Tom Guarriello explains why he ignores YouTube's featured videos: the platform never reveals why something gets highlighted, so the label means nothing. Being featured can spike views and subscribers, but it also brings a wave of negative comments that leaves many creators conflicted about wanting it.
Hey, Damian, thanks for the question about featured videos. I think featured videos is a topic of some controversy here in YouTube land. I personally don't watch a lot of featured videos, and part of the reason I don't watch any featured videos is that I don't know what it means for a video to be featured. In other words, If I read a recommendation, a review, let's say in a newspaper, over time I get to know that reviewer's perspective. I get to understand what it is that viewer, that reviewer is looking for in a movie, and the reviewer gives me some insight into what it is about the movie that they think makes it worthy of a recommendation. But when I see a video featured on the front page of YouTube, I don't know what the thinking is that went into featuring that video. Was it because it was terrifically meaningful, that there's a great message in it? Was it because the, the featuring editor thought it was funny? Did the featuring editor think it was provocative? Was it just, you know, cute? Where's the— what do I need to know about the video in order to help me to evaluate whether or not it's something that I think is worth my time? I don't ever get that from the video. What I get is the little, you know, description that the video maker has made, but not much else. So, uh, I guess right now it's hard for me to know what makes a video feature-worthy, and, um, because of that, I don't really give a lot of credence to a video being featured. But that's just me. So thanks for asking, um, and ask more. See you, bye. Oh, and one more thing. Having a video featured, um, is not something that a lot of us are interested in doing because of the kind of reaction that featured videos get. I mean, you can get a lot of views and you can get a lot of subscribers and the exposure is great, but the amount of, uh, negative attention that featured videos get make it something that a lot of people have really strong mixed feelings about. So just one more point. Thanks a lot. Bye.
