This is not stating I am quitting YouTube.

How I choose video topics

I have been uploading videos on the channel for almost 6 years, and made certain compromises along the way, but there are two main principles I stick to:

• I have to be very interested in the topic

• The topic/approach has to be covered in a completely different manner to other popular topics - if not, it should just be a prerequisite to something else that does that

The second criterion has perhaps been too strict, and it seems that the audience does not care too much about it. However, I have been holding onto this criterion for a long time because that is my criterion when it comes to watching videos, and I don’t want to be hypocritical. Clarifying this criterion a little bit: “completely different” means the argument being completely different. It would not be “completely different” if it is simply a traditional textbook argument with lots of visuals added in. Even if a tiny step in a textbook proof is done differently, I will still not count it as “completely different”. In short, I don’t want anyone come out thinking, “I’ve seen this before”.

To avoid saying names, I’ve seen a lot of big YouTube channels violated this second criterion, many of whom I loved. "I’ve seen this before” is exactly the thought I had in many videos when watching them. Maybe it’s just me already being a PhD student and therefore have seen a lot, or those topics are still watched for a reason.

Combating the dissonance between audience and me

Initially I tried to play into it, and maybe that’s where I went wrong. After the success of the Jacobian video, I decided to make Green’s functions video and the complex analysis video series. I was very passionate about those subjects, but views were an even bigger motivator in deciding to make these videos. I knew that if I made a video about a fairly common topic (but approaching them from a different angle, as per the second criterion), I would have a lot of views! I am not sure whether I should have even made these videos - on the one hand, those made me where I am today; but on the other hand, I have allowed views to take over the decision.

After those videos, I decided to make videos more driven by interest than views and those videos still did pretty well, so I decided to keep making them. But that changed around 2023, when I released especially this video on Theorema Egregium, my favourite theorem at the time, I really, really loved making the video; but it is one of the least-viewed videos at the time by a large margin (still is, at least post Jacobian video). Perhaps it’s a one-off thing? This decline does not stop for two more videos, and I felt really defeated.

As a last-ditch effort, I made the Lie theory video series. This is another common topic, and the decision to make this series is again more driven by views than interest, and it paid off. Are the common topics the only way forward? Should I keep being this strict on “completely different” arguments in a video? Or am I being too addicted to the dopamine hits given by views?

The way forward

Therefore, I’ve decided that I am treating this channel very differently now. From sharing stuff that you probably never noticed before, to an outlet for me to share what I have learnt, without too much regard for whether other people have done it before. This is probably the very, very initial starting point for me before “making it” on YouTube. You probably would have noticed no difference in the content, but it will be a very dramatic switch in my mind to not care about whether others have already made a similar video before.

Perhaps a bit more crucial difference content-wise is the slow switch to more physics content, because I am a PhD student in physics, and need to learn more about physics. There will still be a lot of maths involved, and perhaps the focus is still maths, but there will be more links to physics. Stay tuned.

If you are still reading: can you figure out the reference for the title of this blog post?