Hacker News Reader

You’re incorrect about Alec from technology connections. He is very aware of hooks for videos and retention is very much on his mind. His videos are well scripted, for the most part, given his niche. But the reason the videos are an hour long is BECAUSE of the algorithm rewarding long form second screen content.

Has he mentioned this somewhere we can cite?

I’m sure he’s aware of it as all creators have the tools to be aware of these sort of things, I just don’t get the impression from his content that he’s super concerned about taking that information and acting upon it.

I.e., if YouTube didn’t provide any analytics of any kind, I don’t think his content would change.

Yeah if you pay for his patreon you can read his discord where he’s mentioned it. Also I think on stage at a recent youtube convention in san mateo he mentioned he always looks for the hook. Note also the increase in video length corresponding with the platform’s algorithm changes

Can you clarify what you mean by "second screen content" here? I don't feel like I would get anything out of Alec's videos by "watching" them while really watching something else (which is how I understand that term, possibly incorrectly). Do people really do that?

Normally “second screen content” refers to something you glance at while doing your main task such as a day job (emails, etc).

Another example is Old School Runescape, which has gained a moniker of “second screen game” because a lot of the boring grindy content can be done while focusing on something else.

the main screen could be web browsing, video game, work. That screen is the primary focus. My wife watched 20-60 min yt vids during her work day on an ipad.

To be that kind of rich you usually have to make not only your career but your life about making money. And then it becomes your self image. The illogical decisions happen because there's nothing left of you but continuing to make the number go up.

Some people are so rich all they have is money.

He has investors to pay back now, so I don't think he can just do whatever. If that were me, I would consider myself fucked. But in his case I suspect this is already what he wants to do.

Plenty of people minmax video games where they're paying, not being paid, to do it.

I don't see any reason why view-maxing and what he loves to make can't be the same thing.

> and just make what he loves to make

That is what he loves to make, there is nothing more to it.

> has more than enough money to do what he wants

I think he's also doing exacty what he wants to be doing.

Alternatively, you could consider that maybe he just wants to be the best. In that viewpoint it would be like telling Usain Bolt to stop sprinting, because he already has money. Why go for a world record? Just stop bro.

The best at what? Making money on YouTube? View count?

He's explicitly on record on talking about view count and view retention being his explicit north star. You go back and watch his early work and he has been truly obsessed since the beginning. He wants to be popular. He loves the spectacle. Now, he may have become more jaded as time goes on; he certainly could pull back at this time. But he would lose that attention, and I think that's what truly matters to him.

Alright if that's the case then more power to him.

Being the best at making YouTube videos, yes.

I mean if you are of the opinion that people stop watching videos because they don't like them and continue watching because they do, then it would logically follow that by tweaking videos in such a way that people keep watching, you are giving them what they want (even if it's not necessarily what they may say they want). You don't need to be a narcissist grifter to want to make what people want. It's not like this is high art, it's mass consumer entertainment.

Greed is a menace on humanity.

Imagine what all those billionaires could do good for humanity with all that money they can never spend. Instead, they chose to make the world worse and gain even more money they can't spend until they die.

It would be sad if it wouldn't be so terrible.

Greed isn't the menace, humanity is. How do you think those people got those billions? What do you think MrBeast is doing when he's rebuilding his videos around where people drop off?

They are giving people what they want. Surely they have given more people what those people wanted than you have. They have become very, very good at giving people what they want. What, after all, is an "algorithm"?

It's the people who want things that aren't in their own best interest. And when you take it upon yourself to "do good" in ways that deviate from what people want, you are taking the position of "the people don’t know what’s best for them, but I do."

The "they" in your "they chose to make the world worse," is the majority of the human populace.

Edit: Basically, https://youtu.be/TKC2c225EnE

> Greed isn't the menace, humanity is. How do you think those people got those billions? What do you think MrBeast is doing when he's rebuilding his videos around where people drop off?

Exploiting peoples short attention spans and addiction. There are papers on it these days and I'm quite sure he knows those all.

> They are giving people what they want

It is 2026. We know that this kind of optimisation is exploiting weakness in peoples minds. I mean, you say it yourself: "It's the people who want things that aren't in their own best interest.". This is why algorithms don't measure what people want but what keeps them watching. Beast's algorithms don't ask people what they want.

> And when you take it upon yourself to "do good" in ways that deviate from what people want, you are taking the position of "the people don’t know what’s best for them, but I do."

This is usually how a prospering and successful civilisation works. You develop a justice system, laws and regulations so people don't smash their heads until their families are extinguished for example.

> The "they" in your "they chose to make the world worse," is the majority of the human populace.

I'd say there is a huge difference between Bob influencing George so they eat at a certain diner because he likes the waitress and Google running a quasi monopoly on online videos.

My comment was about what Billionaires do with their money and them lobbying for tax cuts, pushing down wages as far as possible or exploiting mechanisms to trap them into addiction is not "what people want".