How YouTube's algorithm works and what everyone gets wrong about social media.

The article argues that YouTube, Google, TikTok and Instagram are content platforms rather than channel platforms, and that their ranking goals can conflict with those of Creators. It describes YouTube's stated focus on "individual video and audience level signals" and its advice to "Focus on what your audience likes," noting that YouTube has made four major algorithm changes in its 18-year history. It says Google still uses PageRank, which counts links to a page as a signal of importance, and that Google released thousands of algorithm changes in a year. It also states that TikTok's parent ByteDance has published little about its algorithm, and that Instagram's Feed, Stories, Explore and Reels sections use the same data with different ranking priorities.