There is another factor in the growth and demise of social media and particularly YouTuber's followings, as YouTube itself is not a neutral public square. As I know you yourself must have experienced, there is constant pressure from YouTube to modify your message if it does not conform with the accepted narrative.
There is another factor in the growth and demise of social media and particularly YouTuber's followings, as YouTube itself is not a neutral public square. As I know you yourself must have experienced, there is constant pressure from YouTube to modify your message if it does not conform with the accepted narrative.
Since most successful YouTubers are monetized, these pressures can be intense. YouTubers who dare to go against the narrative are quickly punished by "community standard" strikes that can lead to suspensions or even cancellation of their channel, demonetization or removal of particular videos or the whole channel, and various forms of shadow banning that can destroy their audience.
I have observed many YouTubers shy away from "controversial" subject matters even to the point of refusing to use certain words that they know will cause problems such as "vaccination" "Suicide" etc. In the music reaction area, this leads to certain artists being avoided because their message is not "approved." This can really hurt those artists because without people reacting to them, their following gets smaller and then other reactors start to avoid them because they can not get enough views as well. It's a vicious cycle.
I realize this comment may not be totally responsive to your post, because to be honest, I found the terminology a little too complex for my feeble brain. Perhaps someone else can put these observations into context better!
There is another factor in the growth and demise of social media and particularly YouTuber's followings, as YouTube itself is not a neutral public square. As I know you yourself must have experienced, there is constant pressure from YouTube to modify your message if it does not conform with the accepted narrative.
Since most successful YouTubers are monetized, these pressures can be intense. YouTubers who dare to go against the narrative are quickly punished by "community standard" strikes that can lead to suspensions or even cancellation of their channel, demonetization or removal of particular videos or the whole channel, and various forms of shadow banning that can destroy their audience.
I have observed many YouTubers shy away from "controversial" subject matters even to the point of refusing to use certain words that they know will cause problems such as "vaccination" "Suicide" etc. In the music reaction area, this leads to certain artists being avoided because their message is not "approved." This can really hurt those artists because without people reacting to them, their following gets smaller and then other reactors start to avoid them because they can not get enough views as well. It's a vicious cycle.
I realize this comment may not be totally responsive to your post, because to be honest, I found the terminology a little too complex for my feeble brain. Perhaps someone else can put these observations into context better!