Cutting off the excess fat
This is probably more a Twitter-esque incomplete thought, but I recently read/saw someone's musing that they found it hilarious that all the Youtube content creators were being abandoned by users favouring TikTok. I wonder if there's any truth to it.
I certainly remember Livejournal and Blogger watching being abandoned over time for Twitter and Facebook status updates. And for a fair number of people, that was probably a good thing. Instead of reading six paragraphs about people who had nothing productive to say, they were now limited to 140 characters. But then, there slowly became less and less interesting long-form content.
There are a handful of channels that I enjoy watching regularly on Youtube, although none of them are the MTV Real World-esque confessionals, unboxing videos, or entertainment news reviews by wannabe television hosts. (I also find the rapid video cuts grating - it makes me appreciate when people have prepared remarks about what they want to say instead of rambling on for 45 minutes in order to get about 2 minutes of usable content spliced together.)
The dearth of advertising on Youtube has certainly turned me off, and I watch a lot less of it. I reached peak disgust when trying to watch a video on how to repair something I'd broken, only for the anger and agony to be highlighted by advertisements each time I loaded and video PLUS the creator's rambling speech at the beginning of the video imploring viewers to like, share, and comment on their video.
I also grit my teeth each time their mouths open, as if in slow motion audio when the creators addresses the viewer with a cheerful "Hiiiiiiiiii guuuuuuuyyyyyyyyyyssssss..." Then endless clicking through the video trying to get to the part that's actually pertinent to what you need to know. Too often, when you find what you're looking for, it's relatively pertinent at best.
This agony is also repeated whenever I stupidly look for new cooking recipes on somebody's cooking blog. I don't want a three-page preface with your life story and how much the recipe means to you, I just want to know how many fucking tomatoes I'll need for the sauce. This is also why I'm willing to buy cookbooks at the store, just to cut through the bullshit.
Even if platforms are losing users who favour creation of more short-form content, I consider this positive turnover. Everyone can find their nitch, and I'll stick to journaling. Weed out the deadweight, I say!