u/Football_holic69

Genuine question because I see this constantly and nobody talks about how demoralizing it actually is.

You spend years building an audience. Hit a number that used to mean something. And then realize the platform has made that number almost completely meaningless.

100,000 people allegedly follow your account. Instagram shows your content to 2,000 of them. The other 98,000 never see it unless you pay.

At what point does follower count stop mattering entirely and engagement rate become the only metric worth chasing?

And is anyone here genuinely getting solid reach relative to their follower count or is everyone dealing with the same thing?

A lot of creators start YouTube because they enjoy making things, but over time everything becomes about outperforming others. Better thumbnails, longer watch time, more clicks, higher retention. It can start feeling less like creativity and more like constantly competing for attention. Do you think YouTube still rewards genuine creative expression, or has the platform turned content creation into nonstop competition now?

Posted a video Tuesday night.

Checked it an hour later. 0 views.

Checked next morning. Still 0.

Not 10. Not 50. Literally zero.

I've had slow videos before but never zero. Something felt wrong immediately.

So I went through the usual checklist everyone talks about.

Checked for guideline violations nothing flagged.

Searched my hashtags from another account all looked fine.

Took a break for 24 hours came back, still zero.

At this point I was convinced I was shadowbanned or worse, device banned.

Started googling everything. Read every thread on this sub. Watched YouTube videos about TikTok algorithm fixes.

Three days of actual stress over this.

Then someone in a comment thread mentioned checking your internet connection type when uploading.

I didn't think that was it because my phone was working fine.

But I checked anyway.

Turns out TikTok had been having a backend issue where recent uploads were simply not receiving views or engagement nothing to do with the account at all.
It was a platform side problem the whole time.

My account was completely fine.

Three days of spiraling for absolutely nothing.

Here's what I wish someone told me earlier before you assume shadowban, check if TikTok itself is having issues. There are sites that track TikTok outages in real time and they'll tell you within minutes if the problem is on their end or yours.

Saved that link permanently now.

Never putting myself through that again.

Anyone else lose their mind over something that turned out to be TikTok's fault and not yours?

A lot of creators say they love making content, but I wonder how many would keep uploading if there was no recognition attached to it at all. No growing audience, no praise, no people knowing your name, just making videos quietly forever. Do you think most YouTubers are driven more by creativity or by the feeling of being noticed and recognized online?

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[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

People might visit your profile after seeing a post, but not everyone follows. That gap is hard to understand because the content may be decent, yet something about the profile doesn’t convince them. It could be the bio, highlights, or overall clarity. Curious how others evaluate their profile and what changes helped turn visitors into followers.

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Some creators plan every line before recording, while others prefer to talk naturally and keep it spontaneous. Both approaches can work, but they lead to very different styles and workflows. Curious which method you follow for your YouTube videos and what has worked better for you so far.

Sometimes you post a video and it just sits there with almost no views, even though everything looks normal while uploading. No clear reason, no warning, just zero or very low reach. It feels different from a normal flop because it doesn’t even get a chance. That kind of situation can be confusing and frustrating, especially when you’re trying to stay consistent.

Everyone progresses at a different pace, and the number of uploads can say a lot about your journey so far. Some people have just started, while others have been consistent for a long time. Drop how many videos you have uploaded till now and, if you want, mention your niche or how long you have been posting. It is always interesting to see how different journeys compare.

There are times when you spend too long adjusting small details before posting, thinking it will improve performance. But sometimes those posts don’t do any better than ones made quickly. It creates a loop where you keep editing instead of posting consistently. Curious if overthinking has actually helped anyone improve results or if it just slows down progress over time.