Have you ever done sub4sub?

  • No

    Votes: 71 68.9%
  • Yes

    Votes: 7 6.8%
  • Yes, but only in the past!

    Votes: 25 24.3%

  • Total voters
    103

Koala_Steamed

Mythic User
Have you ever been asked to sub4sub?
I'm sure everyone has encountered people (and possibly done it yourselves) requesting to subscribe and in return they will subscribe back. This sounds like a great idea initially as you both gain a subscriber!

However this has a few major implications, first of all this is strictly against YouTube Policy. "The number of users subscribed to your YouTube channel is a metric that reflects the number of people who are following your channel". Don't worry too much if you have previously done this a few times, but artificially gaining a large amount of subscribers can lead to channel termination.


Additionally to this, gaining subscribers is just a number and wont impact your channel. It could even possibly have a negative effect. Channels that have large amounts of subscribers with very low views can often be easily recognized, people see this as bad practice and then less likely to subscribe. So you may be forcing away legitimate viewers from subscribing!

YouTube closely guards it's algorithms when it comes to suggested, recommended, and subscriber feed information however some large youtubers have begun to crack the code through vigorous testing and experience. One such theory is the theory called "subscriber burn" which when broken down states that an inactive viewer will see less and less of you in their feed until the subscriber is "burned" or "burned out" This happens frequently with large creators and is one of the driving reasons creators need to promote themselves on various platforms to reactivate "burned" subscribers.
Supported by MattPatt from Game theory

There is a similar theory based on just as much evidence that when you release a video your response rate (or the number/percent of people who interact with your content) within the first 24 hours can set your video up for success or failure in the long run. The target response is floating above 35% viewership to subscriber ratio. This gets harder and harder to achieve when you've inflated your subscriber count using methods like sub4sub.
-Various sources throughout the years.

For these reasons any form of sub4sub/like4like is not allowed on the Freedom! Forums or within the network. If you do see anyone requesting sub4sub, please report the user and they will be warned by someone form the moderating team. Remember to still be respectful of the user, we don't want to to initiate any arguments over this and they might just not know any better.

Thanks to @Anthony Smith for the additional information!
 

Showcase One

Mythic User
Freedom! Member
Jan 12, 2016
2,022
494
Australia
tldr.tk
YouTube
Have you ever been asked to sub4sub?
I'm sure everyone has encountered people (and possibly done it yourselves) requesting to subscribe and in return they will subscribe back. This sounds like a great idea initially as you both gain a subscriber!

However this has a few major implications, first of all this is strictly against YouTube Policy. "The number of users subscribed to your YouTube channel is a metric that reflects the number of people who are following your channel". Don't worry too much if you have previously done this a few times, but artificially gaining a large amount of subscribers can lead to channel termination.


Additionally to this, gaining subscribers is just a number and wont impact your channel. It could even possibly have a negative effect. Channels that have large amounts of subscribers with very low views can often be easily recognized, people see this as bad practice and then less likely to subscribe. So you may be forcing away legitimate viewers from subscribing!

YouTube closely guards it's algorithms when it comes to suggested, recommended, and subscriber feed information however some large youtubers have begun to crack the code through vigorous testing and experience. One such theory is the theory called "subscriber burn" which when broken down states that an inactive viewer will see less and less of you in their feed until the subscriber is "burned" or "burned out" This happens frequently with large creators and is one of the driving reasons creators need to promote themselves on various platforms to reactivate "burned" subscribers.
Supported by MattPatt from Game theory

There is a similar theory based on just as much evidence that when you release a video your response rate (or the number/percent of people who interact with your content) within the first 24 hours can set your video up for success or failure in the long run. The target response is floating above 35% viewership to subscriber ratio. This gets harder and harder to achieve when you've inflated your subscriber count using methods like sub4sub.
-Various sources throughout the years.

For these reasons any form of sub4sub/like4like is not allowed on the Freedom! Forums or within the network. If you do see anyone requesting sub4sub, please report the user and they will be warned by someone form the moderating team. Remember to still be respectful of the user, we don't want to to initiate any arguments over this and they might just not know any better.

Thanks to @Anthony Smith for the additional information!

Awesome post @Koala_Steamed and @Anthony Smith this should be pinned
I know heaps of people who do this because they think subscribers are the whole point of YouTube but your better off having 100 views and 10 subsciribers. There's no point having subscribers but no one watching your videos. People should focus on making quality content and getting it out there. Go ahead and use call to actions but don't go and sub for sub.
Keep up the great work guys.
 

zeke morgan

Mythic User
Freedom! Member
Dec 8, 2015
3,810
1,638
YouTube
Now it just seems like I'm copying Showcase, but another fantastic post by two wonderful members of the Forum team. Its really nice to see how detailed you go in this even talking about different theories, such as 'subscriber burn'. I never saw the point of Sub4sub myself as there is no guarantee that the person will even watch your content so it basically becomes a dead sub which doesn't help you at all.
 

Showcase One

Mythic User
Freedom! Member
Jan 12, 2016
2,022
494
Australia
tldr.tk
YouTube
Now it just seems like I'm copying Showcase, but another fantastic post by two wonderful members of the Forum team. Its really nice to see how detailed you go in this even talking about different theories, such as 'subscriber burn'. I never saw the point of Sub4sub myself as there is no guarantee that the person will even watch your content so it basically becomes a dead sub which doesn't help you at all.

:D
Also, the good thing is that YouTube does cleanups so you only get left with mostly if not all true subs. And if people get discouraged by the cleanup, a lesson learnt.
 

Creative Myth

Respected User
Nov 5, 2016
204
67
27
YouTube
CreativeMyth
I seen so many people do sub4sub before I joined youtube so I thought that's how most people get big on youtube, I never really did research on it. I never really went hard with doing sub4sub but now I will just completely stop. from now on I don't even know what sub4sub is.
 

Hamzartefax

Active Member
Freedom! Member
Sub4Sub didn't give you an audience because peoples just sub to 100 and 100 channels without any interest for those channels and that's not even giving you visibility so their is no point to sub4sub except if you are still at school ''Hey I have 3 000 subs omg hello !'' (facepalm)
 

chirag chris

Active Member
Freedom! Member
Mar 25, 2016
53
8
21
India
YouTube
Its not good, they will sub tho, only for awhile even if they don't unsub.
You'll barely even get any extra views, instead of wasting time, i suggest you to, learn more and more Youtube skills.
 

multigamefreakz

Respected User
Freedom! Member
Jun 14, 2016
108
45
34
United Kingdom
YouTube
MultiGameFreakz
We at MGFz have nether done sub for sub because people will subscribe to you if they like you content and the same goes for me if i like and enjoy someones content i will subscribe and look forward for more of the same content to come.
 

Redd Sunn72

Active Member
Freedom! Member
Apr 21, 2017
85
54
YouTube
redd_sunn
Hmm, there are ways sub4sub can actually work. But in a small group settings ( liked minded peps, similar content, sharing each other content, and providing feedback).
 

Hazza

Active Member
Dec 28, 2015
58
20
YouTube
Hi there,

The reason SUB 4 SUB is bad is because it is only done by people that want to get their subscriber count up. They do it because they think they look good with a high subscriber count, what I don't think they understand is that is actually doesn't help to grow their channel. People only subscribe to your channel because they want to get an extra sub they don't bother with viewing your videos and this is why it doesn't work A subscriber is there to watch your videos not to just subscribe and not watch them. Hopefully that makes sense to be honest it is really had to explain when you come to think about it.

Thanks for reading this forum post and have a great day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Redd Sunn72

Mardy Rooster

Respected User
Freedom! Member
Jan 14, 2017
122
29
YouTube
mardy_rooster
I have done Sub 4 Sub before. But only with other small Call of Duty YouTubers. I run into so many of them while playing. If we both have a good match it normally ends up with us checking out each others channel.
 

TwilightPrinze

The Flying Dutchman
Community Team!
Freedom! Member
Have you ever been asked to sub4sub?
I'm sure everyone has encountered people (and possibly done it yourselves) requesting to subscribe and in return they will subscribe back. This sounds like a great idea initially as you both gain a subscriber!

However this has a few major implications, first of all this is strictly against YouTube Policy. "The number of users subscribed to your YouTube channel is a metric that reflects the number of people who are following your channel". Don't worry too much if you have previously done this a few times, but artificially gaining a large amount of subscribers can lead to channel termination.


Additionally to this, gaining subscribers is just a number and wont impact your channel. It could even possibly have a negative effect. Channels that have large amounts of subscribers with very low views can often be easily recognized, people see this as bad practice and then less likely to subscribe. So you may be forcing away legitimate viewers from subscribing!

YouTube closely guards it's algorithms when it comes to suggested, recommended, and subscriber feed information however some large youtubers have begun to crack the code through vigorous testing and experience. One such theory is the theory called "subscriber burn" which when broken down states that an inactive viewer will see less and less of you in their feed until the subscriber is "burned" or "burned out" This happens frequently with large creators and is one of the driving reasons creators need to promote themselves on various platforms to reactivate "burned" subscribers.
Supported by MattPatt from Game theory

There is a similar theory based on just as much evidence that when you release a video your response rate (or the number/percent of people who interact with your content) within the first 24 hours can set your video up for success or failure in the long run. The target response is floating above 35% viewership to subscriber ratio. This gets harder and harder to achieve when you've inflated your subscriber count using methods like sub4sub.
-Various sources throughout the years.

For these reasons any form of sub4sub/like4like is not allowed on the Freedom! Forums or within the network. If you do see anyone requesting sub4sub, please report the user and they will be warned by someone form the moderating team. Remember to still be respectful of the user, we don't want to to initiate any arguments over this and they might just not know any better.

Thanks to @Anthony Smith for the additional information!
I think we all have been aksed this question and in my opinion one should gain growth by hard work, earning your views and getting known for your content :)
 

stevicity

Respected User
Freedom! Member
May 8, 2016
113
52
24
Great Britain
citrus.xyz
YouTube
If you ran say a channel offering tutorials on how to run, manage, promote, etc YouTube channels then sub for sub would be incredibly effective as it would be a direct access to other small channels wishing to grow. And as they are using sub for sub, it can be assumed they are relatively inexperienced at growing their channel so are therefore likely to watch your videos on how to promote channels and therefore you've gained active subscribers. But I see what you mean, I'm sorry for being pedantic. I'm just suggesting that there's always a flip side to every coin and disregarding a method completely is never a good idea. By the way, YouTube is more bothered about penalising people who use sub for sub exchange services. Legitimate manual sub for sub is unlikely to be penalised.