I was logging out on Youtube tonight while I saw a new large top banner showing up named "Myyoutube".
It seems this is a new service proposed by Youtube to its users, allowing them to gain points while subscribing to some specific Youtube channels, which, in the end, appear to lead to gifts offered by the service.
I wanted to share with you my thoughts about this new feature, as I am discovering it. First of all, I must say that I don't quite understand the service:
- Is it a loyalty reward program, pushing users to come back and watch as many videos as possible, in order to boost the number of views, and as a consequence, the number of advertizing opportunities?
- Is it a new feature which will be temporarily available?
It proposes me to subscribe to some people's channels, but it seems it is mainly artists. To be honnest with you, I haven't subscribe to any artist channel yet, and I am not likely to do so (even though I watch a lot of music videos on Youtube...).
There is a button "click on the channel", which links to a new page. It explains in some videos that you have artists, which have a contest, and you have to subscibe to their channels and to click on the videos they want you to click on to earn points.
Now there is really something that bugs me: How much the points are worth? It is said that I "may" (may and not will...) get gifts, but I have no idea how many points I need, and more important, no idea what kind of gift I can get... This is not clear and precise, and I have no interest clicking on videos I would not watch anyways, to get points which will lead nowhere...
Okay, I found out where to get a description of the gift... It is really not clear how it works seriously... Now I can click on the gift section, and each artist have its own gift, which is most of the time some CDs...
I am quite skeptical about the project:
- The concept is not well explained, and therefore, I have no clue what the company (Youtube) expects of me.
- The Myyoutube name is too strong for such a campaign... It has nothing to do with me, as it promotes videos I have no intention to watch, not linked to my own consumption ("My Youtube" is for sure my account, with the videos I posted, my favorites, the message people may have sent me...)
- It really seems like the artist are not really into the contest, and it feels like it has been set up thanks to us, and not for them...
- The reward system is very vague and not clear, and the actual rewards are not really interesting.
What do you think about it?
