Comments by "" (@sirtra) on "My Video Went Viral. Here's Why" video.

  1. Whilst I agree with everything you've outlined but as someone who subscribes to lots of channels and use the 'subscriptions' feed in addition to 'recommended' the title and thumbnail really are key to what I click on or don't. I'd make a small clarification on 'clickbaity' though as obvious clickbait stuff has the opposite effect on me. To me, what gets my click is a thumbnail and title that is: 1) descriptive (but not misleading) 2) intriguing (but not intentionally vague) Whilst this shares characteristics with 'clickbaity' stuff I actually consider it different and avoid like the plague actual 'clickbait' or sensational/misleading titles. One thing which really rubs me the wrong way and doesn't get my click (or if it does i'll watch for only a few seconds whilst i harshly judge the content and the moment it contradicts the title/picture i stop) are titles which speak as if they know what I'm thinking or claim to provide something they don't, eg: 5 thing you didn't know about something you won't believe this about that why something is better than this And don't even get me started on titles in all caps or certain words in caps like DESTROYS. Your 96 million balls vid is a perfect title and thumbnail and amusingly i wouldn't even know it went viral unless i watched this - i would of been one of the early viewers who watched it hours after it was uploaded and helped make it trend as i watched it in its entirety. So keep with the 96 million balls style title/picture - it tells me enough to know what the video will be about, gives an illustrative picture that makes me want to see more and also gets me curious. More importantly it doesnt claim to be something it's not and doesn't assume anything about the audience. A bad and clickbait title/picture for that video which is all too common and wouldn't have got my click and full watch would be: You won't BELIEVE why theres 96 million balls on this lake!! (then a picture that just shows a bunch of balls with no way to assess the size of the balls or lake - you being in the thumbnail or some object to help assess overall size like a car or boat really helps)
    1