the entire history of the youtube algorithm, i guess

Thank you to Shopify for supporting the launch of our commemorative t-shirt in honour of hitting 1 million subscribers!

all credit to the goat bill wurtz for the title inspo.

Is the YouTube algorithm is the key to success on YouTube? Let's find out! In this video, Taha explores how we reached 1 million subscribers by taking a deep dive into the beating heart of success on YouTube, the recommendation algorithm. Along the way, he accidentally plots the entire history of the YouTube algorithm. (pls don't ask me about youtube shorts, it's a whole can of worms)

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SOCIAL MEDIA
Sabrina
Melissa
Taha

CREDITS
Produced by Taha Khan
Video Editing by Joe Trickey and Taha Khan
Motion Design by Joe Trickey
Special Thanks to Hank Green, Rowan Ellis, Glarses and Max Fosh

MUSIC

RECOMMENDED READING

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - we hit 1 million subs!!
00:59 - we made a commemorative tee!!
01:42 - we never experienced a single problem along the way
03:49 - the entire history of the youtube algorithm, i guess
04:38 - there's more?!
05:14 - the internet is rotting
06:50 - tell us about the past grandpa! (2005-2007)
08:46 - the problems with the handpicked homepage
10:54 - the first major change to the homepage (2008/2009)
11:30 - what the heck is a recommendation algorithm?
13:30 - the answer in progress gameshow !!
14:37 - how youtube uses metadata
17:00 - THERE'S MORE?!?
19:20 - how the youtube algorithm works
21:51 - why you keep getting recommended fishing videos (also the try guys)
22:58 - the guinea pigs become the algorithm
27:17 - how does youtube decide if a video is 'good'?
27:56 - clickbait (2010 - 2012)
29:14 - WHAT'S THAT COMING OVER THE HILL, IS IT A REPLY GIRL?
32:37 - beyond the click (2013 onwards)
33:49 - i am watch time, slayer of clickbait
34:45 - gamin gamin gamin
35:48 - pepe silvia conspiracy wall meme
36:43 - AI, neural networks and beyond (2016)
38:57 - a theory about removing dislikes
39:53 - the modern day algorithm
41:07 - the complete timeline ! (2020 and beyond!)
42:18 - how to get more views on youtube
44:10 - why 'hacking' the algorithm is a bad idea
44:22 - we got a youtube play button :)

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Welcome to the joke under the fold!

Why was the computer cold? It left its Windows open.

Leave a comment with the word ROBOT to let me know you were here ;-)

[answerinprogress]

Our commemorative tee celebrating 1 million subscribers is on sale now for ONE WEEK ONLY!
- Join the 1 million subscriber club by getting your t-shirt here: answerinprogress.com/shop 🎉
- You can get a 25% discount on the tee, get the full unedited conversation with Hank Green and Aftershows/Director's Commentaries at Patreon: patreon.com/answerinprogress ✨

[HeyRowanEllis]

i cannot believe you managed to cut us struggling to think of three words for each item down from about 17 hours to 17 seconds in that fucking gameshow - honestly very impressive

[KarolYuuki]

About the sidebar, it was waay better when it was "videos similar to this one you're watching". It was specially helpful for listening to music, cause it would show more music from the same band, or similar artists.
Today, at least for me, is mostly a repetition of what appears on my recommended. And very rarely it shows something that I actually wanna watch after finishing the current video.

[Sleeping_inthe_sky]

I like how all three creators have different presentation styles. There’s Sabrina with her fancy animations, Melissa bringing in irl examples like pizza dough and travel vlogs, and then there’s Taha putting up conspiracy boards with post-it notes like that one It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia meme.

And congrats y’all! Happy to see how far this channel has come, I can’t wait to see more ❤

[jonnycarlo]

Sabrina's Transition from Kid YouTuber to Answer in Progress is such a story I hope this is an upward trend for you guys

[xisumavoid]

I'm not done with the video just yet... (which is great btw!) I think its a good thought experiment to replace the idea of "you like this video" with "you engaged with it", as sometimes our motivations for watching are different than just casual enjoyment.

[ludoviajante]

I just love how you guys manage to blend heartfelt conversation with professional presentation.
I discovered this channel in 2022 and it soon became one of my biggest inspirations.
Much love from Brazil!

[Thoughtspresso]

The only thing missing in this timeline was that one time John Green had to take a leave from Vlogbrothers, and in his place on his scheduled video day, Sabrina took his slot as Nerdy & Quirky. Maybe the secret is make videos for Nerdfighteria. We are very much conditioned to keep coming back and also we're very clearly video-obsessed. Anyway, congratulations guys! Also, great work on this video Taha.

[SlashSlashRobert]

To answer the question about YouTube replies as someone who also was literally there, the reply videos automatically had "RE:" attached to the beginning of the title. Also, the uploader of the original video could choose if people could upload replies automatically, if the replies had to be manually approved, or if people could reply at all. Source: I was there! (great video as always, absolute banger!!)

[ksfr]

The game show segment is such a creative idea to explain not just how the algorithm works, but also how machine learning differs from human learning!

[bilboswaggings]

Anyone else left thinking that Max is just a manifestation of the youtube algorithm

[luigigaminglp]

This video explains perfectly why channels like Mark Rober's work. Yes, his thumbnails are clickbait through and through, but his content delivers exactly as promised, in a way that keeps the viewer engaged and satisfied through the whole video, right up until the end.

Also, can i point out that the way you brought Shopify into the video was absolutely incredible? Ive never seen a sponsor read that was an actual part of the Video!

[itsdivyag]

i personally think 'citation: me' is valid

[emilysha]

The fact that Max Fosh figured it out is so unsurprising. He has an incredible ability to systemize and identify the factors to succeed in really random domains.

[shirshajitsingha]

I really enjoyed this longer-form video! The 10-15 minute ones are nice bite-sized introductions on a topic, but they don't go truly in-depth and leave you wanting more. I've heard YouTube also pushes longer content more as it can get more ads in that time. So I definitely hope there'll be more videos like this in the future!

[MedlifeCrisis]

Ah this was such a fun watch. I thought I’d had enough of meta YouTube chat and algo tea leaf reading but this was totally fresh. Huge congrats, you three really deserve it. The effort and innovation you all bring is so evident. If talent and hard work like yours can succeed on YouTube then the algorithm can’t be that bad, right? 😊

[jackatha]

The algorithm has blessed me with seeing this video a minute after it got published

[Dr.DanielHeringer]

This is the BEST Taha contribution to this channel by far until now. Please do more of this. You found the thing to do.

[siracornful]

The game show was such a genious way of visualizing the algorthm

[CatalogK]

I had my autism assessment yesterday (aced it lol) and one of the cognitive tests was basically the algorithm game show, trying to place things into piles they belonged in without any guidance, with the rules changing periodically and without warning. Good old fashioned pattern recognition lol