Thanks for all the great responses! I'll have another discussion with my son about discord and see what we can do. Regarding the texting thing, yes, Youtube sends notifications when a new video is released, but not to everyone all at once. The algorithm appears to initially test a subset of subscribers, and if the performance is good, expands to everyone subscribed. If it does REALLY well the video will get promoted to a broad audience seeking new subscribers, even those who likely have no interest in the topic. At that point viewer retention and other stats plummet but the view count artificially goes into the stratosphere. The two main reasons YouTubers look to these services are: 1. It's a way to get around the algorithm and ensure viewers immediately get notified of new videos regardless of popularity. 2. To guard against losing their audience in the unlikely event YouTube shuts down their channel. The reason the texting service didn't work for my channel: Every text I sent cost me 5 cents US. That doesn't sound like a lot until 1,000 people sign up. That meant $50 just to alert 1,000 subscribers of a new video. That does not scale well. If 10k people signed up that would be a $500 penalty before I've made any ad revenue, which at the time of this writing is more than the total ad revenue on the latest egg cannon video! The guys behind the service assured me it would eventually pay for itself, but were unable to demonstrate a single penny of revenue to help offset the cost. So though it was really cool to reach subscribers directly, I had to draw the line with the service, insisting they offer something more before I could do any additional promotions. At that point they admitted they'd already decided to shut it down but were simply stringing me along.
3 years ago | 1
I would like a discord Server to discuss different aspects of the videos, to maybe get even more Information by the help of the Community and its way easier to give you Video ideas in a chat than by leaving a comment. I think your community is one of the politest on Youtube so i think monitoring the Server wouldn't even be needed a lot. Also i'm sure finding some supporters wouldn't be that hard. I don't like the Idea of hiding the Server behind a paywall, because many people couldn't afford it (e.g. students) Greetings from Germany! Stay safe!
3 years ago (edited) | 11
Discord is a brilliant idea to conglomerate everyone's ideas and Theories, it's a great place to converse about projects and expand your knowledge, the politeness on stuff made heres discord is moderated and also has a positive community to start with (very much like this community!) It also offers a 2 way channel for communication between your audience and you increasing the interaction of your audience with your community. I see no downfalls.
3 years ago | 2
I'd probably join but not to sure how much I'd participate... I think it would be far cooler for you to host a matrix server or some other open source solution.. That could possibly be a fun technology build, another video or two and broadening opportunity... Something between the ideas could be a reddit channel...
3 years ago | 3
I am looking forward to joining the Disco' as soon as you begin setting it up! Let me know if you need a hand getting things started or keeping things going in favorable directions.
3 years ago | 1
I've been very curious about the reasons for this texting/newsletter services that quite a few channels "advertise" these days (tom Scott just did so in his video too). I always get YouTube notifications on my phone and I wonder if this is a way of getting people's attention that enjoy YT on their computers only? Or is there something to the myth that YT doesn't send out notifications sometimes? I've never experienced this but to be honest I go through my sub list every day looking for stuff to watch instead of watching TV so my experience might differ from someone who's on here only when they get a notification?
3 years ago | 1
I did notice no text on the last video. I’ve not joined any discords and not sure how it works to be honest. I would give it a try though if you went that route. 👍
3 years ago | 1
Hi Quint! I know that a lot of people (especially the younger generation) like discord for a variety of reasons. It does take a lot of effort to maintain and moderate however, so I would recommend that you find some qualified volunteers (or hire) some moderators to staff and set up the discord. I think for the viewers’ sake your time is better spent on your outstanding projects!
3 years ago
| 5
Locals.com is also worth checking out. You can also set a paywall, Livestream, community discussion etc. I am a part of several communities in locals and it is by FAR the best "social" platform I've used
3 years ago | 0
I guess a simple alternative would be a newsletter. But discord does have some plus sides
3 years ago | 0
I absolutely think you should. If you need help with it, I bet that a lot of viewers, like me, would love to help build it.
3 years ago | 1
Shanes STUFF MADE HERE discord is polite, not because its behind a paywall, but because of active mods enforcing good behavior and a great community. You have a great community, maybe there are some that would like to help moderate you discord?
3 years ago | 5
Hey Quint I for 1 would love that I have some ideas about harvesting energy and would love your input on it!! So I say go for it!!
3 years ago | 0
Discord isn't hard to set up, I'm pretty sure your son can do it. I'm also pretty sure a fan would help it look fancier if you wanted bots and stuff to spruce it up a bit. Depending on how big you think it would be, you'd need some trusty admins in place. There's always trolls and ect that need to be dealt with in a regular basis.
3 years ago | 2
Set up your own texting service. Put the contacts in ClickUp and connect it to RingCentral with Integromat. Cheap and easy.
3 years ago | 0
I'd join a discord server too. But with you being a husband, a dad, having a job, and your hobby building a youtube channel while engaging with your subscribers is certain to be a big time effort to balance in a healthy way. Discord would be a great place for like minded individuals to engage with you and others in a way that can be more flexible, seperated by channels and offers direct messaging. But, spending hobby time on one does take from another. pay wall, even just a small one has its points on ensuring only those really interested would join, but might prevent a significant many that would be interested in discussion. As to politeness, I think your general youtube community might be a fair indicator of the type to join your discord server. but I'm sure that a trusted moderator two or three can handle the situation if someone gets out of hand.
3 years ago (edited) | 0
The discord will be another taxing thing on your time. But whichever you choose, good for you.
3 years ago | 0
A Discord server behind a small paywall is definitely not a bad thing. Gets rid of nearly all the spammers, bots etc. and due to the relative small number of people in there it'd be easier to moderate. I'm sorry to hear your text service didn't work out for you and whilst I personally didn't sign up (companies can get hacked or sold and I don't want my phone to be spammed with ads) it is too bad you didn't get what you wanted from it after all that work. Better luck on your next experiment!
3 years ago | 3
Quint BUILDs
Those who signed up with the texting service may have noticed in the last video that no notifications were sent. Reason: the service is being shut down! When I was first approached about it, grand promises were made that simply didn't materialize. I'm typically very cautious about being an early adopter but though my spidey senses were telling me no, I stepped outside my comfort zone and gave it a shot. While it didn't work out, I learned that FAR more of you were willing to sign up compared to much larger channels with millions of subs. That means a lot to me so thank you!
What now?
A number of people (including my son) have been urging me to setup a DISCORD server. But the only experience I have with that is on STUFF MADE HERE. I'm one of his patrons (because he's awesome) and have engaged in some great conversations there. So when the idea of my own discord came up I figured, "why would I, Shane already has the best one." BUT, none of his projects have to do with harvesting energy which some of you would like to discuss. So... what do you think? Should I set up a discord around Quint BUILDs projects? I'm struck by how polite and courteous everyone is on Shane's discord, likely because it's behind a small paywall, which is only a few bucks I believe.
Anyway, let me know what you think. This channel just hit 400k which is AMAZING and tells me there may be enough interest to justify a discord. But as you know I'm a full time dad and engineer trying to make this work. That means I can't afford to take on another full-time hobby but could chime in once in a while like Shane does.
Thanks again for all the support, it means the world to me!
-Quint
3 years ago | [YT] | 141