Why Subscriber Counts Matter Less

Subscriber counts mat­ter less and less.

If we know where to look, we can see it clearly:

Earning trust over time gets the algorithmic back­seat, while sen­sa­tion­al pieces of con­tent get the roy­al treat­ment. Why is this happening?

Here we go:

Why Subscriber Counts Matter Less

Like many oth­ers inter­ested in pho­to­graphy, I sub­scribe to Canadian con­tent cre­at­or and pho­to­graph­er Peter McKinnon on YouTube. And I’m not alone; 5,55 mil­lion sub­scribers fol­low McKinnon as I write this.

5,55 mil­lion is a respect­able audi­ence by any measure!

Still, it’s not uncom­mon for McKinnon’s reg­u­lar videos to acquire a few hun­dred thou­sand views. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not say­ing a) that a few hun­dred thou­sand views are noth­ing or b) that we should feel sorry for influencers.

I’m say­ing: A few hun­dred thou­sand views is a lot—but it’s not 5,55 mil­lion.

Instead of basing algorithmic dis­tri­bu­tion on McKinnon’s past per­form­ance (e.g., sub­scriber count, total views earned, etc.), YouTube tests each new video using the single con­tent algorithm.

If McKinnon almost always gets a few hun­dred thou­sand views, his videos typ­ic­ally pass that many iter­at­ive audi­ence tests before hit­ting the “algorithmic wall of bricks” (i.e. IF=failure).

It’s the silent switch.

Now, I appre­ci­ate McKinnon’s con­tent. However, his struggle to earn more views is… his.

In the grander scheme of things, at the level where it affects us all as online media con­sumers, the single con­tent algorithm has one pro­found — and rather ser­i­ous! — implication:

Earning trust over time gets the algorithmic back­seat, while sen­sa­tion­al pieces of con­tent get the roy­al treatment.

Learn more: Why Subscriber Counts Matter Less

The Silent Switch

All social media algorithms are built dif­fer­ently and are con­stantly being developed. At the same time, social media users’ beha­viours are evolving.

Still, there was a way that social media algorithms used to behave—and there is a way that social media algorithms behave now.

This has been a fun­da­ment­al but silent switch.

How Social Media Algorithms Used To Behave

For more than a dec­ade, social media algorithms would deliv­er organ­ic reach accord­ing to a dis­tri­bu­tion that looked some­thing like this:

This dis­tri­bu­tion of organ­ic reach enabled organ­isa­tions to use social media des­pite not being “media companies.”

How Social Media Algorithms Behave Today

Today, after the silent shift, social media algorithms deliv­er organ­ic reach more like this:

The increased com­pet­i­tion and soph­ist­ic­a­tion among con­tent cre­at­ors par­tially explain this new type of dis­tri­bu­tion. However, going vir­al is still just as pos­sible for anyone.

How does this work?

The Single Content Algorithm

How can a social net­work pre­dict what users will like? 

Content from a trus­ted cre­at­or trus­ted by a large com­munity of fol­low­ers used to be the lead­ing indic­at­or of future per­form­ance. But today, social net­works have found a bet­ter way to pre­dict con­tent success.

The single con­tent algorithm = when social net­works demote con­tent cre­at­or author­ity to pro­mote single con­tent per­form­ance to max­im­ise user engage­ment for ad revenue.

The single con­tent algorithm presents newly pub­lished con­tent to a lim­ited test audi­ence. It’s not the biggest fans but rather a stat­ist­ic­al subset.

If the newly pub­lished con­tent tests suc­cess­fully, the social media algorithm pushes that con­tent to a slightly lar­ger stat­ist­ic­al sub­set. And so on.

This iter­at­ive pro­cess means that single pieces of con­tent worthy of going vir­al will go vir­al, a) even if it takes a longer time, and b) regard­less of the con­tent cre­at­or’s num­ber of followers.

Learn more: The Silent Switch

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Social Media Mechanics

• Social Media — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• How Social Media Algorithms Rule Our Lives
• The Silent Switch
• Why Subscriber Counts Matter Less
• Why Social Media Algorithms Are Basic
• Dark Social: The Online Interaction We Can’t See

Social Media Psychology

• Social Media Naturals
• The Narcissistic Principle
• The Selfie Generation
• Emotional Maturity and Social Media (to be published)
• Attention Spans in the Social Media Age

Social Media Management

• Social Media Must Be Managed (to be published)
• The Follower Contract
• A Community Manager’s Job Description
• No Brand Community for You
• Critical Mass: How Many Social Media Followers Do You Need?

Social Media Issues

• The List of Social Media Issues
• How Ghost Followers Destroy Your Social Accounts
• Social Media Myths in PR
• Facebook Zero: Your First Fix Was Free

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