6 Tricks That YouTube Uses To ‘hook’ Your Attention
Among the most consumed social networks is YouTube, the most famous platform for watching videos and the second most visited website in the world. And, by giving everyone the possibility of generating content, it is possible to watch any type of video on this website, from a person cleaning their house to a video clip of your favorite singer.
In this article you will find a summary of the tricks YouTube uses to capture your attention and keep your interest in what’s happening on the screen.
6 tricks that YouTube uses to capture your attention
YouTube is available in more than 100 countries, amassing nearly 2 billion active users each month. 62% of its users are men and around 50% are between 25 and 44 years old. Having so many video consumers per day, it is not surprising that this platform carries out different persuasive strategies to engage the attention of its users, encouraging them to spend more hours on the platform and thus generating more views and, in the long run, money.
Persuasion is defined as the ability to get a person to act or think in a certain way. In advertising and marketing, persuasion is constantly used to increase the sales and profits of a specific brand. Nowadays and with the generation of an entire world digitally, practically all social networks make use of persuasion strategies to achieve more users and more economic profits.
In this article we are going to comment on 6 tricks that YouTube uses to hook our attention Excessive screen consumption is becoming a problem of increasing interest, so if you are worried about your YouTube consumption, the first step is to identify how you could reduce your viewing minutes and free yourself from mobile dependency.
1. Personalized recommendations
One of the main reasons why YouTube has become an online entertainment giant is because of its great ability to suggest personalized content recommendations to its users based on what they have previously consumed. Behind this function operate complex algorithms that develop viewing patterns, searches and interactions within the platform to understand how users relate to the platform.
This recommendation algorithm has the main objective of keeping viewers hooked showing them content that fits their personal interests and preferences For example, if you watch a cooking or recipe video, YouTube will start suggesting content related to cooking and cooking techniques, thus attracting your attention to consume more content related to it.
This is a very effective strategy to keep users on the platform, since, when a video ends, these automatic suggestions appear tempting them to click on the next related content that may be attractive. This often degenerates into finding oneself immersed in a video sequence that was not planned to be viewed, but which keeps us connected for long periods of time.
2. Autoplay
Autoplay is another way YouTube manages to capture and keep our attention, and it is an almost imperceptible strategy. Once you finish watching a video, if you have autoplay activated, without having to do anything the next recommended video starts playing based on the algorithms mentioned above. This keeps the viewers in a spiral of continuous content consumption
The anticipation generated by knowing that after the video you are consuming another similar video will be played and the absence of a long pause are the main reasons why this mechanism works to make content consumers stay watching and waiting for more content. . Autoplay is based on the principle of convenience and continuity; Without having to make an active decision about which video to watch next, it is easier for us to continue consuming content.
The negative consequence is that we can easily lose track of time while browsing these endless automatic lists of videos. It can be a trap that leads us to excessive consumption of content and time. To avoid falling into this type of cycle, it is advisable to establish YouTube usage time limits, which do not allow us to remain on the platform for more than a certain time.
3. Thumbnails and attractive titles
The thumbnails are the covers that the videos have and represent them. They are designed to be visually appealing and often show exciting moments or highlights from the content. These images are usually made to arouse curiosity and motivate you to want to know more about what is happening in the video. In addition, they act in conjunction with the titles, playing a fundamental role when clicking on a video. Titles are usually persuasive and short, interesting enough to capture your interest from the first moment If a title seems intriguing or promises relevant information or entertainment, you’re more likely to be inclined to give it a try.
YouTube is a very competitive platform in which its content creators compete for this attention to reach more views and more subscribers. Thumbnails and titles are powerful tools that allow content to stand out from the rest to attract more viewers. Additionally, the platform also uses algorithms using data and metrics to evaluate how effective thumbnails and titles are and how consumers interact with them.
4. Duration of the videos
Video length is another crucial factor that YouTube carefully considers to maintain attention to its content. Although, as we have mentioned, the variety of content it houses is very wide, from short clips to very extensive documentaries, the algorithms have shown that YouTube is more interested in promoting and consuming shorter videos.
This algorithm that we have been talking about favors the consumption of shorter videos, giving value to the idea that in these times what generates more attention and interest is immediacy. We want to consume content that is brief and that continuously entertains us, and this is more difficult to achieve with excessively long or detailed videos. The optimal length of a video depends on the content and interests of the target audience, but creators have found that The platform rewards what is shortest and most entertaining so this type of videos has increased significantly and is thus another way to promote attention and make people spend more time on the platform.
5. Notifications and reminders
Through automatic notifications on your mobile device, YouTube notifies you when a content creator you follow has shared a new video that may interest you, or even when any content has been uploaded that, based on your algorithm, the platform understands that It is of your interest.
These notifications work as a persuasive technique because they make us constantly pay attention to the existing content on this platform and make us develop the tendency to not wanting to miss anything or be “out of orbit” Therefore, notifications and reminders are very important for content creators so that their followers generate a greater commitment to them and their videos than consuming them sporadically and without paying attention.
Finally, on YouTube an entire community is generated in the comments section of each video. This works as a persuasive strategy to the extent that content consumers develop a greater or lesser sense of commitment to their favorite creators and with the need to be part of their community of followers. Through these comments, people with similar interests can interact and establish conversations, which makes them return every time they want to read new comments to the video they are on, thus generating more views and more possibilities of watching more videos after this.
The importance of realizing persuasive inputs
In conclusion, we hope that this article serves to make us aware of the diversity of ways in which digital platforms like YouTube develop strategies to maintain their consumers and generate commitments to their favorite content creators and the platform in general. This does not have to be bad, the consumption of videos can be very nutritious when done with topics of interest, but we must be careful not to establish relationship patterns with this platform that can be harmful to our daily life or make us lose too much time.
Don’t torture yourself if you ever spend too many hours hooked on YouTube. The productivity wheel of our capitalist systems can make you feel like you’re wasting your time, but you can also consider watching videos on YouTube as part of your break or as a way to discover new knowledge that may interest you. If, on the other hand, you think that your use is excessive and you feel the need to reduce your consumption, look for strategies to do so; Set time limits, delete the app from your phone or cancel notifications.
