Analyzing the analytics

 Errol Morris recently said in an interview on The Pigeon Tunnel that he makes documentaries to learn something. I suppose I am of the same strain of artist, as I have been a listener since sitting at my grandfather’s knee. This interest in the personal narrative is one of the reasons that I went around the world in 2017, recording the experience of physician assistant-type providers. Morris also intimated, as many times before, that documentaries do not make money. This holds true more severely for me, of course; I have spent more than I have collected in donations or awards, and I have not managed to get over more than a few thousand views, let alone monetization. As my often lengthy videos seek to learn something about the lives of others, in the context of the world events and history, and are not industry promotions (do not show how to crayfish or play video games or take one on tours of tourist destinations or detail the latest progress of really big rockets), they are not sought out by viewers or promoted via YouTube’s algorithm. My page of documentaries is basically a filing cabinet for my work. That said, I would assume that the algorithm would at least promote my most watched or watchable videos. 

Recently, when searching for my page “Most Hustle and Desire”, one of the first videos that popped up, “another opportunity”, was not my number one video, nor was it my number two, it was not even in the top 50 for the period; it is a brief one-minute clip with less than 50 views at the time.


There was only one other video of similar length and views with the same interviewee, “I don’t see why not”, in the top 50 for the same period.  

Granted, no one probably searches for my Blogger or YouTube page by “Most Hustle and Desire” except for me, but it seems that the algorithms are being directed to promote certain content over others based on  the politics of the moment. 

Like Errol Morris, I believe that there is such a thing as objective truth, and like him, I cannot claim to be privy to it. Google seems to be using my content as propaganda, in a way that I did not intend, but toward what end, I cannot be certain. That said, when I search only for “Physician Assistant”, my many videos on the subject do not even appear — despite these being my more “promotional” videos and despite that I chose PAs for their popularity as a profession in order to successfully attract views. In fact, most of my views are from use by the professionals who contributed to my work. Perhaps my low viewership is because I am not a major institution privy to the algorithm. Perhaps because my films are not promotional or political enough. Perhaps because they show too plainly the ordinariness of life. Perhaps they are boring — people rarely watch one all the way through. I am not a sensationalist; I am a poet. My hope is that my work is toward the world community, where all people are able to set and achieve personal goals and live full lives that, intentionally or not, also contribute to the common good. This was part of the impetus behind my main PA film, As Good As You Can, As Professionally As You Can.

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