How Big is YouTube?

Summary:

• The blog emphasizes the limitations of existing research methodologies, particularly in social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter, where access to denominators has been restricted.
• It introduces the InnerTube API, an undocumented API for YouTube, and describes the "drunk dialing" approach, explaining how random YouTube video URLs were generated to estimate the platform's size.
• The author acknowledges the method's imperfections but highlights its significance in providing a unique, large-scale, and relatively unbiased dataset for studying YouTube content, including aspects like language diversity, video age, and viewership distribution.
• The post mentions ongoing research plans, ethical considerations regarding sharing low-popularity public videos, and the intention to maintain Tubestats as a valuable resource for understanding user-generated media platforms.
• Reader comments reflect various perspectives, including discussions on the methodology, typos, and implications of the research findings, adding depth to the conversation.
• The author discloses a personal note about having COVID, which might impact the coherence of the post, inviting engagement and understanding from the audience.