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The #1 Tip for People Who Use the Internet

2023-08-18 · letter vlog · Hank · 4:06 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube · mode: Advice & reviews

Hank gives his number one tip for anyone posting online: by 'the axiom of virality' content with wide reach draws every conceivable take, the rare ones are weird and shocking and get boosted by algorithms, so a take's mere existence does not make it worth attention.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — We will all stay on the internet, so we must get better at it; Hank's number one tip for creators

  • ★★ Hank says that despite calls to go touch grass we will all keep being on the internet though we are not good at it, so since we can't stop we must get better at it. — 00:00:00 · touch grass
  • ★★ Hank offers his number one tip for anyone posting online: an understanding every early creator, himself included, gets wrong, and whose lack he has seen end careers prematurely. — 00:00:30

00:00:45 — The axiom of virality: larger reach, larger pool of takes; rare takes are wrong, shocking and boosted by algorithms

  • ★★★ Hank's 'axiom of virality': content that reaches very many people will draw every conceivable reaction; the larger the reach, the larger the pool of takes, a statistical fact. — 00:00:45

    “The axiom of virality. The larger the reach of your content, the larger the pool of takes.”

  • ★ Hank says the most common reactions are probably seen first, though an uncommon one may come first, which would be great if they were Pokemon cards, but they are not. (hedged) — 00:01:00

  • ★★★ Hank says uncommon takes are more likely to be silly and wrong, so should be ignored, but also more likely to shock, so they are harder to ignore. — 00:01:29
  • ★★★ Hank says people reply to shocking takes, which modern algorithms read as engagement and time on platform, so the less common, worse opinions are often intentionally promoted. — 00:01:40 · recommender system, attention economy
  • ★★ Hank says the uncommon opinion does not deserve the center of attention: it is far from the center of opinion and exists only because the content reached so many people. — 00:01:55

00:02:04 — Treat bizarre takes as fringe weirdness; harder for women and black creators; telling noise from real criticism

  • ★★★ In his opinion as a long-time creator, Hank says the only thing to do with bizarre takes is to see them as fringe weirdness, like a particularly ugly frog. — 00:02:04
  • ★★ Hank says some reactions are impossible not to be disturbed by, and the pool of potential takes differs between creators, making the job harder for certain kinds of people. — 00:02:25
  • ★★★ Hank says that if he had to deal with half of what his friends who are women or black people deal with, he would have quit. — 00:02:46
  • ★★ Hank says he does not know how to stop the takes, only that they will come, so creators who can find a way to make them matter less or not at all should. — 00:02:50
  • ★★ Hank says people are very weird: a tweet reaching 10 million people meets every possible confusion and reaction, but a reaction existing doesn't mean it should matter to you. — 00:03:10
  • ★★ Hank says humans are not designed to be good at receiving the reactions of a crowd of tens of millions of people. — 00:03:21
  • ★★★ Hank says sorting 'go touch some grass' takes from legitimate, useful criticism is possibly the hardest part of the job; after a very long time he is still getting better at it. (hedged) — 00:03:30 · touch grass

00:03:49 — Still learning; a take existing does not make it worth a neuron; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank tells every creator that the mere fact that a take exists does not make it worthy of even one neuron of their brain. — 00:03:49

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says the internet is messy and it took Hank a very long time to get good at this, likely easier for him than for many, but once he did things got much easier. — video description
  • ★ In a channel comment John says he will start replying 'Man, that was an ugly frog!' whenever he sees a really bad take. (playful) — creator comment
  • ★ In a channel comment Hank says he was going on vacation that week and wanted to make the video very quickly. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: viral video

Also: African Americans · attention economy · criticism · Pokémon · recommender system · touch grass

Also centred on viral video: Watch This If You Want To Smile (Pizzamas Day 3) · The Forgotten Viral Video that Could Never be Made Today

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