Linus's Disturbing Trend to Clickbait

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, obi-fade-kenobi said:

 

This one is just taking the piss tbh lol. Do you remember who your audience is?

Side note: Does anyone know what that video is about?

 

On principle, I REFUSE to watch it without knowing the topic before hand, because the video gives me zero indication about the content, both in terms of Video Title, and Thumbnail.

 

The box might have a cool new E5 series Xeon on it. Or it might be a Pre-Release Ryzen CPU! ... or it could be a rainbow coloured turd, with sprinkles on top.

[Taja]

1 hour ago, obi-fade-kenobi said:

 

This one is just taking the piss tbh lol. Do you remember who your audience is?

This one I have to agree is clickbait. The title is clickbait, and the thumbnail complements the ideia. In this case, I suggest using thumbs down.

[LAwLz]

3 hours ago, Taja said:

This one I have to agree is clickbait. The title is clickbait, and the thumbnail complements the ideia. In this case, I suggest using thumbs down.

I recommend just not watching it.

If this thread is proof of anything, then it's that Linus only cares about clicks. If his views don't go down then he will keep doing it. His words, not mine. So I recommend everyone who doesn't like the thumbnails to stop watching completely. At least for a month or so, and if he hasn't changed back (which I doubt he will*) then go back and watch again, if you can stand the cringy thumbnails and terrible titles.

 

*Even if his viewers go down, I doubt he will link it to the thumbnails because of confirmation bias. He has already shown that he suffers from it because he contributed his increase in views to the new thumbnails, and not the fact that he has put up multiple videos a day from CES, all of which contains brand new products people might find interesting. So he might just blame the decreasing views on "no new products launching".

 

Also, to me it seems like the views hasn't changed much at all. The content seems to determine views way more than the thumbnails. I guess that's why they are changing the titles too to be more ambiguous.

[zMeul]

5 hours ago, Taja said:

You sound like a megalomaniac. You are his "core" audience? Or the minority that are complaining are his "core" audience? And "time Will Tell"? Yeah, right. 

 

Jesus, his core audience does not give A SHIT. 100 People out of a Million are complaining, no one gives a shit about the thumbnails, you Just think ppl does because you found People like you. If you dont like the videos anymore, Just stop watching, holding on to something you dont like makes no sense.

you have 100+ posts on this forum and a 1/2y old account - don't tell me .. you are LTT's core audience 

 

---

 

and PS: to be a megalomaniac you actually have to have a chance to get in power

I'm a forum user, I can't be a "megalomaniac"; you on the other hand .. aren't you bit dictatorial?!

[AshleyAshes]

I feel like the extensive analytics that YouTube provides, including gender, age group, region, and the many sources of views be they directly from subscriptions, hot links from specific forums or social media sites, recommendations after consumption of other content and such in you tube is much more telling as to what LMG's actual 'core audience' is, as opposed to the self-definition of some irate people on LMGs own forum who seem to think that LMG 'owes' them something in exchange for consuming LMG's content

[iamdarkyoshi]

/thread

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

 

/thread

*shivers* 

[Taja]

25 minutes ago, zMeul said:

you have 100+ posts on this forum and a 1/2y old account - don't tell me .. you are LTT's core audience 

 

---

 

and PS: to be a megalomaniac you actually have to have a chance to get in power

I'm a forum user, I can't be a "megalomaniac"; you on the other hand .. aren't you bit dictatorial?!

I meant it more like egocentric, Sorry english is not my First Language. And I had this ACC for 1/2year, but do you know for how long I watch ltt? No. And this is not the point, im not the core audience, and neither are you - NOBODY can be the Voice of the core audience, this is being egocentric. You are representing you, not "the core audience". And im representing myself also.

 

And I dont think im being dictatorial, im trying to be reasonable - you assumed im saying "you are wrong because im right" and in Just saying "you are wrong because you are wrong". (About the core audience stuff)

[zMeul]

5 minutes ago, Taja said:

NOBODY can be the Voice of the core audience, this is being egocentric. You are representing you, not "the core audience". And im representing myself also.

yeah, I don't call myself the voice of the core audience, but I am one voice from the core audience; if I'm not part of the core audience, then who is?!

and I didn't tell Linus what to do / not to do, I only voiced my opinion and concerns - he can do whatever

 

Quote

And I dont think im being dictatorial, im trying to be reasonable

no, you are (!!) dictatorial - you are telling me how to behave because I voiced my opinion and that opinion doesn't match your own

[Taja]

Just now, zMeul said:

yeah, I don't call myself the voice of the core audience; if I'm not part of the core audience, then who is?!

and I didn't tell Linus to do / not to do, I only voiced my opinion and concerns - he can do whatever

 

no, you are (!!) dictatorial - you are telling me how to behave because I voiced my opinion and that opinion doesn't match your own

You didnt understand me If you think that is what i said.

 

And you are part of the core audience, and so am I. But you cant say "you will lose your core audience", you can say "you will lose me, a part of your core audience". The First one is being the Voice of the core audience. The Second one isnt.

[zMeul]

4 minutes ago, Taja said:

You didnt understand me If you think that is what i said.

really?

 

here's you:

Quote

Jesus, his core audience does not give A SHIT. 100 People out of a Million are complaining, no one gives a shit about the thumbnails, you Just think ppl does because you found People like you. If you dont like the videos anymore, Just stop watching, holding on to something you dont like makes no sense.

who's LTT's core audience if not those who engage back?

 

please stop being a hypocrite

 

over and out

[Castdeath97]

On 15/01/2017 at 5:36 AM, g12601 said:

Just be happy it's not this

Surprise! He actually used to be a normal tech tuber back in the day:

 

 

That's why we are worried about LTT, if we don't speak about it we all know where they will sink to...

 

[Taja]

5 hours ago, zMeul said:

really?

 

here's you:

who's LTT's core audience if not those who engage back?

 

please stop being a hypocrite

 

over and out

Ok, i guess you are either ignorant or you dont want to understand me. Either way, im done and i guess so are you. 

 

Last post in this thread.

[chrisholland03]

 

2/3 of the posters in this thread ^^^^^^^

 

LOL

[MrDynamicMan]

On 1/21/2017 at 10:01 PM, dalekphalm said:

Side note: Does anyone know what that video is about?

 

On principle, I REFUSE to watch it without knowing the topic before hand, because the video gives me zero indication about the content, both in terms of Video Title, and Thumbnail.

 

The box might have a cool new E5 series Xeon on it. Or it might be a Pre-Release Ryzen CPU! ... or it could be a rainbow coloured turd, with sprinkles on top.

Its a box with an ssd and a 7700k. Thats it.

[MrDynamicMan]

May We just talk about the SSD server video. Its 3 minutes of him walking around the warehouse being "oh look how goofy and relatable I am" 2 minutes of him "oops I knocked over these SSD's, boy Im so goofy" then like 30 seconds of him actually describing the server and setting it up. Dude, what the fuck. It literally felt like watching a toy channel

[dalekphalm]

59 minutes ago, MrDynamicMan said:

Its a box with an ssd and a 7700k. Thats it.

What... are you being serious? That's it...? Well, I'm glad I skipped that one, then.

[Alec M]

The only one that has looked decent recently was the Razer Blade Late 2016 review.

It felt more like the LTT I remember and loved.

[Alec M]

@LinusTech Your recent SSD video was okay, the thumbnail was meh. And I found myself feeling less like I was really there with my hands on the product.

The funny thing is you're actually not getting that many more views on your new videos. I just LOVED the quality of your old videos, and it makes me sad to see the channel go this way.

[Krytern]

Well by Linus' replies I think it is obvious he cares more about random views from people then he does for his fans. His fans have shown there disdain for the thumbnails and he literally doesn't care, as long as he gets views from people who will probably never subscribe.

 

Since that is how he feels who is to say the content won't shift that way too? After all as long as it "gets more people to view his content" then why care if the content changes to the same quality as their thumbnails?

 

I used to watch pretty much every video they uploaded from the start. Not posting in the forums much doesn't mean I was any less of a fan, a forum is just a forum.

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, Krytern said:

Well by Linus' replies I think it is obvious he cares more about random views from people then he does for his fans. His fans have shown there disdain for the thumbnails and he literally doesn't care, as long as he gets views from people who will probably never subscribe.

 

Since that is how he feels who is to say the content won't shift that way too? After all as long as it "gets more people to view his content" then why care if the content changes to the same quality as their thumbnails?

 

I used to watch pretty much every video they uploaded from the start. Not posting in the forums much doesn't mean I was any less of a fan, a forum is just a forum.

While I agree that his content is becoming (overall, but there are exceptions) worse, and their branding and marketing tactics have become worse (shitty thumbnails that are  SOMETIMES clickbait, shitty titles that are super vague and don't give enough info that you even KNOW what the topic is, etc).

 

You have to remember one thing. Just because we're forum users, doesn't mean we're his only fans. You've been a forum member since September 2015. Does that mean you weren't a fan before September 19th, 2015? Does that mean I'm a bigger fan then you are, because I joined the forums on March 9, 2013, a good 2.5 years before you?

 

No.

 

Case in point: The forums only have ~400,000 users - which about 70,000 of them were created in the last 6 months. Linus has, what, 3 Million subs? 3.5 Million subs. In addition to that, his most popular videos get well over 500,000 views, often over 1 Million views. That means there are, at minimum, between 100,000 and 600,000 additional "fans" that never even touch the forums.

 

Also, how do we define a fan? The "core audience"? I don't think I've been a part of the core audience for like 2 years now. The core audience seems to be young (8-14 would be my guess) kids who love the over-the-top stupid silly goofy "fake" thing that LMG has started to adopt.
 

I'm a rational adult, who likes the odd naturally occurring goofy moments (Eg: Linus' face when Raja Kouduri dropped the first ever shown off RX480), but prefers a more professional, and passionate content. I want good info, that's well researched, and presented clearly. I don't want half-assed content that helps nobody, but looks neat, and therefore gets views.

 

But hey, maybe I'm not the target viewer anymore?

 

My point is that, while we CAN AND SHOULD voice our constructive criticism and distaste towards the channel and the direction they're choosing, we cannot assume that "we" (moreso, you, on an individual basis) are the "main" fans. Or are "bigger" fans then those on YouTube, or those on the forums here who like the new content.

[BWLServers]

I don't see a problem at all. I can't say I particularly love the latest content, but I think it's just because it's a bit lacking in creativity. Not because the videos are being pushed out for "clickbait".

[divided_throwaway]

On 09/01/2017 at 0:23 AM, iamdarkyoshi said:

Youtube's been pushing for people to use clickbait recently because more views means more money. Its bullshit and I hate it. Look at the lets play channels, how many don't use CAPS LOCK IN THE TITLES? VERY FEW

YT these days is about advertising and copyright takedowns. Oh, and comments that have much weaker moderation than on Twitter.

[Modzy]

Hey LTT crew, thought I'd give some constructive feedback on your new style of thumbnails. Like many I follow far too many channel to keep track of day by day. Youtube seems to always sort my sub feed by the ones I actually watch and enjoy. However I've started to notice your videos no long are on my feed...

I normally have upwards of 30-40 videos per day featured in my daily sub feed. Of which maybe 10-15 I even click on to watch. So my brain prioritizes content that is recognizable, of serious nature, informative, high quality & looks like effort was made. All this info and more can be absorbed by a single thumbnail. for example. 



These 4 thumbnails all share a few common theme & some individual components.

These all have a clear goal of brand recognition through the use of logos, text or style. With the LTT PS4 video clearly being the most simple, yet highly professional. You can tell a set, high quality camera/lighting and even thought went into the single photograph. Jayz K95 has professional looking marco & colour details with simple informative text. Jacks BF1 video has a clear and easily recognizable logo with a simple screenshot with flat colours. The Singularity computers like the LTT one looks professional, done on a set with lighting & thought. These tell my brain with in milliseconds who the video belongs to, will the video be informative and of a serious nature. They are all simple yet complex and elegant. 
 

Then we have these types of thumbnails... 



These all share some very similar qualities... 

When my time is limited, valuable & spent with through and consideration. None of the above thumbnail even got more than a 0.0001% of a second look before never being looked at again on my sub feed. They blending into the mess of content that is youtube single quality platform for all. Now granted you can clearly see I have watched the LTT video, but that was because I only noticed it when on the LTT channel itself.. not watched from my sub feed.

These all have the exact same first impressions,

This video isn't serious and doesn't contain important information. Here are generic click-bait keywords or expressions of random stock photographs or googled images because I have no skills, material or knowledge to produce my own thumbnails to represent what this video is really about.


 

Now I know everyone thinks differently and will interpret what they see differently, especially if you're of a different age group. But here is the opinions of a 32yo geek, gamer & system builder who works designing & edited professional video & visual effects content. Which is nothing special compared to the companies of whose product you're featuring in these videos or the potential companies of the future. 

What happened? seriously why the huge reverse in quality representation? 

[3 Lions]

You watch the video, not look at the thumbnail.