alt Hacker NewsThe thing I hate and this article kind of gets at in a roundabout way is how much slop is encouraged by the algorithm if you are a creator.
I've mentioned on this account a bunch of times I'm a very small-scale content creator (4 digit follower count) that has never monetized or really tried to monetize - making content, even if no one or very few people watch it is a hobby I just enjoy whether I make money or not.
Recently though it's been pointed out to me in harsh ways I could be easily growing if I tried a little harder, so I've invested more resources into the channel, equipment, actually trying growth, etc.
What I have noticed is that the content I make often or usually has to change in ways the FYP algorithm likes, or it will be lost into the ether, no matter how much money I put into it. So in a way the FYP is deciding which content it likes, which affects what creators put out, which to me destroys the entire creative process and makes slop necessary. I deeply resent it, I don't want to participate in it, and a decision inevitably gets made where you have to be like "do I want to get bigger and make money, or do I want to make the content I want to make?" Only the very, very lucky get both if you're on one of these major platforms.
One thing I particularly hated was as a twitch partner I notice that if I show ads, more traffic is then driven to my channel. That fundamentally compromises my content IMO. I understand why they as a business would want me to show ads, but I very much do not want to show them. Yes, I can migrate or try to host my own content, so I am accepting this reality by staying, but it wasn't always this way.
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> I'm a very small-scale content creator (4 digit follower count) that has never monetized or really tried to monetize
To my understanding, that's about the size where platforms will typically consider allowing you to monetize through their system (as opposed to rattling a cup at Patreon, Ko-Fi etc.), and no mean feat (while everyone that people can think of listening to might be at least that size, very few people who try to develop and grow a presence succeed to that extent).
Congrats.
Replying to my own comment like this in this thread is vain and gauche so I apologize, but as I think more about this conversation, there’s a site I am now thinking I want to build similar to the early twitch days (justin.tv) to where you could host anything you wanted and drive traffic to it as you please without worrying about algorithms. I’d love to build that. Leaving this here in case that idea becomes a reality I can link the post a year from now.
Integrity is good, but the adtech ecosystem isn't designed to reward integrity. It's all about funneling eyeballs and clicks, and doing everything possible to restrict available next actions to a selection of Google's choosing (or Facebook, or Microsoft, etc.) There's a vicious feedback cycle wherein consumers are successively limited in choice, and if it's more profitable to direct them to a competitor's channel that's full of ads and slop than to your channel, they're not only going to favor the competitor overtly in the algorithm, the feedback cycle is going to make the counterproductive things you do (like having integrity) less fashionable overall.
It's their playground, their rules. Fair or right has nothing to do with it.
Could you give some examples?
I noticed recently that some of my older accounts would have a higher quality of recommended content.
And then within a week or two of using them, it would be back to the same slop as my main account.
As far as I can tell this is because I click on what catches my attention. Whatever stands out. Which tends to be the most clickbaity thumbnails.
So I have to wonder if what you're actually fighting against is an algorithm, or the human limbic system...
There’s a neat little story called "Anecdote on Lowering the work ethic" that you might like. You can read the plot on the Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anekdote_zur_Senkung_der_Arbei...