It has been more than four years since I gave an update on my YouTube career. I am sure everyone has been waiting with bated breath to hear about my progress. But more seriously, while my progress is mostly of personal interest for me, I do think that what I said in 2021 is still true: the idea of the internet or social media or "content creation" being an easy gravy train that people can jump on continues to be a receding mirage. Although I have been more successful than I hoped back at that time, I am still not making money from YouTube.
At the time, I had a total of 8 public watch hours. Since sometime in 2022, 8 or 10 public watch hours is my daily average. In fact, since 400 hours in the past 365 days is needed for monetization, I check my statistics every day to see if I have gotten enough hours that day to equal that (4000/365, or a little less than 11 hours a day). At one time last year, I had well over 4000 hours. But also, not enough subscribers. Back in April of 2021, I had 17 subscribers. Today, I have 962. Last year, when I had sufficient hours, I only had around 600 subscribers. It seems likely, based on the rate that I am gaining subscribers, that sometime this summer, I will pass that limit. But I still need more hours.
These little minutiae prickle at me.
But of course, it isn't just about the metrics, and Goodhart's Law is true here. My goal is to produce something worthwhile, and finally passing those two little numbers is more a way I keep myself honest. When I started on YouTube, I was mostly noodling. Much like it was when I first joined E2, it was magic just to see something I had made or created appear online! And so my first few months of YouTube was mostly me noodling around with effects and my Casio SA-46. At a certain point, I realized that videos that were accessible and provided content were what got people to watch. I started making videos showcasing the places I visited. I like going places. And making these videos also encouraged me to travel. Having some type of concrete product that I could share with others made doing things seem more real than sitting at home and writing half a page of scribbled lines in a notebook. After a while, my videos started getting a few hundred or a few thousand views. The most popular right now is sitting at 13,000 views. I feel that is something more than negligible. I also now feel that I have a record of places and times that are significant to me. I can remember what it felt like to take a ferry to Friday Harbor or to wait for a bus in Cartago. And I feel that is significant and important, and an opportunity that YouTube gave me.
One thing that I feel is missing is a community. That is one thing I hoped to achieve. I don't know if I was going to be an internet celebrity, but I wanted to use my own travel experiences to form some type of community or at least interaction with people with similar interests. And I have certainly gotten some good feedback---some people have told me they like my videos because they remind them of specific places that are interesting/important to them, or they like my approach in general. And I do have a few fellow creators who are making the same type of videos as me. But I don't feel like I am part of something in the same ways I did in my early days here. I am creating content for one of the world's largest companies, and most of my viewers are probably just looking for something to pass a few minutes.
And then to return to the starting subject: monetization. Back in 2021, I said the best case scenario for my channel would be that after getting monetized, I would be getting $100 a month. I am currently hovering right below that best case scenario. My channel grew quite well, and then plateaued last year. Sometimes I look at the metrics in YouTube Studio and wondering what is missing. Sometimes videos have a surge of popularity, before settling back down to a view videos a day. Two very similar videos might be received very differently. Are these an artifact of the algorithm, or are these subtle differences in topic and execution that make all the difference? Like I said back in 2021, being a "content creator" is not something someone just chooses to do, but seems to depend on years of work and preparation, and then getting lucky. I have some successes, but I am still waiting for the flash of luck.
Also, if anyone has any specific questions about the "inner workings" of YouTube, feel free to ask me, and I will make a writeup about specific subjects, the way I have done with YouTube Studio and YouTube Shorts.
Oh, and of course if anyone wants to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/@glowingfish