Why Titles and Thumbnails are Overrated

If you know the first thing about running a channel (or a blog, or a podcast, or anything posted on online media platforms), you will hear people talking about the importance of titles and thumbnails. They will tell you how a well-thought-of title and an intricate thumbnail once helped a viral video popped out in this vast ocean of online media, and how you should do the same because it's been proven.

The reality, however, is another matter entirely.

I know quite a few people who feel plagued or even violated by the notorious 'red arrows' and mouth-wide-open faces on YouTube thumbnails. Many of them submit to this toxic trend eventually because their frontpage is riddled with these thumbnails and there's no way to tell the algorithm 'I don't want to see these fricking faces and arrows' because whatever their commercials claim, AIs are just not that intelligent yet.

This got me (and many others) thinking, maybe the reason behind getting desirable view counts with these thumbnails isn't how well they're made, but everyone's making it so YouTube hasn't got much else to recommend even when everyone's getting tired of them. I am by no means a YouTuber, however, so there's no way for me to test this theory out personally. But, there is one other thing that smells (and feels) just like this.

'Involution', or 内卷，blew up on the Chinese Internet in 2020. An example best sums up this situation: you're sitting in a cinema, comfortable watching a film. Out of no reason, someone in the front row stands up. People behind him have to stand up to see the screen. Eventually, everyone in the cinema is watching this film standing up. No one knows why or even thinks about asking.

Involution means actions taken not for the actual betterment of yourself but for fear of losing to others. Such actions often seem inhumane or bizarre sometimes and are result of a toxic system bred by collective mindlessness (mostly due to extreme pressure). People do things just because other people do. Familiar so far?

Chinese online media platforms are no exceptions. There are Chinese versions of red arrow formulas. Everyone is telling you how important titles and thumbnails are but no one can say anything other than 'because these viral videos/posts did it'.

I'm not saying titles and thumbnails mean nothing. Veritasium posted a well-received video where he summarised titles and thumbnails that can, to some extent, boost your statistics. But there's no way of knowing how before you test them and even switch them out every now and then. The video itself is, and should be, of the utmost importance. A well-made video will always gather more views and likes (under similar circumstances) even without clickbaity titles and thumbnails and creators should put more effort into the making of videos instead of wasting hours on something people may not even remember after watching the video.

This begs the question: everyone knows not to judge a book by its cover, but if a cover is so poorly made that no one cares to cast a second glance, who would ever have a chance to actually read it?

I am not an expert in content creation or artificial intelligence so I cannot come up with a solution to this dilemma just yet. But I do know what might solve this problem: a new algorithm that's dynamic and inclusive, something that does not mindlessly recommend 10-year-old videos, something you can control and train by yourself.

The answer, once again, is not written in the wind. I look forward to and will applaud products and platforms like this. I hope you will, too.