I consistently hear people on YouTube complain that the subscribe button doesn’t do anything for viewers, now that channel notifications are controlled by the bell. But it does do something: it puts the videos from that channel in your subscription feed, which is readily accessible on all versions of YouTube. So why do people act like it doesn’t exist? I think it’s super convenient, especially if you’re subscribed to a ton of channels and don’t want your notifications feed flooded with new videos.
I only use the Subscriptions feed, and use an extension that blocks recommendations and shorts.
Additionally, before watching any video I’ll check the channel page to see if YouTube is hiding any of that person’s videos from me (which they do even on the Subscriptions feed sometimes).
Fuck the algorithm.
What I don’t understand about “the algorithm” is why creators have to branch off into different channels when content differs from their main type of content.
Its often the personalities that I enjoy, whether the creator decides to put out a different type of content. So while I voraciously consume their content sometimes I’m completely unaware of separate channels because I never read video descriptions and have add-ons that block superfluous bullshit
I believe it’s because a lot of people (or, enough people that it’s a thing) will subscribe to a channel for a specific sort of content, not a personality. If the channel starts to do things that aren’t that content, then people will unsubscribe so as to avoid seeing random things they don’t want to have cluttering up their subscription feed.
YouTube punishes variety and inconsistency. By having other channels they can get those promoted in the algorithm instead of their bread and butter content.