3 Things I'd Change About YouTube

My two cents, adjusted for inflation.
/ joefelice

[@Jogwheel]

Interesting to watch this 14 years later. Point #1 was all but completely abandoned - but your second and third ideas were mostly (eventually) implemented!

[@JoeFelice]

Victory lap!

[@Jogwheel]

JoeFelice - Oh, awesome! Glad to hear you stopped by. I ought to make you a mod - that way, you're not limited by slow-mode...and I might actually see you if you poke in for a few minutes! - Jon

[@Jogwheel]

BreezyFilm - I for one, really love the abilities of custom thumbnails - and personally, I don't abuse them, and usually try to make them as relevant and helpful as possible. But most don't, sadly. - Jon

[@drewdogdizzle]

I honestly cannot tell you what the last pop up ad in a video has been about in the last 2 months. I've just become so accustomed to closing them when they pop up that I don't even take the 1 second it takes to recognize what the ad is selling.

[@tedstarz]

Dam Joe, they were some good suggestions...Are you seriously telling me you have had enough of the "turn yourself into a cartoon" ad? I love that shiiiiit!!lol

[@JoeFelice]

Thanks Jon! I dropped in on your live show for a bit tonight. A bit too hectic to try and jump in, but it was cool that you were guesthosting fans.

[@TrainingPositive]

Excellent Ideas! My favorite was the first one. I would like to hear the counter-arguments which I find hard to imagine, could be articulated as well.

[@BigBrotherMateyka]

I anticipate a sequel to this, or an least an expansion as to your other thoughts would be. These are awesome ideas, and they'll definitely be helpful to the KZbin community as well as profitable.

[@DellBoy010]

Well put Joe. I especially agree with your 1st point - expand the list from a top 100 to a top 1000 or more, I'm a bit of a stats nerd and I would love seeing how well or how poorly some youtubers are doing.

[@Jogwheel]

Joe - another great video. You are amazingly well-spoken, and consistently express your brilliant ideas clearly. - As I discovered in person when I met you at 789 ;) I'm definitely favoritism this one. As for what I'd change? I'd like to see a "Signature" option for video descriptions - a tag / group of links (to your twitter, your 2nd channel etc) - that you are able to edit in one location, but something that appears across all of your new/old videos simultaneously. - Jon

[@Jogwheel]

I'm still waiting for a "global description footer."

[@g1a1r1y3]

I especially agree about the ad-option idea. It will need to be tweaked, but the basic premise is great. Also, I would suggest that every "Grab-Bag Thursday" you propose one improvement to YT. Than make an ever-expanding playlist of it of it (Top 3, Top 10, Top 100, Top 1000, see where I am going) that can serve as a source of inspiration for the "powers-that-be" at TY. Good job!

[@moremegan6847]

Your suggestions on making Partner Videos run without ads for a cost is a great one. People that don't want to pay don't have to, but personally I would find it worthwhile just to pay that just to not have to deal with the constantly more intrusive ads. Your idea on adding more numbers to the Partner Lists is also a wonderful idea Joe. Really I hope that some staff do watch this and bring some of these ideas to the table, especially this one. It's brilliant really.

[@drewdogdizzle]

Also, I LOVE your first idea of increasing the "top 100" to the top...1000 or even higher.

[@JoeFelice]

In 2006 when I joined there was a channel module where you could review all of your old comments, going way back, in one place. I loved it. Then it disappeared.

[@orthostasis]

I think that the first idea is an excellent suggestion. It's fun to see the standings change, and like you said, more pages would be a win-win for everyone. I like the 3rd idea too, but it would run into a whole lot of resistance in the community. Things like this tend to be oversimplified by people against it, like in MrChiCity3's video. Dan thoroughly rebutted him, but 10 times as many people saw MrChiCity3's video as Dan's. I can see this causing widespread rumor of "pay for use" on youtube.

[@1234aabc]

Those are some good ideas! I'd like to see an improvement to the subscription box on the front page. It could be easier to navigate and tell which videos are new. Plus old videos keep appearing again, which the should fix :)

[@nemarvin]

I agree with your views, especially the advertisement one. Also I'd like to add (and this might sound a little weird) that your voice is just awesome to listen to. I don't know why or how but you're like the born speaker (?) and just for that I have subscribed :)

[@KalifUmestoKalifa]

@JoeFelice What, you mean, there are ads on youtube? Wait I gotta see this, just a moment to turn-off ad-block, and.... oh man, you are right it's awful, I'm turning it back on, ahhh... this is the youtube I know and love.

[@TheOnlyOreilly]

Now after actually watching the video I love your third idea. It kind of reminds of when Hulu gives me the option to watch a long commercial before the video so that I can watch it continuously without an annoying video in between. I don't think a lot of people would go for it but those who want to support the community as well as have no advertisements would happily pay for it. Great stuff as always.

[@Chilldogg]

nice ideas, Joe. Especially 1 & 2.

[@_chip]

Joe: you have really been making great strides with your channel :D great job. I'm really glad I met you in New York :D

[@ObamaPress]

Joe I think #1 is brilliant! Great suggestion! # 2 creates a liability risk for YT related to DMCA legislation. That is, by being and appearing entirely uninvolved in the creation of content on the site KZbin avoids legal judgments that would hold them accountable for copyright infringing content. Were YT to become more involved in the community then they'd risk creating the perception that they are actively involved in driving creation of content and therefore lose DMCA protection.

[@rudy4histo]

Great Video Joe, awesome suggestions!

[@cbgb99]

Great ideas as always Joe, great choice in shirts also!

[@nobudgettv1]

Joe, Brilliant. The only thing I would add is if a channel is going to be suspended or removed, there needs to be an explanation more specific than "terms of use violation". The terms of use is longer than a novel. Point out where someone screwed up and either warn them or suspend with a REAL explanation. Thank you. C.J. No Budget TV

[@JoeFelice]

Thanks for the support, Archie!

[@lavahook]

I know this is a stupid idea, but I think it fits in with the video. KZbin needs to expand their customization. Not add features, but just extend what they already have. Like the background size limit for non-partners is 256k, which is literally NOTHING if you want a background to sustain it's quality. Another is to allow non-partners to have channel banners...it makes a channel look amazing. But instead of uploading the image, just upload it to a image sharing site, then link the image! :D

[@candlelight377]

Amazing suggestions Joe I love them all :D

[@grt05]

I never thought about your 2nd point before...its a good one.

[@Castaa]

Good suggestions. Besides the improvement to video quality (better bit rate options), I can't think of one positive feature change for the KZbin site in over a year. I use the site less because of the these negative changes.

[@Taratalk]

Joe, I am greatful that you take the 4hours of prep to bring me your ideas. I completely agree with the youtube getting involved with there youtube... my only adjustment could be if they are camera shy, that they could even appoint big yt stars to guest in explaining there ideas, like apoint 5 main people to handle there issues like PR people... those people would be partners... and idk it could help get the word out. I love the no-ad accounts..

[@LiberalViewer]

I like this analysis and this video. Thanks for making and uploading it :-)

[@JoeFelice]

Thanks Bridget!

[@JoeFelice]

Thank you, NMRA. I'd like to say that I feel the meritocracy working, but the great majority of my viewership comes not through random connections, but my friendships with a few very popular vloggers who've promoted me a lot. I'm afraid that if I was doing this without those friendships, I'd be getting, maybe a couple hundred views per video. So always keep an eye out for big talent in small packages, cuz it's out there, and it's unrecognized.

[@redneckn2n298]

i agree with everything you said there. one thing i would change, and this would affect all of those who are really popular, is the ability to mark people as spam or filter the mail to determine its content and have them placed in corresponding folders marked as such.

[@JoeFelice]

My brain is in there.

[@Jogwheel]

schantzman87 - I can't but think of Phil DeFranco with this comment, haha. He launched his ... 6th channel today? Maybe his 7th? It was a secondary channel for his new LTA project... - Jon

[@TaffyRaphie]

joe...i think you're a genius...and my mental twin...so i'm a genius too? wait..now i'm confuzzled!

[@AngryKettle]

has this posting every day got you much more notice? You really deserve it by now

[@JoeFelice]

Haha, you're the person with the best reason in the world to be glad it's a hundred! Thanks for the sub, by the way.

[@Phaustin]

You make REALLY good suggestions that I really think youtube should watch this, and really take them into consideration at least. One thing extra I would change about KZbin, is for them to add some kind of live feed, even with videos on your channel, you can have a live show as well. I think that would be pretty interesting, and you call the shots as to if you have advertisement while you do the live show. What do you think?

[@testing25]

you are a very smart person. you and dan brown are many of the reasons i keep coming back to this site. :)

[@Bluer123]

I'd prefer to see the ads than see the partners promoting an ad free subscription in their videos...

[@ChateauOfADoubt]

These were really good suggestions, not things I had considered in the past, but things that I now agree with whole-heartedly.

[@Jeronimus84]

Good stuff man. Especially your first point.

[@FluffyLizards]

If people start blocking adblock users we'll just switch to Opera b/c it has a built in blocker. There's no way to stop it.

[@JoeFelice]

There is a very big failsafe valve on charging too much. First that people will opt out by choosing the advertising model, and if the advertising option weren't available anymore, they'd watch their videos on another of the many websites that host video. KZbin's advantage over its competitors is the perpetuation of marketshare. It doesn't have a unique product with intrinsic trade secrets. As soon as they piss people off, they die. My request is about expanding, not restricting our options.

[@KaptajnKaffe]

If I wanted to change 3 things, it should be: Stop vote botting Stop false flagging Stop false DMCA fix those things, and I would really happy...

[@ohemmi]

Not only do you have suggestions but valid reasoning behind it. Smart man.

[@TomFlynn]

number 1 is definitly a great idea

[@JoeFelice]

Thanks for coming :)

[@JoeFelice]

I studied at NYU, but that's not why I know a lot. It's more because I've been pursuing knowledge and experiences constantly throughout my adulthood, which when you get to my age, which is 31, it adds up.

[@JoeFelice]

Oh, thanks a lot dude. Glad to get the reminder and check out your Germany experience.

[@HallWoodProductions]

I think they should have a monthly/weekly feature of KZbin channels that aren't popular but have good content. I find myself and many others working SO hard. But not seeing anything for it.. for example, Me and Chris worked 16+ hours on an iPhone songs. Recording it, editing it, singing it. But we only have around 420 views on it.. and probably not going to get much more. Its very frustrating

[@johnyzammuto]

Absolutely agree with you.

[@JoeFelice]

Thanks a lot, Michael; and thanks for the favorite too :)

[@Anonymous5125]

Nobody would bother paying to remove the ads since there are many free ways to do it. I block all ads through my hosts file.

[@OfficialBenP]

great ideas, especially the chart idea. An idea I have would be to have a model on the homepage showing non-popular KZbinrs to help them gain an audience (I'm pretty sure they do not already do this but I may be wrong)

[@Lisa246861]

I'm not a fan of the 3rd suggestion because if KZbin creates a pro-membership-type status where you pay a fee to avoid ad annoyance, then those (like me) who are broke, enjoy using KZbin as a free service, and don't actually mind the ads, would probably get screwed over when KZbin decides to increase the ad annoyance as a way to get us to finally give-in to the pro-membership. (Wow, that was a really long run-on sentence)

[@NadavShoham]

wow joe you got awesome ideas they should totally consider the first one!! i know i liked it

[@hannelotta]

Interesting, I've never thought of it that way. But on most sites ads are VERY annoying, and I'm not quite ready to stop using AdBlock. Is Joe's suggestion the best solution? Pay a little for ad-free content?

[@JoshKeatonFan]

@LiberalViewer Hey man! I agree with you 100%. Also, this option he talks about to give users a choice to pay KZbin to not watch through intrusive ads that just get annoying is a great idea. I also, like how he says users will not be forced into anything.

[@ObamaPress]

#3 could work but may affect marketing as a free video sharing site. #3 would still make it technically free, but then marketing isn't all about fact, and so just the perception that some of the KZbin product needs to be paid for, could have negative marketing effects. Also for the people who are not bothered by the ads establishing a fee to view ad free would cause them to feel like they should be bothered. Again this is about managing viewers perception of product quality.

[@JoeFelice]

That is a really good one! One of the best I've heard.

[@Taratalk]

also thinking about the top 1000 list i think it would be also cool to have a I recommend button next to ratings and have a top 100 most recommended videos... videos that people like and would like to recommend to other users...

[@Featureman]

Very well stated.

[@BridgetONeill]

Well said, great points, pretty much kick-ass, Joe. FAVED

[@ThatPirateguy]

One thing I've found extremely annoying is that since the beta update, you couldn't easily access a play list's menu through the channel it's on. I like watching my videos one after another and I like getting some other people feedback in the comments.

[@doggbisket]

How do you find the time to do a video every day?

[@JoeFelice]

Thanks Tara. That has kind of happened to a small extent; Whatthebuck has a video on the KZbin channel; but I think that until they're on the Google payroll, and part of the decision making process, then they're not truly invested with the voice of KZbin.

[@RHCPpwns]

joe is very smart. these ideas are great.

[@knibbles1882]

All awesome ideas.

[@Yewon2001]

If I could pay $2 a month to get rid of those flash overlay then I would totally pay that. Great video.

[@Michaelsp9]

Damn, you come up with amazing ideas! I 100% agree with you on all your suggestions! ~ KZbin owners, he's a keeper!

[@MrJy93]

Smart, Intelligent, clever, brilliant, and so many other adjectives that simply sum up Joe Felice. Great ideas. By the way... You still haven't answered my question as to a bit more of your background. Where or did you study at? Or how did you become so knowledgeable? Thanks....

[@eljin00]

AMEN!!!!

[@TheNavyHM]

I think a better source of searching where video creators could havea view drop down tabs to categorize their videos to a slightly more specific place, and give searchers the same drop down categories to search for videos b/c the tabs do work but only to a slight extent and by making slightly more specific without making it complicated it would allow "us" the users of youtube to find videos we are interested in, that are not made by the famous people that youtube pushes you too...

[@cavan132]

Gountry, Bluegrass and blues & other music for uplifting gormundizers

[@texasjean08]

OMG Joe...#3 is absolutely a great idea. I would pay! On a lot of the game websites...you pay so that you don't have to watch those ads that we NEVER click on even if it "won't interrupt our game play" . Again, I would definitely pay! Also, loved the live blog last night, hope you do it again....it was fun! So is Tehran stalking you now? LOL :)

[@RanDumbActs]

Great video. I found your video from JPizzle's twitter. I would change this....There should be someone, or a team of people who goes through all of the new videos throughout the day and these people, or one person should pick favorite videos of theres. They should then all go through these videos and pick out the very best ones. These very best videos should be FEATURED! People like ourselves work so hard to make videos and get nothing out of it. The same five KZbinrs get featured every day.

[@JoeFelice]

What percentage of users and/or pageviews do you think are affected by this phenomenon?

[@gabrielwingue]

I don't have anything to add to what you said, but you sir (as I am just seeing you now) have won another subscriber.

[@JoeFelice]

I have a BFA in Drama, and don't seek an advanced degree. I do get along well with academics.

[@JoeFelice]

If that was as popular as you think, nobody would be making any money.

[@Gigameth89]

While the first 2 suggestions are gold, the last one strikes me as slightly flawed. People are paying for the internet already, so are generally put off when they have to pay for something else on top of that. Another thing is, when something that was once free becomes something that you must pay for, people start to lose interest. And whats to say that KZbin will follow through with this fairly anyway? We'll most likely see more ads than was thought possible for those who haven't paid.

[@flawedpeanut]

The only regrettable thing about this video is that is will never make 'front page' on youtube due to insufficient views and subscribers. Sigh. If only videos like this went viral.

[@6663000]

Excellent ideas. My suggestion: Word filter the word "first" in the first 5 comments of every video :)

[@nickdigg5]

chrome now has extensions which allow u to use a ad blocker, it was just added recently

[@Electricmayhemmd]

Amen!

[@Kvlbeat]

all of the ideas are good and minor so no huge changes.well done

[@whitewaterfrog]

you have your point. and i'll share it with you

[@JoeFelice]

@rockboyish You can do that actually. If you block them they can't subscribe, post comments, or message you. Rumpagump did this to me in 2008. I don't know why, random malice I think, but now I'm dead to him.

[@hamstap85]

well i especially like that last one.. anyway, what's up with WMG? why do they always 'claim' audio, thus disabling it? it's not like people are generally benefiting off their music (besides partners and i think you guys even have guidelines to follow), we're only making them more popular by spreading their music. so if they don't want people listening to their music by taking it down, fine, but it ruins videos

[@Dannerzz]

Tag, you're it.

[@katianovakk]

Very intelligent and thought out argument. I agree with you 100%.

[@GeekonatorsBox]

he should work for Google/youtube. The reason I say that is because he is very creative and and knows what the people want. And that's what most people who work for youtube do and develop these ideas to make things more user friendly. I call this guy a KZbin Politician.

[@mernt]

Great ideas!

[@JoeFelice]

I like that! It would be like Facebook, if the creator and the subject both agree that the subject is in the video, it gets the special status.

[@DEMOR91ALHOTHY]

Okay ... i didn't get your second change ?.. what exactly you wish to change ?...

[@Aqueries44]

I agree entirely really.