is irrelevant and users are expected to both watch and create content? TikTok. Yes, that's right. TikTok is essentially the replacement for old YouTube. Don't get me wrong, I despise that Chinese spyware crap and never use it myself. But the fact still remains that its design philosophy is more similar to old YouTube than YouTube itself is these days. There's a lot of room for new websites and apps to fill old niches that were left from the consolidation of the internet. And I think this is a great opportunity for the internet as a whole to grow. Especially as we're seeing more and more of these tech giants crumble to pieces these days now that their interest free investor money is running dry. Perhaps forums like this one could pave the way to a new, more diverse era of the internet.

But what do you all think?

I think the transformation of youtube into more professional videos was inevitable. Even at the start, people were still competing for views, trying to make interesting content. Those with skills in movie making saw the possibillity to share their talent, or to use the platform to get famous. Thus, the youtuber emerged, YouTube was there as a tool for it. The company merely adapted to what the majority of users wanted. However, I do agree a lot of things used to be better, I especially miss video responses. I used to be on this ''old youtube revival'' site wich had video responses and a forum section, it was amazing. Sadly it closed as they were devellopping a 2.0 version, it was called Vlare.tv, most fun time I've ever had on any social media platform ever. We should have a video sharing thread where we post videos we made, hosted on different places.

 

[ignika98]

It doesn't look like new YouTube will be around for much longer either at this rate.

 

[Tedposter]

It doesn't look like new YouTube will be around for much longer either at this rate.

Good

 

[kanpai]

Honestly I think the biggest mistake of youtube was it's monetization, now you get people who make videos for money in lieu of people who actually just have passion, in some aspect I get it brings stuff to the platform but now the capitalist aspect of making shekels for making videos is too alluring to people and has drowned out people with actual passion for video making or sharing their hobbies and thoughts.