Short Form Content Is BROKEN. Can We Fix It?

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🖖 Hey! I'm Enrico and on this channel I go behind the scenes of the design, psychology and stories behind tech and making stuff on the internet. I'm a tech Product Manager, builder of things made of pixels.

TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have taken over the internet and completely changed how we view content by spreading short form content and videos everywhere. But.. they are already failing. Meanwhile, long form content is having a reinassance, There is a way to save our brains from frying off retention hacks and that is.. joining forces.

This has been the most complex video I have ever tackled, both for writing and editing: if you like it consider joining the pack by subscribing!

[enricotartarotti]

Learn how I ACTUALLY made my most successful videos (such as this one) with hands-on, practical behind the scenes breakdowns:

[mithush]

YouTube is getting better at recommending smaller creators with exactly the content i want to watch

[sebastiantraistaru]

It would be so awesome to have an option to disable shorts/reels on youtube and instagram

[_Fronk_]

I genuinely feel a chemical reaction in my brain when I’m on tiktok for a long period of time (an hour), it genuinely feels brain rotting and degrading to watch, and it’s something that you have to notice yourself to realise it.

[Vince_Cuh]

Ive tried to avoid short form content as much as I can but it's pretty much unavoidable nowadays. I even got stuck scrolling on Spotify before

[IamEpiphanyTTV]

Funny thing, he actually utilized a lot of the strategies in this very video. Notice how there’s never a moment of silence in the video, there’s always some kind of music in the background, he’s never a single shot in front of the camera talking for more than 30 seconds, and he’s cutting to tons of stock footage? Yeah, retention and dopamine. But he has to do it, or else you would not have finished the video.

[AquaticApes]

Awesome video. I hope you’re right. Long form is definitely more fulfilling to watch (& create) imo. But sometimes I wonder if me saying that is similar to the archetypal old man saying “back in my day [we did things better]”

[ViewOf]

I agree, most Shorts are already just ads for longer videos. making that a baked in feature (linking to a longer video) would solve a lot of the current issues.

[parshakamarsh]

So far I've managed to totally avoid short form videos, and long may it continue

[lucaspanto]

Short form content is completely mind numbing and designed to encourage you not to think for yourself. Whenever i watch it i feel myself switching off completely, and try to stay away from it as best i can

[bedelian]

There is something incredibly dark about tiktok videos. There's always been adicting screen content. But the difference is I don't feel good when I watch shorts/reels. Video games, TV, even Youtube videos are addicting, but I at least always had fun when I burnt hours on them. I will catch myself spending 20-30 minutes scrolling through shorts, and I am aware that I'm not having a good time. I don't feel good, I feel stressed. I've never seen anything else that is simultaneously addicting and upsetting at the same time.

[enricotartarotti]

If this video gets to 1M views I will make an extended version of the TikToki-fied Star Wars. George Lucas I'm coming for you.

[yogeshyagami]

My guess for why people are moving towards podcasts is not because of wanting longer form content but because everyone in this day and age is starting to feel more n more disconnected and podcasts help people develop para-social relationships to satisfy that need

[HSamee]

I have disabled shorts on youtube. I found myself getting absorbed into it, and realizing that made me feel so terrible that i swore off them because i used to watch long form content for literal hours enjoying every minute. Im glad i subscribed to your channel. Unlike shorts, your content is memorable and has substance. Keep it up, dude. I'll be watching it all without getting bored or distracted.

[samuelescalercio]

To all the people grown with old style yt videos like gampelay, games theories etc… and now are addicted to tik tok scrolling: remember that you still remember the content you used to watch when you were kid, and you can’t tell what you’ve just watched in a 30 second reel. I’m glad I’ve now understood that long youtube videos manage you to fully empathize with the video’s content and makes you interested for a long time, and it’s a satisfaction to reach watching 20 minutes of a video talking about your favorite topic without the headache that scrolling makes to you (sorry for the english). I hope you all understood guys

[Windarti]

Just because there are opportunities in the market doesn’t mean you should go in blindly. To understand the potential factors that contribute to your financial growth, I'll advise you to seek the help of a professional.

[Madoxbeatbox]

People will always come back to long form content, when they really want to connect with a creator. Short-form is like a one-night stand. It‘s fun for a few times, but people want to have deeper connections sooner or later.

[blueboytube]

I absolutely love the idea of scrolling through 30 seconds videos as “trailers” for the longer videos like in 12:33. This would make it okay not to remember the mindless scrolling because that is just to find the long videos that you will actually remember.

[alvin]

this is what I called time well spent.

Thank you for this great analysis and breakdown. Appreciate it!

[Julia-ximf]

I've always wanted the YouTube short content reels to be used more often to advertise long form content videos.