Thread by @JimSterling

There are three things:

1. The algorithm absolutely pushes negative content.
2. YouTube audiences want their fave channels to stick to one thing.
3. Negativity has, and always will, be popular.

https://twitter.com/CaseyExplosion/status/1184069931953995776

1. The algorithm has for a while rewarded anger and harshness. Especially juicy for some YouTubers is stoking drama against other YouTubers, allowing them to get into searches and related content for the people they're attacking. It's a thriving business.

2. There are stats showing how hard it is for YouTubers to break out of their niche.

A YT'er known for playing Minecraft, for example, will be expected to play Minecraft, and videos they do on other topics will perform significantly worse.

Viewers like familiarity.

3. There's always demand for negativity. A thread on my unofficial subreddit asked people to say if they prefer it when I praise or criticize something. The answer was resoundingly in favor of the latter.

This has been true in my 10+ years of games media across many mediums.

I still try and put positive videos out there as you know. When I play a great game, I want to beam about how great it is. But it's a morale-stomper when you put out a positive video and it tanks.

When it comes to negativity, I try to at least have something worthwhile to say.

In any case, YT is just a constant fight to keep one's heart in it. The only consistent rule is "be popular already" and every change YT makes to its platform creates more problems for those aren't super popular.

I don't blame anyone holding tightly onto their niche.