Cool Idea. 🤔💡

in #youtube5 years ago (edited)

It would be cool if when you moused over the title of a YouTube video, the creator of the content could choose to display a different title.

Why, you ask?

It's a fair question.

Basically, because clickbait is a thing.

Many creators readily admit that they choose titles in a sort of corny and eye-catchy way, as long as they don't stretch it to the point of being not what the video is about. They're playing the game and doing what works to draw views.

As they should.

But then people who are more intimately in tune with the content might prefer to know what specifically it's about.

For example, if you're not watching "1st amendment audit" videos, i.e. those created by a channel called Auditing America, then you're missing a pretty good sect of YouTube videos. To the average YouTube viewer, a title like "You will NOT BELIEVE this guy's reaction!!!" with a thumbnail of a police officer might be an effective way to signal and draw views.

But then if you consume the content regularly, rather than try to read the tea leaves and guess if you want to click on this one, it'd be more helpful to see "Audit of Bedford, MA police station [fail]" or "Audit of Pawtucket, RI post office [pass]".

Maybe they'd get more clicks overall with the two tiered titles. Or at least, viewers and subscribers would have a better experience, and be more engaged long-term.


I guess an alternative to the "mouse over" idea would be simply opting in to the 2nd title. Maybe you have to watch 10 hours of their content before you have the option, or something like that.

🤷🏽🤷🏽🤷🏽