RIP YouTube Video Responses (by @themefund)

KZbin announced today in a blog post titled "So long, video responses... Next up: better ways to connect" that the Video Response feature of the site is being eliminated in 2 weeks. This is a huge problem, let's talk about it. bit.ly/1dlKg2E
Veritasium's video: bit.ly/17iKd3d
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[@FluffyJetProductions]

Very interesting talk about the up and coming removal of VRs. As you say, it does seem like comment sections will be wired with even more spam when the video links begin being accepted....surely there has to be another way.

[@RobertJones]

"I'm scared" is another great example of video responses having a huge impact. I had totally forgotten about that.

[@galaxydreaming]

so my thing that annoys me is that the video responses used to be right under the video you were watching, no it's way down where you have to scroll for it, sometimes I don't scroll down but having them right under the vid I was watching would prompt me to watch some responses... I liked your vid, thanks for sharing your opinion

[@ShapelessMonstrosity]

I'd never really seen the point of video responses, and upon hearing that KZbin was removing them a basically thought "surprised they hadn't already done so". However, your video has really shown me just how useful they can be and how important they are to the people that use them.

[@RobertJones]

Thanks for stopping by. I'm at my best when I'm upset about something it seems :)

[@MyNotSoIntresingLife]

this is a brilliant argument, well articulated and you're not 'blinded by rage'. I hope they don't phase out video responses, I don't use them but i understand why they're important. it's like youtube saying 'we're going to get rid of all videos under 50 views'

[@michaelkrumbein5807]

This just hit me; I wonder if at least a sub-goal of removing video responses is to get more users onto Google+.

[@RobertJones]

Thank you for saying so, it means a lot.

[@RobertJones]

Agreed. Perhaps the next feature will maintain that "all in one spot" function, but since they haven't announced anything at VidCon or anywhere else, I'm skeptical at best. Video responses aren't useful on viral videos, but they are a vital component of the "less than famous" crowd.

[@RobertJones]

Totally agree. Short sighted is exactly right. Did the system need improvment? Yes. Elimination? No.

[@RobertJones]

Thank you for coming and hanging out with me :) I think we have an inflated sense of how much we "made the site so popular." Yes many of us comprise a core group of people who might sustain some creators, but the bottom line for YT is that viral videos and broad audience appeal content is what pays the bills. Video responses to those types of videos are useless (and skew the figures) so there is little incentive to keep them.

[@RobertJones]

I've been uneasy about some of the past changes, and unhappy with some of the resulting issues that arose from some of those changes (CosmicPanda...) but I've never been PISSED about anything like this. I've never felt slapped in the face by a move from KZbin.

[@JulieHerrick]

Yikes! Video responses are vital to so many community projects: Shayloss, Buck Factor, Supernote,

[@Imakemyway]

I hate how they don't understand that it's a community NOT just a video factory.

[@startreking]

I remember KZbin limiting comments to 150 characters last year, it only lasted a few days but I hope that was a mistake and not a trial run.

[@Georaga]

I really like you dude. You're really down to earth and "get" what KZbin is about. I've subscribed.

[@TheGrooseIsLoose]

I decided to watch a few of your videos after reading something I totally agreed with that you commented about the KZbin Music Awards. Needless to say, I'm now sub'd.

[@helenzebcharles]

My first introduction to KZbin as a content creator was making video responses. More importantly it was my introduction to KZbin as a community, a family even.

[@RobertJones]

At this point, given the information we have from KZbin the drive appears to increase view counts across the platform, which really feels like the issue that the advertisers are so concerned about. They want to provide a better way for videos to show up in search which increases all the metrics that Advertisers care about.

[@RobertJones]

That was my introduction as well. I suspect we are too old on this site now though, less and less people are using the feature in the way it got used in 07-08

[@MarkHilton1]

everthing you said is spot on robert, I use video responses to respond to some of my fave youtubers/community, once they go away what am I supposed to do then well said

[@stofvod]

I can't watch video responses on my phone and that stopped me from having conversations and I really hate it but that's one of the reasons the figures of responses are so low

[@RobertJones]

To some extent that is true, on the other hand I'm hoping whatever they are cooking up in the background will actually solve this "click-thru" issue they've cited and give us a better tool to use.

[@RobertJones]

Yeah, from what I can tell it is 3-4 clicks to get to the inbox, and another click after that to see/approve the video responses. If the inbox wasn't so critically flawed perhaps this issue never would have happened...

[@RobertJones]

I honestly and sincerely hope that something better is coming. However considering the VERY short time-table for this feature to go away and the fact that no significant new feature related to this type of functionality has been announced at any of the big recent events where such an announcement would have been made (VidCon being chief among them) I have my doubts. Leaving your own related videos as responses to yourself used to be in the KZbin playbook (which was put together by YT itself)

[@RobertJones]

It also puts the burden of discovery on the creator rather than the audience. If they thought click-thru was bad before, just wait until those videos are no longer easily found by anyone, including the intended recipient.

[@RobertJones]

It's not a "want" anymore, it is happening whether we like it or not. I also participated in Supernote and have had huge success using the VR system in general to talk with KZbinrs like Dan Brown and others.

[@Georaga]

This dude, this dude's on point!

[@RobertJones]

They have hinted at something new coming, they just haven't provided any details at this point.

[@RobertJones]

There is no doubt in my mind that the watch page redesign had a significant impact on video response's usefulness. This is why I'd rather see them figure out a way to improve the existing system rather than eliminate it altogether. Perhaps something is coming that will blow our minds, but nothing has been announced or been in beta yet so I'm skeptical at best.

[@RobertJones]

This is all true but the basic function for those of us that use them is not broken and hasn't been chipped away at. The general KZbin user may not understand how to do it, but they also may not understand how to comment on a video either. I'd love to see the statistics of views/comment ratios, except that as soon as someone actually looked at that ratio we'd lose comments too...

[@JulieHerrick]

Is it too late to convince them to reverse this decision? Is there any point in starting a petition or something? I'd sign it. Surely there must be somebody at KZbin who cares about the community, even if its not the top executives.

[@RobertJones]

Unfortunately for all of us reply girls destroyed the link between video and response in the related videos algorithm.

[@RobertJones]

I'm not sure if there is enough time or support to actually fight this. Even if everyone who uses the feature were to sign a petition out of ALL of KZbin that would apparently only be about 4 thousand people (according to some dirty math and extrapolation from YT's blog post and view figures) Not a very big number when YT deals with a billion unique users per day...

[@RobertJones]

Thank you soo so much for sharing, it means a ton to me! thanks.

[@RobertLeat]

basically what i think has happened is youtube killed video responses with all the layout changes they made it harder to find video reposonses and harder to create video responses

[@zaielle]

Also the video response button is pretty well hidden. If the video response option was more noticeable, maybe people would use the option more. If they don't like that people don't use videoresponses, they could have also made them a more visible option. It's no wonder nobody uses them if you hide them like that. I have 79 public videos, 31 are videoresponses. In the last year I made 13 videos, 7 are responses. I hate that they're getting rid of them.

[@RobertJones]

If they incorporate the G+ comment system into KZbin's existing watch pages I wouldn't be opposed to that...

[@RobertJones]

If (as others have suggested) this comment/video response is actually baked in together (meaning you can provide more than a title to your video response via the text comment) it might improve the click-thru ratio. That is a big "if" though and since they haven't announced any new features at recent tent-pole events like VidCon that deal with this feature set I remain skeptical.

[@Katest3r]

I found you through Barry Aldridge's video response... I'm going to subscribe... but yet i never would have come across this video had it not been for his video response AHH youtube why! Video responses as you say are vital....it keeps the community alive and helps the content creator and audiences get to know each other and to meet new people. Like I said to barry yet another push with corporate and squeezing more of us that made the website so popular out the back door :/

[@RobertJones]

There is always twitter. More and more twitter is becoming the replacement service for the features that YT neglects or breaks (subscription box, and now video responses)

[@RobertJones]

The blog post is too vague to garner any significant information about what is coming next. Mentions of enabling video links to be live in the comments section, and the use of YT search to seek them out... Both sound horrible in my mind, but perhaps the features they are cooking up are awesome and we just don't know it yet.

[@BurningDogFace]

I didn't think this was a big deal for exactly the reason that you mentioned, that no one ever watches video responses. I hadn't considered it from the perspective of a conversation before. So yeah, apart from the bit where you said something positive about Reddit, I think you nailed it with this video. ;-)

[@CryinBranston]

Discussion on KZbin will still be a thing, despite their apparent attempt to stamp it out. The community is stronger than it's given credit for.

[@RobertJones]

I have a lot of issues with Chrome crashing so I don't use a lot of extensions. I do use one to change my KZbin default front page to my subscription (upload only) feed though.

[@chriseliothernandez]

why not sort of a nick at nite version of youtube except it's a mirror site that makes youtube work like it did in 2008? users could decide to opt in to the alt/ youtube and they could live in both worlds.

[@RobertJones]

I hate that I can't reply to comments on any of my mobile devices. I've brought this up to the engineers on several occasions and never really gotten a clear answer as to why other than mobile is meant for consumption, not engagement, which I find ludicrous.

[@RobertJones]

Yup, I had a really long section of that type of discussion recorded but my camera had shut off so all I got was the audio and I didn't feel like re-recording it. View vs. Viewer is the next huge battle we as creators will be fighting.

[@rebeccatmeow]

i didn't edit mine right then! seriously though, i wish the youtube staff could all be shown this, they really need some sense talking into them.

[@RobertJones]

I really hope they find some more elegant solution than links in comments. As it stands I get a lot of video responses, sometimes they are unrelated and I don't approve them but I don't want to have to screen every comment for unrelated and spammy links.

[@RobertJones]

It's interesting to me that they don't understand community when they are the primary sponsor of an event like VidCon where these types of things are discussed at length... They just don't want to listen because our money isn't big enough...

[@AngelaJonesPoetryStoriesArt]

wonderful points being made here. Sharing this video

[@ameliorated]

To me it is the way small youtubers get seen at all. Small youtubers won't be found in the search box, and won't be on the front screen, they will just be seen if they respond meaningfully somewhere to someone else. And even if the clickthrough was 1% that would be 1% more than they could get without it.

[@hubertcumberdale2008]

Spot on. I hope they might change their mind, but the recent years have shown me, that youtube cares more about traffic and revenue, than they do care about the community. I mean, why do I have to look for my inbox? It used to be so easy to keep up with comments and messages. It is a shame.

[@RobertJones]

But the thing *we* have to understand is that the community is but a small subset of the overall user base on KZbin. With a bills unique users ever day KZbin must look at the whole of the site. Seem of their policies must be created for the benefit of the many to the detriment of the few. Do I like that? Hell no. Are there times I think they should ignore the masses and do something for the few every once in a while? Hell yes.

[@RobertJones]

I can totally understand how the average KZbin viewer wouldn't understand or care about Video responses, I really can. But to people using the site to talk with friends, or to build communities, or to participate in big projects this feature is important. The real shame is that instead of trying to find a way to make the feature MORE useful to the average user, they are just killing it entirely.

[@jessrants9032]

i made a video response to this where i ranted about how KZbin has changed. i am so annoyed.

[@ameliorated]

It is, I must have been altering the info or something when you checked.

[@RobertJones]

Tiny hope is correct, I have some hope that there is a feature in the works that doesn't rely on Google+ integration or some other third-party solution. I am skeptical at best.

[@ZottePark]

This is a serious topic. I don't think I can add to what you've already said. I don't want the Video Responses to go!

[@AbsoluteTwoddle]

Great video Robert! By highlighting URLs in the comments, surely that will create more spamming. Linking out through comments is a long winded way of doing things. Us older generation of KZbinrs are going to miss this, I know things change but I'm actually shocked by this decision.

[@genxlife]

As some may have said before, Daily Motion may be a better option.

[@KellyChase]

Oh wow. I just read that blog post and they are working on "enabling you to share video links in comments," which to me is going to turn out worse than plain spam comments. Also, interesting how they say that doing this will add more context to a video, resulting in "more engagement"-- what's their drive here? I get the feeling that they think views are more valuable to a creator than an active audience, and that really just sucks because they're going to keep developing tools to push views...

[@FloorEncer]

I find posting comments to be worthless. They are either ignored or not noticed. There seems to be commenters who comment amongst themselves. Anyone else is tuned out. The KZbinr seems only interested in being thumbed up until they get big enough to respond only to someone that's going to give them that break. The net effect has been good for my gym going. Forget Sat or Sun postings. This summer has little posted on Mondays. Goggle+ is enough for those who share. YouTubing is a one way medium.

[@thenormalishperson]

You should sit down with some web development people, and create a site that caters to all of your ideas, that way we could perfect KZbin. If there is a web developer watching this video, message this guy and make it happen!

[@lesliefoundhergrail]

As I said in my Tumblr post, it's impossible to ask for your audience to post videos with same titles or anything similar and adhere to all of KZbin/Google/any social media's SEO tips and guides. Jeez, I'm sure anyone who's treating those kinds of tips as a Bible is pulling their hair out right now.

[@ameliorated]

The list feature is poor to me because it only seems to go back one day so if I don't watch something or add it to watch later it will just get lost :/

[@RobertJones]

Thanks for hoping over!

[@JulieHerrick]

Charlie just posted a video. It wasn't explicitly about Video Responses, but he made this relevant statement: "...What i deem to be my most successful video is not the one with the most views or even the one with the highest production value, it's the one that allowed me to make the strongest connection with the people who did watch it. [I'm Scared] In this case, an insane amount of video responses."

[@AlGoRythmAI]

I really liked the video response system idea, and I think if it were allowed to grow the best responses would have risen to the top and the associated accounts with the most liked responses could have been factored into the algorithms for whose videos should rise to the top in searches as well, sort of a "credibility" rating associated with accounts and encouraging responses and dialogue in the system as a whole. It could have been great, but all that stuff I just talked about is creator-focused, while the direction KZbin has chosen is entirely sponsor-focused. Therein lies the problem that plagues every single thing that could be good about the internet: the economic model is broken because it's based on catering to the ad buyers instead of catering to the experience of the users. Until the economic model changes, everything good will continue to die and be replaced by something more profitable. Changing the economic model is the only way to change any of that.

[@ZoggFromBetelgeuse]

Good point! You got your first alien subscriber, earthling.

[@crimsong19]

I haven't made video responses in a good while, but to say the least, this change is a major inconvenience for discussion-driven communities, regardless of their size. And how will it help view counts if it'll be harder to have video-driven discussions?!

[@Tommyboypsp]

I think I misunderstood something; I thought I heard you mention video responses being replaced by something new. If it IS just getting removed, without anything new being added instead, then there seems to be no advantage to this.. I like making video responses :( And I like SuperNote :(

[@michaelkrumbein5807]

I don't think KZbin/Google wants to build a community as much as they want to build a media empire. I don't think the higher-ups hate or misunderstand the community at all. It's just superfluous to their needs (kind of like how Google killed Reader-- beloved product, not a moneymaker). I think the KZbin Community is already learning that they can't rely on KZbin to provide all of the infrastructure. We may have to build it ourselves.

[@RobertJones]

Yes, as far as I understood it was a trial which got MAJOR blowback from the community. Unfortunately they still haven't IMPROVED the system since then, they just didn't change it at all.

[@siimsimmy]

DEAR KZbin, LISTEN TO THIS MAN NOW. sincerely, me :)

[@RobertJones]

I noticed your comment :) I find that KZbin is slowly becoming a one-way medium, but that it is still not yet. There are some KZbinrs that do not appreciate the comments on their videos and don't read them. However there are still tons of us that do care, and many of them are also top-tier tubers (Phil Defranco, Tyler Oakley, and others) The comment is not dead, it just needs a fresh coat of paint :)

[@RobertJones]

Agreed on all fronts here.

[@uilium]

WOW! What a great view to like ratio(its about 1 to 10) When I search for high rated videos on youtube's search engine it seems to me like I always get these highly rated popular videos rather than high rated niche videos as results...If it was all about "view to like" ratio when searching for highly rated videos then there would be hard to find niche videos or hard to find videos with just plain good content in the search results, right?.

[@scratchingcat]

I may not have made many video responses in my time. (I did do a few and sometimes these were even seen by hundreds of people.) However, I do use them a lot. I usually check out the responses to important videos and follow the discussions along. You can bet that I will watch Barry's response to this video and all the others that will show up. I need the responses to be all in the same spot.

[@wariolandgoldpiramid]

A lot of people use video responses to advertise their videos

[@RobertJones]

Across the 4 channels I've posted on in the last 6.5 years I've got nearly 700 videos, more than 200 of which are in some way a video response, whether they were specifically created as one, or were later set as one to a related subject. deleting this feature is so short sighted...

[@UntitledGameShow]

Well said! Came from your Google plus

[@RobertJones]

Yeah the "click-thru" argument just doesn't hold water for me at all. This isn't going to help click thrus at all...

[@RobertJones]

In all fairness it isn't a neck beard. I shave my neck and under my chin regularly, the beard grows on the sides and front of my face. My mustache is laughably thin though, like early puberty all over again so I shave it off.

[@ameliorated]

I wonder why they cant enable links AND have video responses

[@FloorEncer]

I can't find the Inbox link. I put a link to it on my browser toolbar. There are places in the Inbox, where I can't click back. I have to use the back button or start at my toolbar link. 500 character limit. As attention spans decline, (3 times 160)+ might be deemed by YT to be more than adequate for the long winded. Sometimes it is necessary to make several posts (in reverse order for readability). Some YT videoers do not want to engage their public. Plumb my depth. But ask me not of my craft.

[@uilium]

There's got to be a way to video respond to someone. What's the problem with just responding by messaging with an embedded video? ...or did can you still embed videos in messages?

[@ikvsabre]

Sad but true

[@CaptainLongcat]

I use a Google Chrome extension to make my sub box a grid.

[@RobertJones]

Thanks!

[@ameliorated]

I like your display piccy thingy

[@guitarttimman]

I know! It sucks. I was always getting views from responses. I think jealousy and wanting to promote those who are being promoted by record companies is also the problem! What ever happened to "free" enterprise? KZbin is really starting to SUCK!

[@RobertJones]

Unless something dramatic happens between now and the 12th this is happening. KZbin confirmed.

[@UntitledGameShow]

Np

[@BouncingPandaa]

This is ridiculous. Not having video responses just creates a shit ton more of spam in comments. Just look at Nerimon's 2013 youtube survey, now that people can't make their survey a video response EVERYBODY is trying to get it out there by telling people in the comments that there is a youtube survey on their channel. And that's WITHOUT the new feature of having links in the comments. There is enough spam to go around we don't need more.

[@RobertJones]

Like I said at the end of the video, it won't kill the community, but it very well may force us to go elsewhere (reddit, twitter, etc) for real engagement and conversation, and that is a shame.

[@RobertJones]

Don't worry, this video was 20 minutes long before I cut a ton of it out. Blubbering messes disappear with editing ;)

[@AliJardz]

thank you!

[@RobertJones]

Thanks. It means a lot to me.