NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] What can YouTube statistics tell us about people fed up with Facebook?
What can YouTube statistics tell us about people fed up with Facebook? http://bit.ly/lXePsv (This message on Google Buzz) - - - This isn't meant to be any kind of rigorous statistical study -- really just some patterns I noticed that I thought might be of some amusement, for whatever they're worth. About a year ago I created a short YouTube video called "How to Delete Your Facebook Account (With Extreme Prejudice & a Bit of Style)": http://bit.ly/calVu1 (Lauren's Blog) It was a quickie, fun little project, and a bit of a homage to Edvard Grieg. By YouTube standards it certainly isn't a monster hit, but still has accumulated just over 100K views, is currently the top organic listing in YouTube search for the "delete facebook account" query, and is usually on the first page of natural results for similar Google queries. I very much have enjoyed the comments that viewers have been leaving on this video! It's nice to know that you've brought someone some happiness at least occasionally. One of my earliest YouTube videos, from 2007, was another sort of "How To" effort, called: "Is Your Cell Phone Bugged?": http://bit.ly/kVsRn2 (Lauren's Blog) This video is now approaching 600K views, and has long been the top (or very near the top) natural result for "cell phone bugged" queries on both YouTube and Google. (I must add, that since the time I produced that video, the issue of cell phone bugging has gone significantly more mainstream than was the case as I described it back then.) The pattern of viewership for YouTube videos can vary widely depending on the topic. I've had some vids that were mentioned on very visible Web sites, triggering spikes of traffic that would rapidly fall off. Others have had dramatic opening numbers and then have gradually fallen off over time. The Cell and Facebook vids are particularly interesting statistically since they both represent specific answers to specific user concerns and queries, and both have been highly ranked for relatively long periods. Yet when we compare the viewership stats via YouTube Insight, we see dramatically different patterns, even taking the much shorter time frame of the Facebook video into account. Except for very brief, occasional spikes triggered by short-term high visibility on external sites, the viewership pattern as graphed for the Cell vid is remarkably stable over time: http://bit.ly/jQE1Us (Lauren's Blog) Particularly over the last year or so, it has not shown dramatic viewership pattern changes. Compare and contrast with the Facebook vid: http://bit.ly/k2MT0Y (Lauren's Blog) Again ignoring the spikes, the full-year graph shows an unmistakable and strong upward trend, even though the video has maintained pretty much the same high search results position on YouTube and Google over virtually this entire period. What does this *actually mean* regarding people getting fed up with Facebook and wanting to escape from their ecosystem? Obviously nothing definitive. There are various ways that this data could be interpreted. Still, I found the comparison interesting, and wanted to share. Your thoughts regarding the existential or other meanings that might be teased out of this data are of course welcome. Thanks. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org Founder: - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Google Buzz: http://j.mp/laurenbuzz Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com