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Here’s a thread on why YouTube is a terrible platform for learning:
YouTube’s primary agenda with its algorithm is to keep the user on its website for as long as possible. This is a massive problem for educational videos.
YouTube’s primary agenda with its algorithm is to keep the user on its website for as long as possible. This is a massive problem for educational videos.
The algorithm does this by constantly serving the user a stream of high retention videos so they never drop off the platform.
According to pretty much all the top Youtubers, including MrBeast, videos with close to 50% retention and 10-20% CTR do quite well on the platform.
According to pretty much all the top Youtubers, including MrBeast, videos with close to 50% retention and 10-20% CTR do quite well on the platform.
Many of the concepts in most fields of study have a hard time with retention, even with the best of teachers. Even Feynman!
Here’s an example:
My old YouTube Metastartup series (a playlist) has a video on getting started with starting a company. It has great retention!
Here’s an example:
My old YouTube Metastartup series (a playlist) has a video on getting started with starting a company. It has great retention!
But as you progress down the playlist, some of the more complex concepts have <10% retention. Nobody wants to sit and listen to how anti-dilution in startups work, for example.
Feyman’s lecture series has the same problem as you progress.
Feyman’s lecture series has the same problem as you progress.
You’ll find the same pattern with the best educators on YouTube, including KhanAcademy. The first few videos in a series have a high number of views, but incredible drop-offs towards the end. Usually the last video in a series has less than 1% of the views of the first one!
This is the YouTube algorithm’s work. Studying something complex is incredibly hard. It can sometimes fry your brain. Which is bad for retention. So instead of having you watch 3-4 tough concepts in a row and lose you, YouTube baits you with a music video, or a meme review.
The problem with learning online today is not the lack of content. It’s finding a distraction free classroom environment that encourages completion. Most humans are not motivated enough to avoid every funny video placed along the way from episode 1 to 300 of a series on coding.
Imagine it like this. You’re in a classroom and suddenly you have comedians and memes and Pokemon and what not flying in and out of the windows.
Plus, educational videos are long. Don’t forget 4-5 ads per video to make the experience worse.
Would you be able to concentrate?
Plus, educational videos are long. Don’t forget 4-5 ads per video to make the experience worse.
Would you be able to concentrate?
One way to keep someone’s attention for long periods is to have live classes. After 9 cohorts at Avalon Meta, we can tell that this is definitely the future. It requires a lot of manpower, but the student retention is 65-85% over many months. Compare that to 5% retention on Udemy
The goal for educators today is to try and get as many students over the finish line, not just spray content all over the place. Distraction is your biggest competition. I foresee educators creating a trailer and then moving to their own platform to avoid YouTube’s algorithm.
As for students, it’s a minefield. You’re probably better off finding a live platform to learn something. A community is valuable too, they’ll keep you more accountable. Use YouTube to find the best instructors, then find where they’re teaching distraction free. Go there.
We have minds and brains that are practically unchanged over the last 2 million years of evolution. Apes get distracted easily. So do we.
Recognising that is part of the process to learning better. It’s not about the content. It’s about the learning experience.
Recognising that is part of the process to learning better. It’s not about the content. It’s about the learning experience.
