Clickbait titles and thumbnails

[Spotty]

The latest TechQuickie video about flexible screen technology and how it works really annoys me.

 

You're using vague clickbait titles on Techquickie now!? C'mon!

The whole purpose of TechQuickie videos is to make easy to understand videos so that someone who isn't tech-savvy could search a topic, watch a quick 5min video about it, and learn the basics of that topic. Topics like "What is HDMI?", "What is Overclocking", "Difference between SSDs and Hard Drives", and so on. Something that my mother could google to learn about.  If I search "How do flexible phone screens work" or "How do foldable phones work" the tech quickie video does not come up in the results at all. Heck, I get the Jon Tron video on Flex tape before I see any tech quickie video about flexible screens.

People can, and will, argue all day long about clickbait on the entertainment focused LinusTechTips channel, but I think putting clickbait titles on Techquickie which is meant to be an educational & informative channel is downright moronic. You can't even find the video by searching for the topic that the video is meant to be explaining - which completely defeats the purpose of the TechQuickie channel.

 

Screw the Youtube algorithms; there's no point having an informative TechQuickie channel if you're going to fill it with videos with clickbait titles that are so vague you can't even find the video when searching for that topic.

[Lathlaer]

7 hours ago, Spotty said:

You're using vague clickbait titles on Techquickie now!? C'mon!

Agreed. I don't have big problems with LTT but Techquickie is a step too far.

[Jtalk4456]

11 hours ago, corrado33 said:

You have circular reasoning here.

 

You say that LTT generally has "very well produced and informative videos", so therefore you'll still watch a video with a clickbait title, but then you say you won't watch the video if they title it honestly. The "very well produced and informative" reason was why you clicked on the clickbait title.... why would it not be the reason you'd click on a non-clickbait title. If you like the way linus reviews things, shouldn't you be clicking on ALL of the videos, regardless of title? 

i did not say i wouldn't watch if it was a better title. I said that if the title is only just telling us the product, I might skip over videos if the specific product doesn't interest me. I might be missing something I would have enjoyed because of that assumption. With clickbait, there's not enough info and I'm not always making rash assumptions about the content of the video. I end up seeing far more stuff I like by giving videos a chance.

13 hours ago, Newenthusiast said:

For me personally, i just don't want to be part of the data set that says X tactic = more views, maybe if pulling the stupid faces, bold colorful cartoon words and clickbait titles don't perform how they once did, we can get back to normal again?  

 

Wishful thinking i know, but i like to back my opinions up with actions instead of spouting off and then going with the herd anyway. 

 

12 hours ago, JoostinOnline said:

For the past year they've been emphasizing that the only reason they use clickbait titles is because so many people click on them. It's basically a voting system. If we want reasonable titles, we need to stop supporting their clickbait.

I see what you are getting at there, but what I'm pointing out is that the title isn't what matters. the video is what's important. If *phone company* made a perfect smartphone by every spec, good price, exactly the skin you want, all the options you've been asking for years, but they called it "the 2019 smartphone", what would you do? Are you going to let a bad name deter you from a great product? I would hope you'd get past the terrible name and get the phone because of what it brings to the table. I'm all for voting with my clicks, but I'm voting for the content, not the title

[SenKa]

I personally dont mind it because I know it's to benefit the channel/LMG. Youtube's algorithm favors views and comments over everything else, and how do you attract views? Clickbait.

 

We do have to remember, as much as we all love Linus and LTT. This is a business whoes sole job is to make money through the outlet of entertainment. Linus is smart, he'll do what he needs to make money while keeping his loyal subs happy.

[JoostinOnline]

23 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

I see what you are getting at there, but what I'm pointing out is that the title isn't what matters. the video is what's important. If *phone company* made a perfect smartphone by every spec, good price, exactly the skin you want, all the options you've been asking for years, but they called it "the 2019 smartphone", what would you do? Are you going to let a bad name deter you from a great product? I would hope you'd get past the terrible name and get the phone because of what it brings to the table. I'm all for voting with my clicks, but I'm voting for the content, not the title

It's not really the same, unless because of the terrible name I can't find any place that sells it. By not watching videos with vague titles my life is actually improved. I spend less time frustrated, and I'm not contributing to manipulating people.

 

[BuckGup]

22 minutes ago, SenpaiKaplan said:

I personally dont mind it because I know it's to benefit the channel/LMG. Youtube's algorithm favors views and comments over everything else, and how do you attract views? Clickbait.

 

We do have to remember, as much as we all love Linus and LTT. This is a business whoes sole job is to make money through the outlet of entertainment. Linus is smart, he'll do what he needs to make money while keeping his loyal subs happy.

Well right now he's just making money...

[Jtalk4456]

22 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

It's not really the same, unless because of the terrible name I can't find any place that sells it. By not watching videos with vague titles my life is actually improved. I spend less time frustrated, and I'm not contributing to manipulating people.

 

if you haven't watched the videos, you have no way of gauging whether your life was improved. It is the same because the issue is whether you vote on the product or on the name of the product. LTT videos are the product. The title is the name of the project. You are ignoring a product without knowing it's quality simply because of the name. That's just fact, and that doesn't fit with my ideals, because I don't like to judge things by the cover. Simple as that

[Bramimond]

@Jtalk4456 You have to judge whether to read that book/whatever or not based on something and unless you have unlimited time you won't be reading all-books-ever, so you might as well decide based on the cover. Maybe you prefer the blurb, but really, you need some kind of filter before even going that far. There's too much content. Nobody has enough free time to not judge the majority of things by their cover. And by judge I mean deciding whether to ignore it or not.

 

I couldn't even imagine not ignoring 99.99999% of everything the world has to offer, like gardening or sky diving.

 

[JoostinOnline]

32 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

if you haven't watched the videos, you have no way of gauging whether your life was improved.

I absolutely do. Don't be an ass.

[Jtalk4456]

9 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

I absolutely do. Don't be an ass.

i wasn't being rude in any way. Cussing didn't need to be brought into this

[Jtalk4456]

36 minutes ago, Bramimond said:

@Jtalk4456 You have to judge whether to read that book/whatever or not based on something and unless you have unlimited time you won't be reading all-books-ever, so you might as well decide based on the cover. Maybe you prefer the blurb, but really, you need some kind of filter before even going that far. There's too much content. Nobody has enough free time to not judge the majority of things by their cover. And by judge I mean deciding whether to ignore it or not.

 

I couldn't even imagine not ignoring 99.99999% of everything the world has to offer, like gardening or sky diving.

 

well your point is interesting because you are still only talking about content. Of course you're going to actively ignore gardening if you dislike gardening. But that's different than knowing you like videos about tech and ignoring it because the name of the video is silly. Ignore what you don't like, that's normal. But assuming you won't like something because the title is not what you would title it is ignoring content you might like a lot. You say I have to judge it based on something. I judge based on the perceived content. If a video is obviously about historical politics and I don't give a crap about that, I'm going to judge accordingly. But if it's obviously about tech and I love tech, but I just say no because the thumbnail has an obvious faked expression is silly to me. It's assuming the worst because of appearance and that's not something I'm a fan of

[SenKa]

5 hours ago, BuckGup said:

Well right now he's just making money...

Which is his first objective, if he's running his business properly. Not only can you not make everyone happy, if he tried LMG would go under in a week.

 

The issue with the term "clickbait" is that it's subjective to the content of the video.

 

Being a long time viewer and somebody who keeps up with technology news regularly, I can't find a piece of click bait posted in the last 2 weeks. Some video titles are more informative than others, but "clickbait" is incredibly subjective and a term I disagree with. The general rule of content creation is that your target audience (For LTT, the mildly well informed techie) should know what they're getting in to before clicking play. The only videos I personally cannot match to that rule are (in the last 2 weeks):

 

"This Changes RGB Forever"

"Sorry Apple... 'The Notch' is DEAD!"

"The Most Sensible Way To Kill The Notch"

 

So, if I were at LMG's LTT decision validating all titles and thumbnails for validity under common wisdom I would have flunked 3 that have been posted in the past 2 weeks. Considering how many editors LMG employs a 3/39 rato (or 7%) failure rating is better than I could say for most of my subscription box.

 

But as with this entire thread, it's all opinion.

[JoostinOnline]

15 hours ago, Canada EH said:

-snip-

Can you please stop it with the pointless fallacies and trolling? People are trying to have a meaningful discussion and you keep posting nonsense.

[Canada EH]

10 hours ago, Jtalk4456 said:

But if it's obviously about tech and I love tech, but I just say no because the thumbnail has an obvious faked expression is silly to me.

To many people that is the case. There are other channels to watch for your tech fix, computer fix, server fix, programming fix. All depends on the age range that the channel is trying to secure and the morals they have. Lots of content on YT, but sometimes you can get lost in all the non sense that goes on, all the silliness, all the fakery. Its because of YT's algorithms. There is one East Indian Canadian fellow, is quite funny. Lots of fireworks he uses, like when he plugs in a cord, a smoker will let off. I forget the name, but you watch one or two of those, and it gets old quite quickly. The content is good, something I'd like to learn about, but how he does it, it was funny at first, second I watched for shits n giggles but that is all I could stand.

[LAwLz]

On 1/16/2019 at 10:54 PM, AlexTheGreatish said:

Click bait sucks. But not nearly as bad as working super hard on a video, titling it honestly, and then having it bomb.  Unfortunately with how YouTube works (and how more casual tech youtube watchers work) it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to title something like "Product X Review", and hopefully with the thumbnail you should be able to roughly figure out what the video about.

Imagine if everyone used that excuse.

 

"It sucks writing an article and then not get all that many readers, so therefore it is justified to write articles with little substance and headlines like 'you won't believe what Trump said'!".

 

If your content by your own admission "bombs" when you're "being honest" with it, then maybe you should take a good hard look at your own morals. Being dishonest and tricking people into watching your content... Is that really what you want to do? You're not that far from a con-man by your own admission, that you are not being honest because that doesn't make you as much money.

 

Thumbnails and titles are meant to inform the user of what they are getting themselves into. To help them not waste their time, and help them find the content they want. They are not suppose to "hopefully give the viewers a rough idea of what the video might be about".

 

 

Seriously, don't you hear how bad this makes you sound?

You are saying that when you are being honest and informing people what your videos are about, less people view it. Therefore you think that it is justified to trick and lure people into watching it. If people don't want to view your content when they know what it's about, then don't con them into viewing it anyway. Make better content that people actually want to view instead.

 

I don't want to watch gardening videos for example. Therefore I think it is immoral for a gardening channel to try and trick me into viewing it by using deceptive titles and thumbnails. Them going "well we need to make money so that we can keep making videos" is not a valid excuse for making me view something I wasn't interested in.

[D13H4RD]

They really need to take a step back. It's already going deep into ridiculous levels.

 

TechQuickie's quality in terms of accuracy has not been well-received lately, with a couple of inaccuracies in some videos, especially when they're now coupled with titles such as "How is this screen NOT BROKEN?!", rather than "Flexible Displays as fast as possible".

 

I know YouTube favors clickbait and it is shit, but by doing so, aren't you contributing to the problem? 

[JoostinOnline]

22 minutes ago, D13H4RD said:

TechQuickie's quality in terms of accuracy has not been well-received lately, with a couple of inaccuracies in some videos, especially when they're now coupled with titles such as "How is this screen NOT BROKEN?!", rather than "Flexible Displays as fast as possible". 

Hell, I skipped over that video because of the title. I assumed it was just Linus talking about durable phones or dropping something. I would have watched and recommended it if it had been given your title.

 

I kind of want to watch it now, but I'm not going to because they've made it clear that viewing it is perceived as support.

[D13H4RD]

1 hour ago, JoostinOnline said:

Hell, I skipped over that video because of the title. I assumed it was just Linus talking about durable phones or dropping something. I would have watched and recommended it if it had been given your title.

I stopped watching them precisely because it really feels that they're catering to trends rather than building on their integrity. 

 

LTT during the kitchen days were ultimately the better days. At this point, I really don't understand why they feel that doubling down on this was a good idea. It risks alienating long time viewers in return for short-term viewers who may come and go. 

 

Those viewers won't watch everything you have, guys, nor will they care a few months or years down the line. But long timers will. 

[JoostinOnline]

9 hours ago, D13H4RD said:

I stopped watching them precisely because it really feels that they're catering to trends rather than building on their integrity. 

 

LTT during the kitchen days were ultimately the better days. At this point, I really don't understand why they feel that doubling down on this was a good idea. It risks alienating long time viewers in return for short-term viewers who may come and go. 

 

Those viewers won't watch everything you have, guys, nor will they care a few months or years down the line. But long timers will. 

It really made me sad thinking about it last night. They had a loyal fanbase who was excited to support them in any way we could. Before they got in trouble for it, fans used to bookmark affiliate links so any purchases on Amazon would get them some extra money. Their decisions for squeezing every last penny out of people via manipulation has made the long term fans have no choice but to not support them. I continued watching all the videos for a long time (even though I wasn't really enjoying them), but now they're using my loyalty as an excuse to make things worse. I've been saving up for plane tickets to LTX (it will probably cost me around a grand), but I'm reconsidering.

[D13H4RD]

25 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

Their decisions for squeezing every last penny out of people via manipulation has made the long term fans have no choice but to not support them.

This reminds me.

 

Even when they first did clickbait, it wasn’t nearly as bad because the product that was in the video was in the title, such as 

 

“The BEST 15” gaming laptop? - ASUS GL502VS review”

 

But now, it’s 

 

“Why would you even...”, and no mention of the RTX 2060 in the title although it’s part of the thumbnail in that case

[JoostinOnline]

23 minutes ago, D13H4RD said:

This reminds me.

 

Even when they first did clickbait, it wasn’t nearly as bad because the product that was in the video was in the title, such as 

 

“The BEST 15” gaming laptop? - ASUS GL502VS review”

 

But now, it’s 

 

“Why would you even...”, and no mention of the RTX 2060 in the title although it’s part of the thumbnail in that case

I just got a notification for the latest Techquickie and its one of the worst offenders. I'm unsubscribing.

[D13H4RD]

5 hours ago, JoostinOnline said:

I just got a notification for the latest Techquickie and its one of the worst offenders. I'm unsubscribing.

No kidding. It's like they're doubling down on it even though at this point, they already have the subscriber count. 

 

Not to mention a lot of subs likely aren't regular watchers of the show. 

[JoostinOnline]

20 hours ago, D13H4RD said:

No kidding. It's like they're doubling down on it even though at this point, they already have the subscriber count. 

 

Not to mention a lot of subs likely aren't regular watchers of the show. 

An hour ago I unsubscribed from LTT as well. I got a notification for "How will we ever put this back together", or something along the line. It was one step too far.

[Lathlaer]

1 hour ago, JoostinOnline said:

An hour ago I unsubscribed from LTT as well. I got a notification for "How will we ever put this back together", or something along the line. It was one step too far.

They must have changed it because from context I presume it's the latest video about RED disassembly and now that video title is "We took apart an 8K camera".

 

On a completely unrelated note (heh xD), they are about 3k subs away from 8 mil subs.

[Bouzoo]

3 minutes ago, Lathlaer said:

They must have changed it because from context I presume it's the latest video about RED disassembly and now that video title is "We took apart an 8K camera".

They changed it yes. You can see in the official thread why.