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 ✨
@@nystrata "this is a commemorative t-shirt recognizing the one million people who subscribed to answer in progress, they trust the process against their better judgement."
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
Also I need the people to know "Rowan gave up" is technically true but even when the true nature of the piles was revealed I was genuinely like "but batteries would be a good gift if you needed batteries!" and I think it's the closest Taha has come to committing murder
@@HeyRowanEllis Love how Taha didn't even blink at you cussing them out (Massive Monday morning vibes on you forgetting the name of chest of drawers haha)
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 ❤
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!
No for real, i literally remember being a kid watching nerdy and quirky and years later trying to find that channel and then finding this one. It was kind of like seeing the cool evolution of my old favorite channel, it was AWESOME!! Its amazing to see everyone thriving even now
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.
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.
@@biazacha Yes; it never catches on even after marking them "not interested -- already watched" and the UX on that? Three completely different dialog styles for 3 prompts, and forces large mouse movements.
The sidebar was my favourite way to find new music! But yeah, now if it sees me listening to music 95% of the videos in the sidebar are things I've already watched.
@@359339 same thing happens in yt music, I click on a song so that I listen to ones that are similar to it, then I just get songs I already liked that aren't similar at all :P
That algorithm for the sidebar is terrible. I've been on RUclips since 2006 and it stills shows me videos that are completely totally opposite to what I like or videos I've watched already. After 17 years, I would have thought they would know me at least a little bit. I was considering ordering RUclips Premium, but I think I'll spend my money on Nebula instead.
To answer the question about RUclips 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!!)
I was also there and even tried my hand at making a few reply videos to Vlogbrothers back in the day. We promise this isn't some Mandela Effect thing, Internet!
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.
I also found that entertaining, but yea I think a good bit of it is personality, he seems to enjoy the committing to random or absurd things just for the heck of it kind of activity
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.
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 RUclips 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!
I actually had not noticed how long this video was (I did take a couple tiny breaks because the washer and then the dryer and then quickly folding said so.) Time flies when your brain is having fun. :) EDIT: by which I mean the ✨video✨ was very fun. Especially the infographic growing across the wall. Good job on the whole thing!
Ah this was such a fun watch. I thought I’d had enough of meta RUclips 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 RUclips then the algorithm can’t be that bad, right? 😊
The algorithm is the only reason I found both of your channels I guess it saw tom scott and went she'll like these two. It was right and I'm very glad I'm here 😂
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!
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
This history echoes Google's search engine history in general. At first, relying on metadata was fine, but ultimately incentivized people to take the laziest way to get clicks. The algorithm had to repeatedly shift its decision-making to prioritize things that are harder and harder to game, with the ultimate goal being to surface whatever people actually want to see and interact with. But always in tension with Google's ad services, which want to surface things that make Google the most money. The neural net is just a reflection of these biases; it's not picking watch time out because it wants a satisfied viewer. That may be a side effect, but what it really wants is a user who watches (and preferably clicks on) a lot of ads.
I did a module at uni that we basically nicknamed "how to Google" and what you're saying is absolutely true. In the early days of search engines, people who ran websites could pay other websites to add a link to their website. The web crawlers would record number of links to and from a website and the ranking algorithms would reward this, because it was thought to be a sign of a good website (before it was abused). Things got so bad that there used to be whole websites that were just a list of hyperlinks. Their only purpose was to boost the rankings of websites that paid to be on the list (kind of like when people started paying for fake followers on social media).
i feel like a proud mom. this enormously well researched essay and everything else you've put all this work in and have been figuring out (or not) in all these years is a place of comfort for me, where getting intelligent and humourous content by people that feel like friends seems to come easy and effortless. just leaving my little thank you here x
I was literally thinking about Hank when you said that i can't find much of the history and then he showed up!! I'm screaming crying he's literally my favorite internet personality ever!!
It is _undeniable_ that you guys are talented, passionate, and incredibly entertaining people. You work hard, and _that's_ what creates 'good content'. In your case, it creates exceptional content! And this video is a perfect example of all of that. Congratulations on 1 mil!!
I remember a few months ago when Kanye West was trending (not for a good reason), I suddenly got bombarded with a ton of old commercials/album promotions for Kanye's old music or things he starred in. I never really knew the reason why, but now that i have watched the video i can understand why the videos were even given to me in the first place. Also congrats on a million guys. My favorite channel on RUclips are you guys and nothing will ever change that.
One thing that I'm really thankful for is that you three are representing the brown nerdy kids who just like being excited about stuff. Being one myself, i aspire to someday be where you are now. Congratulations!
Hi!! I've been a fan of the channel without realizing I've been a fan of the channel, as I didn't realize there were more people running this channel than Sabrina. This video was a banger though, so it was a very good introduction. I'm writing this because I was so surprised to see that this channel doesn't really get views, and I'm absolutely shocked that this video only has 33k views as of right now. The production quality and content quality is SO good! One of my favorite channels, especially because of the collaborate college kid vibe that I get from it. I like the high quality production paired with the way that I can tell that you all upload to this channel as a passion project. That's something that other channels like yours don't do, and it's the raw passion and enjoyment that you all clearly get out of these projects and videos that makes it so enjoyable to watch. Happy 1 million!
Ohh yay ~300 comments so far so you may actually see this! Hello to you three! I started watching a few years ago. Your style and content caught my eye so fast. And not to mention you three are in similar age to me, so we have similar life experiences. Your videos feel like listening to a friend excitedly tell me about a cool thing they learned. It feels comfortable. Its totally parasocial, but it feels friendly. You three are exactly the type of friends I have and would like to have. Thank you for all you have done!
I shouldn't have a favourite Answer in Progress presenter, but Taha has had some really great videos lately. Love the details - like finding out the calculator has no batteries!
I remember when Google Maps had reps go door-to-door of businesses to ask permission and have people fill out forms about their businesses so that they could be added to Maps back in 2008. Back then I was in my mid 20's and manually creating listings on Amazon and eBay to sell products at my job.
I've been subscribed to sabrina since she featured on vlogbrothers (i think that happened?? am i losing my marbles???) and i have not been disappointed ever since. The three of you make really good videos with interesting premises and questions i never thought to ask, and the story arcs of how you figure out the answer feels emotionally compelling, and I love seeing people nerd out on things I don't necessarily understand. You guys are awesome, here's to many more years of Answer In Progress!
As a person who has been on the platform since 2007 and seen all of the changes, I don't know if I learned anything new in this video but was enraptured the whole time!! Y'all do incredible work and I'm so thrilled to be along for the ride!
What a fantastic video, it's easy to see just how much effort and passion is poured into your work and it's moving to see you guys get the recognition you deserve :) One of the best channels out there and one of my favorite youtube videos ever.
I love the fact that RUclips uses others like me to recommend stuff to me. I don't know why, but feels like there are a few people who watch the exact same stuff as me and we don't even know that. So I got a bunch of friends I don't even know. Irl nobody has my taste in what they do on the internet, so nobody gets me, except like one person. So I like that I got a common group of people like me somewhere in the world.
I'm so excited for you guys, and so proud of you!🎉🎉 As a teacher, watching the three of you grow up into amazing educators has been amazing. Great work exploring questions and sharing them in an interesting and accessible way.
I'm so proud of y'all, this was beautiful. Also it seems like the takeaway for finding success is, "Cultivate a community." Which is to say, you want the same people coming back to see your videos over time, since this will strengthen RUclips's confidence in recommending you to similar people and increase the chances that those new people will also like you. Because of that, you probably want videos on a channel to maintain consistent themes over time (whether a consistent topic or a consistent value, like curiosity and growth *hint hint*), you want thumbnails and titles that reinforce your main theme, and you want your business outside of RUclips (such as merch, a Discord server, a newsletter, etc) to entice people who engage in those same themes. That's my understanding at least. Congrats to AiP for this awesome milestone, and good luck to anyone else currently on their RUclips journey!
this entire channel just feels like the projects my dad wants me to do over summer like "learn coding and make a game" for example, except they actually do it and do it well. (me if I didnt procrastinate and was lazy)
Congratulations. More people subscribe to you than live in Djibouti. Your subscriber-base is now the size of two Luxembourgs, it's something that's so hard to even visualise.
I've been following you since the very start, back when it was just "Sabrina" I think I got here because of the video about fish, and it had such a low view count contrasted with the production value. I was just learning English back then, so I can say you helped me with that as well. This channel is amazing and I am happy to see how much it has grown!
I try to avoid the algorithm as much as possible. I go to my notifications and subscriptions first, queue up anything I want to watch, add a bunch of others to ‘watch later’. Of course I still see the recommendations and watch them if I’m interested, but for the most part the algorithm is recommending me stuff from my subscriptions first now anyway. I feel more in control of my viewing experience that way.
I'm like the opposite of you. I love random video recommendations. I found a few channels that I actually like just because of the homepage recommendations
Congrats y’all!! I’ve been watching y’all’s cringe since before you became big with AiP and I’ve always just assumed you had already hit this milestone (actually, I thought answer in progress was in response to y’all’s growth, not a rebranding for turning around a decline), but regardless, I’m so happy y’all have now and are still growing and finding your untrodden path to success! Here’s to more learning and many more years of AiP!
Watching with 300% full observance and interest until the end rewinding like a thousand times, was 1000% worth it. I’m glad the RUclips algorithm works ❤
I'm so proud of y'all. I was introduced to Sabrina when she filled in for John on vlogbrothers many years ago and I've been following the journey since. I appreciate every video you put out and have helped me recommit to a lifetime of learning for learning's sake. Keep doing what you're doing!
Every now and then, there's a video that's just perfect for what it is. This video is a perfect tribute to everything that RUclips is, and it could only be made from the insider perspective of someone as extremely online as Taha.
THE TITLE IS NOSTALGIA Idk if this is true for anyone else but when I was younger me and my siblings watched a clean version of the history of the entire world, I guess All the time
Yeah, such nostalgia. And, sidenote about the algorithm: HOTEWIG is the fourth video listed in the sidebar for me on this video. Apparently the algorithm saw the similar titles.
You've all been absolutely incredible these past few years and I'm glad to have been here for so much of the ride. Congrats on the 1 million and thank you for always helping not just the audience but yourselves along the way.
I'm so happy I stayed for the end. I am not a creator so the video stopped talking to me... but I'm so happy for you guys. I love your channel and the work you do. To me you are a great example of how to satisfy curiosity. Thank you.
So glad you made this. RUclips has been an interest of mine since around 2009. It's a shame how much knowledge about the history of the internet gets lost and videos like this one help to prevent that loss. Btw interestingly I don't watch a single one of the channels your general audience watches. All the more impressive that the algorithm still lead me to you at some point!
Congrats you guys! I've been subscribed since Nerdy and Quirky did a substitute video for Vlogbrothers, and I've never looked back. Your videos are endlessly interesting and whenever I get a real job I'm joining you Patreon
This video has continuously come up in my feed for the 4 days since it was released, and it's had at least 3 different thumbnails. I hope you get the algorithm to work for you!!
The funny thing about me watching this, is that this is the first time I've watched a video of yours and I swear I have never heard of you guys until now. I've never been recommended you guys but because A L G O, I saw this vid on my homepage and here I am. Congratulations on 1 Milli! Your story is inspiring from the little smidge you gave in the intro. As a 20 something creative person, I've felt that dark shroud of quitting and getting on the conveyer belt of the rat race. Big ups for persevering! You have a new sub.
This reminds me of when everyone tried to make their video just over 10 minutes, because a rumour was ciruclating that the algorithm favoured videos more than 10 minutes long. I have no idea if it was even true, but all of a sudden videos exactly 10 minutes long started showing up everywhere.
It feels like just yesterday I was watching the taha a level results video, so proud of u all for putting in so much effort and thought to each video ur success is truly deserved
On using chatgpt for checking understanding: right now im in a class that has, lets just say, pretty sub par teacher-made materials and assignment briefs. in my case the language they use isnt too advanced, but too vague and worded in a way that makes it hard to understand what is trying to be communicated. so i started using chatgpt to try parse what the hell is being said here and it.... worked??? like, after being sat stuck on what this means for hours, suddenly i have something that means something! i think this is the perfect use for language-based AI, as its not doing any subjective or specific knowledge-based work, its doing what it does best, comprehending text.
I'm honestly just speechless, I really don't know what to say?? I just loved this video so so much❤!! It's definitely one of my most favorite videos ever!!
Wow, what a great video. The way you put the RUclips algorithm history together is extremely satisfying. Also, the conclusion of “How to get views” solution is so satisfyingly simple. Hard work, professionalism, and fun are always popular and should always be rewarded. Thank you for this video! … THERES MORE?!-
I think there is one more level on this. I think super users drive the algorithm. The users who watch a lot of content, vote alot, watch videos fully, comment alot and subscribe to alot of channels. They are the drivers of those more random video suggestions. If they like and fully watch a random video it get promoted from there it spirals. Finally if a account consistently goes back to the same video over and over it must be a stellar video and will get picked up by the algorithm even videos typically not promoted. I have accidentally done this to my own tutorial video which I set as a homepage. Side note: the search bar has gotten worse over the years.
I had to watch this video in small parts because of my health / concentration span, and I hope that isn't hurting how the algorithm views this video, cause I loved it. Thank you so much :)
Congrats on 1M subs! I would like to point out that those 80 billion signals are probably not as concrete as "watch-time", "clicks", etc. These are almost definitely abstract, continuous features which are extracted through the neural network. 80B seems like way too many parameters for a recommender system though so maybe they are counting every possible state of the floating point numbers in their parameters? 🤷♂
okay but this opening is so wholesome 🥹 like get you friends who will watch the live countdown with you at your place but also imagine what it must feel like to celebrate such a moment w your uni mates!! (granted the scuffed facetime but that's bound to happen w diff countries--also impressive they were all up in their timezones for the count!) from Sabrina and Friends to Answer in Progress--y'all have done AMAZING on this journey and congrats on this well-deserved milestone!
The fact that you placed your merch in the background of certain shots is actually really smart when you think about it, as is conditions the viewer into thinking about it almost subconsciously, as shown in 32:28
That outro was emotionally-packed. I remember subscribing a few years ago and seeing you cross the 1 million milestone makes me feel like a proud parent. All the best to you guys and keep on inspiring people like me and countless others!
This is actually one of my favorite RUclips videos in recent times, and a great aip way of celebrating a million. Congrats to you 3, you totally deserve it!
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 ✨
Does anyone know what the text under the big letters say? All the product images on the store page are small jpegs where I can't read the text 😔
@@nystrata "this is a commemorative t-shirt recognizing the one million people who subscribed to answer in progress, they trust the process against their better judgement."
What are the measurements of the t-shirt?
I was not able to find them
Snucking your ad read in the Algorhythm Gameshow.
You're a mean one, Taha.
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
wait how long did he actually have you guys there for this one bit lmao that's hilarious
Also I need the people to know "Rowan gave up" is technically true but even when the true nature of the piles was revealed I was genuinely like "but batteries would be a good gift if you needed batteries!" and I think it's the closest Taha has come to committing murder
Rowan Im sure your brownies are very good I trust you
@@HeyRowanEllis Love how Taha didn't even blink at you cussing them out (Massive Monday morning vibes on you forgetting the name of chest of drawers haha)
@@HeyRowanEllis Remind me never to get you as a Secret Santa.
i am in this documentary
no
i am not in this documentary
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 ❤
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!
Brasil!!! Sou tua fã também, Ludo! 😍
Olha só se não é ele haha
Ludo que bom te ver aqui.
SEMPRE SOUBE Q VC TEM BOM GOSTO
Meu Deus ludo vc por aqui
Sabrina's Transition from Kid RUclipsr to Answer in Progress is such a story I hope this is an upward trend for you guys
this is just the start im sure! in 15 years _theyre_ gonna be Hank in some new persons video talking about the youtube days of the 2020s lol
No for real, i literally remember being a kid watching nerdy and quirky and years later trying to find that channel and then finding this one. It was kind of like seeing the cool evolution of my old favorite channel, it was AWESOME!! Its amazing to see everyone thriving even now
@@LunarRaevynsame :’)
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.
unexpected x sighting!
Ye true
Hello Xisuma!
so true..
woah wasn’t expected xisuma! im glad you enjoyed answer in progress !
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.
Not to mentions they keep showing stuff you already saw, marked to watch later or made clear you aren’t interested…..
@@biazacha Yes; it never catches on even after marking them "not interested -- already watched" and the UX on that? Three completely different dialog styles for 3 prompts, and forces large mouse movements.
The sidebar was my favourite way to find new music! But yeah, now if it sees me listening to music 95% of the videos in the sidebar are things I've already watched.
@@359339 same thing happens in yt music, I click on a song so that I listen to ones that are similar to it, then I just get songs I already liked that aren't similar at all :P
That algorithm for the sidebar is terrible. I've been on RUclips since 2006 and it stills shows me videos that are completely totally opposite to what I like or videos I've watched already. After 17 years, I would have thought they would know me at least a little bit.
I was considering ordering RUclips Premium, but I think I'll spend my money on Nebula instead.
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!
To answer the question about RUclips 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!!)
+
Ahh that makes sense!
+
Ye, I was just coming to say this
I was also there and even tried my hand at making a few reply videos to Vlogbrothers back in the day. We promise this isn't some Mandela Effect thing, Internet!
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.
That's how I found Sabrina too 😊
And me!
I love the idea that there's some cabal run by Vlogbrothers that just decides who gets in on the algorithm.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Like The Court of Owls... but in online video
Totally! That's how I found nerdy & quirky and then followed Sabrina all the way to here.
Anyone else left thinking that Max is just a manifestation of the youtube algorithm
More just seems like he has a large working memory and is undeterred by failure
@@ChakatStormCloud or a small working memory and very good improvisation skills
Oh yes, 100%. Not even because of the experiment
@@ChakatStormCloud basically a neural network
I also found that entertaining, but yea I think a good bit of it is personality, he seems to enjoy the committing to random or absurd things just for the heck of it kind of activity
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.
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 RUclips 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!
I actually had not noticed how long this video was (I did take a couple tiny breaks because the washer and then the dryer and then quickly folding said so.)
Time flies when your brain is having fun. :)
EDIT: by which I mean the ✨video✨ was very fun. Especially the infographic growing across the wall. Good job on the whole thing!
make sure to watch to the end to give the algorithm a bit of a boost ;p
@@resourceress7 same here! I only noticed it because of the comment
Ah this was such a fun watch. I thought I’d had enough of meta RUclips 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 RUclips then the algorithm can’t be that bad, right? 😊
"algorithmic tea leaf reading" is such a good way of describing that genre of content.
oh hi doc !!!
The algorithm is the only reason I found both of your channels I guess it saw tom scott and went she'll like these two. It was right and I'm very glad I'm here 😂
seeing your faves interact
The algorithm has blessed me with seeing this video a minute after it got published
For me, it's 40 minutes.
So many videos that were posted in the past 5 hours or past week in my recommended right now.
@@eglol Crazy. I once saw a video 20 seconds after it was posted on my recommendation (Tom Scott)
My subscription notifications blessed me with the same.
Lucky. I only got it about 3 hours after it came out, aka a minute before I commented this
it knows. it knows this video is a certified BANGER
This is the BEST Taha contribution to this channel by far until now. Please do more of this. You found the thing to do.
The algorithm must be doing something right if it managed to get 1.25m people to subscribe to incredibly deserving people 💪
1.25 _so far_. i hope to keep watching and one day see them at 12.5M and then 125M :) they deserve it!
if it were doing something right, you wouldn't be getting suggested brainwashing shorts all over the place
@@kaitek666 not really brainwashing, more like brainrotting
@@kaitek666 And you wouldn't get Gacha life and sport videos instead of things you're actually interested in.
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!
Absolutely!
i personally think 'citation: me' is valid
🫡
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
This history echoes Google's search engine history in general. At first, relying on metadata was fine, but ultimately incentivized people to take the laziest way to get clicks. The algorithm had to repeatedly shift its decision-making to prioritize things that are harder and harder to game, with the ultimate goal being to surface whatever people actually want to see and interact with. But always in tension with Google's ad services, which want to surface things that make Google the most money.
The neural net is just a reflection of these biases; it's not picking watch time out because it wants a satisfied viewer. That may be a side effect, but what it really wants is a user who watches (and preferably clicks on) a lot of ads.
5 reasons out of 8 billion. 7.99... billion left
I did a module at uni that we basically nicknamed "how to Google" and what you're saying is absolutely true.
In the early days of search engines, people who ran websites could pay other websites to add a link to their website. The web crawlers would record number of links to and from a website and the ranking algorithms would reward this, because it was thought to be a sign of a good website (before it was abused).
Things got so bad that there used to be whole websites that were just a list of hyperlinks. Their only purpose was to boost the rankings of websites that paid to be on the list (kind of like when people started paying for fake followers on social media).
The game show was such a genious way of visualizing the algorthm
i feel like a proud mom. this enormously well researched essay and everything else you've put all this work in and have been figuring out (or not) in all these years is a place of comfort for me, where getting intelligent and humourous content by people that feel like friends seems to come easy and effortless. just leaving my little thank you here x
I hadn't skipped a sponsor integration in a while. Not even Mr. Beast could make this seamless and interesting sponsor integration.
I was literally thinking about Hank when you said that i can't find much of the history and then he showed up!! I'm screaming crying he's literally my favorite internet personality ever!!
It is _undeniable_ that you guys are talented, passionate, and incredibly entertaining people. You work hard, and _that's_ what creates 'good content'. In your case, it creates exceptional content! And this video is a perfect example of all of that. Congratulations on 1 mil!!
That blind watch history category game really helped it click for me, amazing work simplifying the visualization!
23:00
I remember a few months ago when Kanye West was trending (not for a good reason), I suddenly got bombarded with a ton of old commercials/album promotions for Kanye's old music or things he starred in. I never really knew the reason why, but now that i have watched the video i can understand why the videos were even given to me in the first place. Also congrats on a million guys. My favorite channel on RUclips are you guys and nothing will ever change that.
Could you tell why I'm not sure?
One thing that I'm really thankful for is that you three are representing the brown nerdy kids who just like being excited about stuff. Being one myself, i aspire to someday be where you are now. Congratulations!
I was left starved of progressing answers for a month. Thanks for saving me!
This is the best explanation of the RUclips algorithm I have ever seen!
16:42
Taha: You have a sponge in your bathroom?
Max: you have a towel in your hallway.
XD
Hi!! I've been a fan of the channel without realizing I've been a fan of the channel, as I didn't realize there were more people running this channel than Sabrina. This video was a banger though, so it was a very good introduction.
I'm writing this because I was so surprised to see that this channel doesn't really get views, and I'm absolutely shocked that this video only has 33k views as of right now. The production quality and content quality is SO good! One of my favorite channels, especially because of the collaborate college kid vibe that I get from it. I like the high quality production paired with the way that I can tell that you all upload to this channel as a passion project. That's something that other channels like yours don't do, and it's the raw passion and enjoyment that you all clearly get out of these projects and videos that makes it so enjoyable to watch.
Happy 1 million!
Just like all your videos, there was soo much research and hard work behind this video. I’m soo glad for y’all congratulations guys
Picking game show guests that are all RUclipsrs I watch was a meta choice. Respect.
Taha sees the metadata! He knows what you watch!
Ohh yay ~300 comments so far so you may actually see this! Hello to you three!
I started watching a few years ago. Your style and content caught my eye so fast. And not to mention you three are in similar age to me, so we have similar life experiences. Your videos feel like listening to a friend excitedly tell me about a cool thing they learned. It feels comfortable. Its totally parasocial, but it feels friendly. You three are exactly the type of friends I have and would like to have. Thank you for all you have done!
I shouldn't have a favourite Answer in Progress presenter, but Taha has had some really great videos lately. Love the details - like finding out the calculator has no batteries!
I remember when Google Maps had reps go door-to-door of businesses to ask permission and have people fill out forms about their businesses so that they could be added to Maps back in 2008. Back then I was in my mid 20's and manually creating listings on Amazon and eBay to sell products at my job.
I've been subscribed to sabrina since she featured on vlogbrothers (i think that happened?? am i losing my marbles???) and i have not been disappointed ever since. The three of you make really good videos with interesting premises and questions i never thought to ask, and the story arcs of how you figure out the answer feels emotionally compelling, and I love seeing people nerd out on things I don't necessarily understand. You guys are awesome, here's to many more years of Answer In Progress!
As a person who has been on the platform since 2007 and seen all of the changes, I don't know if I learned anything new in this video but was enraptured the whole time!! Y'all do incredible work and I'm so thrilled to be along for the ride!
I remember when this channel was NerdyAndQuirky and I'm so proud of yall 💜
What a fantastic video, it's easy to see just how much effort and passion is poured into your work and it's moving to see you guys get the recognition you deserve :) One of the best channels out there and one of my favorite youtube videos ever.
I talk about this channel all the time because it really is one of the best of RUclips. Thank you for continuing to figure it out!!
I love the fact that RUclips uses others like me to recommend stuff to me. I don't know why, but feels like there are a few people who watch the exact same stuff as me and we don't even know that. So I got a bunch of friends I don't even know.
Irl nobody has my taste in what they do on the internet, so nobody gets me, except like one person. So I like that I got a common group of people like me somewhere in the world.
Wow I kinda stopped paying attention to your subscriber number and had no idea the channel had come this far! Congrats!
Great video thank you for spending the time to make it
no u
I'm so excited for you guys, and so proud of you!🎉🎉 As a teacher, watching the three of you grow up into amazing educators has been amazing. Great work exploring questions and sharing them in an interesting and accessible way.
19:38 I appreciate the v sauce reference and style shot and tone.
Came here looking for such a comment. Guess almost no one gets the reference lol
One million subscribers 🎉! Congratulations on bringing comedic yet engaging information for so long!
I'm so proud of y'all, this was beautiful. Also it seems like the takeaway for finding success is, "Cultivate a community." Which is to say, you want the same people coming back to see your videos over time, since this will strengthen RUclips's confidence in recommending you to similar people and increase the chances that those new people will also like you.
Because of that, you probably want videos on a channel to maintain consistent themes over time (whether a consistent topic or a consistent value, like curiosity and growth *hint hint*), you want thumbnails and titles that reinforce your main theme, and you want your business outside of RUclips (such as merch, a Discord server, a newsletter, etc) to entice people who engage in those same themes.
That's my understanding at least. Congrats to AiP for this awesome milestone, and good luck to anyone else currently on their RUclips journey!
So that's why music channels and "the 9 year old/bro" army channel worked so well
this entire channel just feels like the projects my dad wants me to do over summer like "learn coding and make a game" for example, except they actually do it and do it well. (me if I didnt procrastinate and was lazy)
Congratulations! Love your content. All three of you are just the cutest nicest people.
oh boy 4 minutes in and this already looks like the best video you've ever made - the editing work on this is so cool
Congratulations. More people subscribe to you than live in Djibouti. Your subscriber-base is now the size of two Luxembourgs, it's something that's so hard to even visualise.
I've been following you since the very start, back when it was just "Sabrina"
I think I got here because of the video about fish, and it had such a low view count contrasted with the production value. I was just learning English back then, so I can say you helped me with that as well. This channel is amazing and I am happy to see how much it has grown!
I have watched TWO of y'all's videos, and I'm somehow emotionally invested in your success. You are all just too charming!
I try to avoid the algorithm as much as possible. I go to my notifications and subscriptions first, queue up anything I want to watch, add a bunch of others to ‘watch later’.
Of course I still see the recommendations and watch them if I’m interested, but for the most part the algorithm is recommending me stuff from my subscriptions first now anyway.
I feel more in control of my viewing experience that way.
I'm like the opposite of you. I love random video recommendations. I found a few channels that I actually like just because of the homepage recommendations
i think this video is the best on youtube algorithm. 47 minute video and i didn't even get distracted once. great content
Congrats y’all!! I’ve been watching y’all’s cringe since before you became big with AiP and I’ve always just assumed you had already hit this milestone (actually, I thought answer in progress was in response to y’all’s growth, not a rebranding for turning around a decline), but regardless, I’m so happy y’all have now and are still growing and finding your untrodden path to success! Here’s to more learning and many more years of AiP!
Watching with 300% full observance and interest until the end rewinding like a thousand times, was 1000% worth it. I’m glad the RUclips algorithm works ❤
Taha this video is absolutely brilliant
I can’t imagine how much time and effort and research this took
Wonderful job!
That shopify ad break was probably the most fun ad break I have seen on youtube in a while.
I'm so proud of y'all. I was introduced to Sabrina when she filled in for John on vlogbrothers many years ago and I've been following the journey since. I appreciate every video you put out and have helped me recommit to a lifetime of learning for learning's sake. Keep doing what you're doing!
A 45+ minute long Answer in Progress video? I'm genuinely so excited to watch this!
Every now and then, there's a video that's just perfect for what it is. This video is a perfect tribute to everything that RUclips is, and it could only be made from the insider perspective of someone as extremely online as Taha.
THE TITLE IS NOSTALGIA
Idk if this is true for anyone else but when I was younger me and my siblings watched a clean version of the history of the entire world, I guess
All the time
Yeah, such nostalgia. And, sidenote about the algorithm: HOTEWIG is the fourth video listed in the sidebar for me on this video. Apparently the algorithm saw the similar titles.
You've all been absolutely incredible these past few years and I'm glad to have been here for so much of the ride. Congrats on the 1 million and thank you for always helping not just the audience but yourselves along the way.
I'm so happy I stayed for the end. I am not a creator so the video stopped talking to me... but I'm so happy for you guys. I love your channel and the work you do. To me you are a great example of how to satisfy curiosity. Thank you.
The game show describing the RUclips algorithm was so good hahaha I could feel their frustration through the camera. Perfect analogy!
So glad you made this. RUclips has been an interest of mine since around 2009. It's a shame how much knowledge about the history of the internet gets lost and videos like this one help to prevent that loss. Btw interestingly I don't watch a single one of the channels your general audience watches. All the more impressive that the algorithm still lead me to you at some point!
"If you got to this point in the video, what are you doing?"
I've been listening while mowing my lawn.
Congrats you guys! I've been subscribed since Nerdy and Quirky did a substitute video for Vlogbrothers, and I've never looked back. Your videos are endlessly interesting and whenever I get a real job I'm joining you Patreon
This video has continuously come up in my feed for the 4 days since it was released, and it's had at least 3 different thumbnails.
I hope you get the algorithm to work for you!!
The funny thing about me watching this, is that this is the first time I've watched a video of yours and I swear I have never heard of you guys until now. I've never been recommended you guys but because A L G O, I saw this vid on my homepage and here I am.
Congratulations on 1 Milli! Your story is inspiring from the little smidge you gave in the intro. As a 20 something creative person, I've felt that dark shroud of quitting and getting on the conveyer belt of the rat race. Big ups for persevering! You have a new sub.
This reminds me of when everyone tried to make their video just over 10 minutes, because a rumour was ciruclating that the algorithm favoured videos more than 10 minutes long. I have no idea if it was even true, but all of a sudden videos exactly 10 minutes long started showing up everywhere.
Its one of those rare moments when the algorithm finally decides to recomend me people I am subscribed to just as they upload video
This video was fantastic! Fun, engaging and very clear, congrats for the video and to you all for 1 million subscribers!
The quality and effort you put into videos is astonishing
I am really impressed with Answerinprogress over the years. I always look forward to your videos. Congrats on 1M! Look forward to more!
It feels like just yesterday I was watching the taha a level results video, so proud of u all for putting in so much effort and thought to each video ur success is truly deserved
I subscribed back in 2021, and im honestly so happy see yall grow so big and the production quality go up!
On using chatgpt for checking understanding: right now im in a class that has, lets just say, pretty sub par teacher-made materials and assignment briefs. in my case the language they use isnt too advanced, but too vague and worded in a way that makes it hard to understand what is trying to be communicated. so i started using chatgpt to try parse what the hell is being said here and it.... worked??? like, after being sat stuck on what this means for hours, suddenly i have something that means something! i think this is the perfect use for language-based AI, as its not doing any subjective or specific knowledge-based work, its doing what it does best, comprehending text.
I'm honestly just speechless, I really don't know what to say?? I just loved this video so so much❤!! It's definitely one of my most favorite videos ever!!
Wow, what a great video. The way you put the RUclips algorithm history together is extremely satisfying. Also, the conclusion of “How to get views” solution is so satisfyingly simple. Hard work, professionalism, and fun are always popular and should always be rewarded. Thank you for this video!
…
THERES MORE?!-
This is the most entertaining sponsor segment I've ever watched.
Bill wurtz fans i see
This is easily the best video of yours. Granted I have only watched one of them but this is sooo good
I think there is one more level on this. I think super users drive the algorithm. The users who watch a lot of content, vote alot, watch videos fully, comment alot and subscribe to alot of channels. They are the drivers of those more random video suggestions. If they like and fully watch a random video it get promoted from there it spirals.
Finally if a account consistently goes back to the same video over and over it must be a stellar video and will get picked up by the algorithm even videos typically not promoted. I have accidentally done this to my own tutorial video which I set as a homepage.
Side note: the search bar has gotten worse over the years.
I had to watch this video in small parts because of my health / concentration span, and I hope that isn't hurting how the algorithm views this video, cause I loved it. Thank you so much :)
I remember your Little People series, Taha!
"Dave was a member of his local maths club, the K^3."
"Dave's favourite power was white power."
Should’ve had another shirt that had all your old shirt designs on it crossed out and the text “we’re figuring it out”
i love how they’re posting the video celebrating 1 mil when they’re already on 1.25 million lol
Congratulations folks. I love watching your videos. Keep it up!
Congrats on 1M subs! I would like to point out that those 80 billion signals are probably not as concrete as "watch-time", "clicks", etc. These are almost definitely abstract, continuous features which are extracted through the neural network. 80B seems like way too many parameters for a recommender system though so maybe they are counting every possible state of the floating point numbers in their parameters? 🤷♂
okay but this opening is so wholesome 🥹 like get you friends who will watch the live countdown with you at your place but also imagine what it must feel like to celebrate such a moment w your uni mates!! (granted the scuffed facetime but that's bound to happen w diff countries--also impressive they were all up in their timezones for the count!) from Sabrina and Friends to Answer in Progress--y'all have done AMAZING on this journey and congrats on this well-deserved milestone!
The fact that you placed your merch in the background of certain shots is actually really smart when you think about it, as is conditions the viewer into thinking about it almost subconsciously, as shown in 32:28
That outro was emotionally-packed.
I remember subscribing a few years ago and seeing you cross the 1 million milestone makes me feel like a proud parent.
All the best to you guys and keep on inspiring people like me and countless others!
This is actually one of my favorite RUclips videos in recent times, and a great aip way of celebrating a million. Congrats to you 3, you totally deserve it!
That title is a Bill Wurtz reference isn't it?