The Internet is broken ... can we still win?

[WJK]

I don't know IF you guys have noticed, but just about everything that is "instant" is bad for you... instant pudding, instant highs, instant success... Normally anything that is too easy, or it just magically happens, has a steep downside or a hidden bear trap. Creating success in your life is hard for a reason. The process seasons you. It hardens you. It tests you. It forces you to grow in ways you never would have dreamed about. Yes, it's all about the journey rather than the destination.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Lyinx]

And then people will complain that they cant get a start in their business because you are that big competitor that stacks the odds in your favor against them the little guys

going back to Johnnyboys quote... some people will complain that they can't grow in the shade... but they forget there's a huge meadow right beside all the shade trees.
the problem is, they want to grow in the same spot (which is pretty much impossible) and they should rather focus on growing where they can (in the meadow/not exactly the same business)

 

[Lyinx]

Would you have clicked on a title saying "book discussion" instead of "the internet is broken". I highly doubt it.

I'm not finished with the book, just through a few pages. We can do it, once I'm done.

you bash YT algo - but think it over...

if you are watching a video - do you click on the first selection that shows up in the suggested column? (personally, I often click on between the 3rd and the 5'th on computer, and 2nd, 3rd or around the 7'th on cellphone.
YT algo is smart enough to personalize it based on what you are most likely to click on. And also to sort it for your neighbor would click on. Also, it knows if you would watch the same video again or not (based on if you watched the whole thing all the way through or not)

The Algo sorts by amount of likes, yes... but also sorts by views/no views and videos that are only viewed partially vs full view, which means that if the viewer sees your videos and starts to recognize them (brand identity) they are more likely to click on them.

Meet Kevin - always uses a thumbnail with his face with a beard, although he no longer has his beard... he has a lot of thumbnails already created and can just slap them into place... and boom, instant brand identity.

 

[AndreiR]

You're in black and white mode now. Noah creates some of the most useful business content on YouTube and he actually doesn't get as many views as he should for the value he provides. So he's also the "victim" you're talking about.

But would you rather get 50k views from people interested in you who are eager to buy from you or 5 million views from people who gave you a thumbs up and forgot about you a second later?

Exactly! If you're judging your value purely by the number of views a video has you're missing a lot. And from OP's attitude it sounds like he's judging internal self-worth solely by views as well.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Student]

I was reading this book The Ten Equations That Rule The World. And one of the Equation is essentially the algorithm used by most social networks these days. In short, if you got traction you will continue to grow but if you don't have traction you are invisible and there is pretty much no chance to come up. Because what social networks are doing is promoting the already popular content.

So I did a lot of research and I think it's really bad. Instead of showing a new upcoming creator, youtube for example will show the 10th boring video of the same clowns. Take for example MJs channel, it's jam-packed with priceless content. However overall it has 2.2 million views, that may sound a lot but consider it's nothing on youtube where nonsense videos have tens of millions of views all day long.

So how is this fair and how are we supposed to still win when the deck is stacked against us? I mean most of the popular channels make trash content and are super old.
Same for FB or Google Ads ... if you would be in charge who would you give the best quality traffic, the guy spending $100 per day or the company spending $100k per day?

Hello Seomatic:

Yes, I understand what you're saying. It probably is unfair, and things are probably stacked against you. But that's how life is, because that's how the Good Lord intended it to be. God gives us problems to make us tougher and better problem-solvers. Also, entrepreneurs can't survive without problems.

This bad situation is actually a good situation. You just have to find a way to twist this situation, so that you benefit from it. If you look into this situation more deeply, you will see how you can leverage it to your advantage.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
-- Elbert Hubbard

 

[CruxisKnight]

Hello Seomatic:

Yes, I understand what you're saying. It probably is unfair, and things are probably stacked against you. But that's how life is, because that's how the Good Lord intended it to be. God gives us problems to make us tougher and better problem-solvers. Also, entrepreneurs can't survive without problems.

This bad situation is actually a good situation. You just have to find a way to twist this situation, so that you benefit from it. If you look into this situation more deeply, you will see how you can leverage it to your advantage.

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
-- Elbert Hubbard

Having a problem like YT algo being stacked against you is a problem that needs a solution. You can make a product around that problem and sell it to people who want to level the playing field against the big competitors. Problems are opportunities for profit for business people

 

[Kid]

If you want to grow a tree you should plant a seed and water it, not complain that you didn’t plant one 5 years ago.

Life is always stacked against the people who haven’t started yet.

It always feels better in the end when it’s like that. You’ll thank yourself in 3 years because of the momentum you have.

This is very on point.

Many people think - "ooh internet in 2000 was easy so such and such had an advantage!"

But people think of past based on knowledge they have now.

People in 2000 didn't have bazillion tutorials on how to build website,optimize adwords or infinite cloud hosting for their images.
Heck they even didn't have Wordpress at that time.

So saying that 5 , 20 , or 100 years ago it was easier is not true.
They had it as hard or as easy as it is now.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[CruxisKnight]

This is very on point.

Many people think - "ooh internet in 2000 was easy so such and such had an advantage!"

But people think of past based on knowledge they have now.

People in 2000 didn't have bazillion tutorials on how to build website,optimize adwords or infinite cloud hosting for their images.
Heck they even didn't have Wordpress at that time.

So saying that 5 , 20 , or 100 years ago it was easier is not true.
They had it as hard or as easy as it is now.

This is the mindset you should have

 

[Thurlam]

It’s simple enough I think.

Figure out what YouTubeGoogle/Facebook wants. Give it to them.

Zig Ziglar’s quote works for big companies as well as people.

This.

'The rich get richer' is nothing new. but nearly all the big content distribution/social media platforms actually have an incentive to help out smaller creators, since their engine of growth relies on ensuring their platform is as engaging as possible to their users; turns out that while 'the rich' still tend to deliver engagement, there's a lot more to be garnered from letting up-and-comers with quality content get distribution. (there's also a lot more engagement to be garnered from politically stirring people up, which seems to be causing a lot of strife worldwide, but I digress.) as a result, you can be a nobody and spend no effort marketing, and still experience explosive success if you keep dropping content audiences click on and stay to engage with. the platforms' algorithms will eventually pick up on this and grant you the distribution you want. usually the big players in any given market will have the ability and inclination to pressure new competitors out of the market, but since the big players in the social media/content creation market don't actually have any control over the platforms, you don't really have to worry about that at all. it's just a quality competition, and your only real issues are making good enough content, and continuing to do so in spite of low traction and an uncertain future.

see also: James Jani's youtube channel, where he spent a great deal of effort ensuring his videos would be highly appealing to youtube audiences, and by extension, youtube's algorithm. he pumped out several extremely high-quality videos with compelling hooks, and eventually, the algorithm came calling and now he's making a killing. and he was so kind as to document the entire process right here for us, so see for yourself:

GOLD! - HOT! - Creating a Thriving Personal Brand w/ YouTube - A Journal & A Personal Guide.

Let's get this started with a basic introduction. Hi, I'm James. 19 y/o from the UK, chose not to go university since there wasn't any subject I wanted to study that would suit my direction in life. The big goal is to be semi-retired by 30, but that's okay if I don't get there, I'm focusing on...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[RequisiteRequium]

I was reading this book The Ten Equations That Rule The World. And one of the Equation is essentially the algorithm used by most social networks these days. In short, if you got traction you will continue to grow but if you don't have traction you are invisible and there is pretty much no chance to come up. Because what social networks are doing is promoting the already popular content.

So I did a lot of research and I think it's really bad. Instead of showing a new upcoming creator, youtube for example will show the 10th boring video of the same clowns. Take for example MJs channel, it's jam-packed with priceless content. However overall it has 2.2 million views, that may sound a lot but consider it's nothing on youtube where nonsense videos have tens of millions of views all day long.

So how is this fair and how are we supposed to still win when the deck is stacked against us? I mean most of the popular channels make trash content and are super old.
Same for FB or Google Ads ... if you would be in charge who would you give the best quality traffic, the guy spending $100 per day or the company spending $100k per day?

The questions that you should asking yourself is how many people are on the platform you are looking into (this idea is intuitive with the network effect and why the stock to flow model is holding in crypto), what is the solvency of the market you want to capture on the platform you are looking to vs starting with early movers advantage on another platform, have you look at other platforms that has more freedom of speech where the total market share of people will look to your content, will the algorithm of the platform help you get more market share of your niche & is it able to keep you turning a profit, is the platform becoming more instable (like arbitrary rules and enforcement), and how much time will you have to invest when it can be utilized elsewhere (like how young people now can rent out a camper with positive cashflow vs a fund can not do that since their % gain will be less compared to other markets).
IMO, I am more excited to see more rise of decentralized comms like lbry where you get paid in crypto coins for watching, and a more classical base of video sharing like gab & bitchute. The current video sharing market feels like the gilded age with a sprinkle of dot com. This is due to the monopoly held by Facebook, Alphabet, and Twitter that had the government supporting their monopoly by crushing opposition, but they are being wiped our due to them joining hip with legacy media. A way to view this is like Superman utilizing depleted uranium as a weapon, but sleeps in a kryptonite house every day or the current dollar regime. It is successful in it's prime, but they are waining in their strength on the extremes since they do not have the flexibility as they use to. The more they are use to the security their monopoly has, the more complacent they will be to change which leads to their demise. This has also appeared in historical times like how Germany was rising due to industrialization after the collapse of the Holy Roman empire from the Teutonic Order to compete against the hegemon at the time which was the British empire. This battle lead to the rise of the third empire from this which was the United States. This tripartite of nation states is also repeated like the Three kingdoms of China, and India.
TLDR: There is a lot in the digital video space. It is that it takes time to understand how it can flow, and diverge while hedging your bets.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[biophase]

I think this thread is kind of hilarious. I watch YouTube all the time and subscribe to about 20 channels. I’ve never been suggested videos in Russian. You must have watched something to make the algorithm pick those videos for you.

Reminds me of the time me and my friend were in Australia and the owner of the restaurant asked us what we did for a living, and we said we were running online businesses. He then asked us if we had a problem with random porn sites popping up on our browser all the time And how to fix it. We told him he probably should stop going to porn sites. LOL

I find it very interesting that you dismiss Noah Kagan so quickly. You think he was Facebook employee number 30 so he was lucky. But did you read about the part where he got fired and didn’t get any options at all?

You watch the video of him in a hot tub and think it’s crap. You didn’t even bother to search and find his video about how he grows his YouTube subscribers. He is very transparent and how he is doing it.

 

[seomatic]

Meet Kevin - always uses a thumbnail with his face with a beard, although he no longer has his beard... he has a lot of thumbnails already created and can just slap them into place... and boom, instant brand identity.

yeah, I would change the name though. It seems so hard for americans to say his surname

 

[seomatic]

I think this thread is kind of hilarious. I watch YouTube all the time and subscribe to about 20 channels. I’ve never been suggested videos in Russian. You must have watched something to make the algorithm pick those videos for you.

most likely my neighbors did. I still believe a trillion dollar company should be able to detect device languages.

And yeah, I saw the guy in the hot tub and clicked off, not interesting in it. Sorry.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[seomatic]

so today this happened! Any tips on how to keep the momentum?

 

[Lyinx]

YouTube algo

someone claimed that youtube suggests videos based on the comments, so maybe something to look into it.
if you have people commenting on your video that say something like, "Great tips on banking" the algo would look at it like this:
Great = they liked it - give it 25 points for rec
tips = anyone that likes to watch videos with lists of things in it, gets +25,
Banking = 25 points

the next comment says something like this"money machine go Brrrr"
the algo computes money+Machine+brr as related to banking and adds +25

so, someone is looking at a banking video, and then this shows up in your recommended because it's rated as
banking+25
banking/Money machine brr+25
tips +25

 

[Lyinx]

so today this happened! Any tips on how to keep the momentum?

View attachment 38091

reply to every other comment that makes sense, engage the audience. like every few comments (probably best not to like all of them, the algo will detect that, most likely, and penalize you for it)

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[seomatic]

reply to every other comment that makes sense, engage the audience. like every few comments (probably best not to like all of them, the algo will detect that, most likely, and penalize you for it)

I don't get many comments. It's the kind of viral content. You click, watch it and then move on.

 

[seomatic]

I guess my rant is over.


Did you noticed wrong data in Realtime section? It shows last 24 hours instead of 48 hours.

 

[seomatic]

Alright, the channel is still growing. However all views are basically coming in from one video via suggested. How can I keep the momentum going and diversify to other successful videos?
I've noticed the top video has incredible CTR, however watch time doesn't seem so great. People talking about 2-5 minutes. So I guess there is still a lot of potential for me. How do you keep people watching your stuff?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Andreas Thiel]

The sentiment in here seems very strange to me ... again.
Don't see how it is a non issue when the big players eliminate any change of not violating the commandment of control, little by little. But whatever.

The company I work at put it like this:

the open internet has almost successfully been killed already. Apple and Google will have their own walled gardens ... other companies need to behave to get their place in it. They even moved on from just using software / cookies to accomplish this to hardware, something Facebook can't do.

The privacy panic was encouraged and GDPR was a trojan horse.

---

I do think this will get worse and leave little room for creative solutions.

 

[Lyinx]

The sentiment in here seems very strange to me ... again.
Don't see how it is a non issue when the big players eliminate any change of not violating the commandment of control, little by little. But whatever.

The company I work at put it like this:

the open internet has almost successfully been killed already. Apple and Google will have their own walled gardens ... other companies need to behave to get their place in it. They even moved on from just using software / cookies to accomplish this to hardware, something Facebook can't do.

The privacy panic was encouraged and GDPR was a trojan horse.

---

I do think this will get worse and leave little room for creative solutions.

I read your post and said to myself, "well, there's all these new sites out there, Gab, Parler? and some others - so that doesn't mean much..."

then I realized that I do have accounts on some of them, but I never look at them... and then - I seen this:



This means that Verizon thinks it's profitable to sell on Amazon - it doesn't mean that Amazon is a monopoly or anything (yet) but I had never paid attention to the advertising on Amazon before

 

[The-J]

If you want to grow a tree you should plant a seed and water it, not complain that you didn’t plant one 5 years ago.

Gold

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.