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YouTube has changed the world of music. There was once a time in which music fans watched music videos on a television network devoted to showing only music videos. The place to find music videos in 2026 is on YouTube. If you want to see the latest music video from Taylor Swift or Machine Gun Kelly, you are going to go on YouTube.

In April 2026, we are starting to see more and more promotion of “YouTube Featured” for events such as Coachella. In one of the feeds we monitor, we saw this “ad” for Coachella 2026 on a YouTube Featured.

At this point, we are not certain if YouTube featured is a paid advertisement opportunity or simply a way for YouTube to showcase what it can do with the YouTube Shorts Feed and on a dedicated community page for an event.

This is very, very similar to the early days of Snapchat Stories in which the official Snapchat account would go to an event such as Coachella and post stories for every single Snapchat user to view. Snapchat found great success with this as it basically created the “disappearing story feature” for those that want to share their short experience at an event.

If this is YouTube’s strategy, there is a huge opportunity. The biggest opportunity is to create this type of Community page around an event that allow fans to have live chats during the event. This type of behavior disappeared from Message Boards when Facebook took over Internet commenting. Sadly, that basically made the behavior completely disappear.

If YouTube can successfully pull this off it would be like Twitter in 2011, Snapchat in 2015 and Instagram in 2019 with the YouTube AI algorithm distributing content to fans so they can join in virtually. Google has tried so hard to win at social and it very well might be the YouTube Community tab. It will be interesting to monitor how Coachella 2026 goes on YouTube. We will be tracking.

Now that we are seeing more and more Image Posts in the YouTube Shorts Feed creators are testing, and attempting to optimize, for the most engagement. The first thing a creator must decide is “what is engagement on an Image Post?” This is difficult to answer because in the YouTube Studio app creators cannot see the number of live views or total views that an Image Post receives. There are metrics for impressions, likes and new subscribers.

As with all new social media features, when initially launched creators have to fill in the blanks to determine engagement. While the YouTube Studio app does not show live views or total views of posts, this is data that YouTube has and will likely make available in the near future. In the meantime, the metrics that are showing are impressions, likes and new subscribers.

In our testing, posting a new Image Post does reduce the amplification of the previous Image Post but not so much that is should adjust strategy. The reason for this is every YouTube Channel has an “audience size”. If the audience size is 500 there are only so many impressions and likes available for content.

In the early days of Instagram, user behavior changed the algorithm to punish users for posting multiple pictures a week, no less in a single day. The YouTube Shorts Feed is not seeing that type of user behavior.

Here is an example. On a YouTube Channel we administer, there are about 7,000-10,000 likes per day on Image posts. We tested four (4) image posts in a day and received around 5,000 likes that day. When we posted eight (8) Image posts in a day, we received 11,000 likes that day. We have not posted more than eight (8) image posts a day as we simply do not have the content that makes sense for that topic area.

What this case study shows us is that YouTube Shorts viewers want more Image Posts. Note that it is topic specific, but most categories are seeing popularity with Image Posts. If you have a popular YouTube Channel and you have yet to start posting Image Posts, now would be the time to get started. If you want to increase your subscribers and overall exposure on YouTube, reach out to us at jesse@wojdylosocialmedia.com as we can help you gain a bigger audience through the YouTube Shorts Feed.

As we dive deeper into Google’s strategy to take on Instagram, it looks to be coming in the form of the YouTube Community tab. Now that more and more people want a place to house their interest, a YouTube Channel and Community is the way to do so. You can post all your pictures and photos on the Community tab. You can share your short form videos as YouTube Shorts and you can upload longer videos as long form YouTube videos.

The most important thing about this community building is the fact that the YouTube algorithm is naturally going to bring you fans and subscribers of your content. The only good thing to come out of AI has been the YouTube algorithm. They are seeing better and better results every day with the YouTube Shorts Feed; that is why they are willing to push still Image Posts so heavily in April 2026.

It seems to the case that the larger YouTube Channels are starting to catch on that the YouTube Shorts Feed is creating a lot of engagement and new subscribers. This is especially true for in the moment events like a severe weather event or a major sporting event.

Time and again, we are seeing when a new short form video is shared on YouTube from a respective channel, one of the older videos from that channel that was trending on the YouTube Shorts Feed falls off or is replaced. If you are looking on your YouTube Studio app, it might look like this:

Notice how the video that received 22.5k views completely fell off when the 15.1k video started to take off. Is this a coincidence? We think not and here is why.

It would make sense that the YouTube Shorts Feed would only allow a certain “number” of videos to be trending based on the success of the YouTube Channel. PageRank matters a lot, in terms of SEO. Remember that Google owns YouTube and PageRank will always be the way in which Google ranks content.

If a YouTube Channel has a Pagerank of 5, it may be able to have five (5) trending videos. If the YouTube Channel has a PageRank of 3, it my only get one (1) trending video. Google and YouTube have been fighting spam since they were created. This would be an incredible way to quickly and effectively reduce spam.

Until your YouTube Channel is worthy of having multiple videos trending on the youTube Shorts Feed, you are limited. This will make creators continue to put forth effort and produce high quality content.

Unfortunately, there is no rubrik to explain how many videos your YouTube Channel can have trending on the YouTube Shorts Feed. In our testing, we have noticed that the more something is in the news media or getting searched, the higher the number of videos your channel can have trending in the YouTube Shorts Feed. If you are a F1 content creator, you could have 10 different videos trending on the YouTube Shorts Feed on the Sunday of race day. During the off season, it might be the case that only one (1) video trends on the YouTube Shorts Feed.

Over the course of the last decade, social media algorithms have been challenged with rage baiting. Rage baiting is the human behavior to enrage or anger someone else simply for a response. While this has always been a human behavior, it was not monetizable. With YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, rage baiting is now an occupation.

The reason rage baiting strategy works on social media apps because viewers are sitting at home and want to be entertained. It is much easier to get someone to watch something when you can bring out the emotion of anger or rage.

Since around 2012, YouTube has not only adjusted their algorithms for more rage and anger, they have incentivized it by offering compensation in the form of ad revenue. If a 16 year old young man needs $75 to take a girl on a date he has a few options. He could go work at McDonalds for several hours. He could ask neighbors or locals to mow grass or do some work around the house. He could certainly do some type of gig job to come up with the cash. Or, he could simply create a rage baiting video, post it to YouTube or another social media outlet and make several hundred dollars. What do you think he is going to choose?

Some might ask, “why doesn’t he post a peaceful or calm video to make the money?” To go viral with peace or calmness it takes a lot of time and effort. In our testing, it is possible to go viral with a rage baiting video after only a handful of videos. If you want to go viral with a peaceful video of a cute animal, it could take several months or even years.

That was until recently. With the Walk for Peace starting in October 2025, many wondered how much exposure this “demonstration” would garner. For the first two months of the Walk for Peace, the exposure and reach was very minimal. Part of this was due to the fact that their photographer and “social media guru” were not with them, but part of it was the fact that social media algorithms prefer anger over peace.

That all changed very quickly after the events that happened in Minnesota in January 2026. When Americans were cooped up in their homes due to two intense winter snowstorms, the only thing they were seeing on short form video feeds were fellow Americans losing their lives. It was difficult to watch for anyone that simply wanted to live in a wonderful world.

Enter the Walk for Peace Monks hitting Georgia and South Carolina. If you were on Instagram during the month of January 2026, you saw the Walk for Peace Monks. They were everywhere. In our opinion, the social media companies made a concerted decision to not show Alex Pretti, Renee Good and the ICE protests. Instead, they opted to push peace and calm.

As the Walk for Peace Monks approached Washington, DC in early February 2026 their Instagram account was getting up to 250,000 likes per video or image post. The final walk into Washington, DC and the return to Fort Worth, Texas helped them receive over 1 million likes between those two famous videos.

Since the Walk for Peace ended, we have noticed there tends to be a more peaceful and calm algorithm that can quickly overtake your YouTube. Think birds chirping, the identification of rare species of plants and the most beautiful roads of Europe. We are seeing more and more content creators building large YouTube and Instagram followings because of their peaceful and calm content.

It would make sense that social media algorithms would have multiple algorithms based on topic or industry. As we have stated many times, the viewer of intense NFL hits is going to consume content very differently than a viewer that watches how an alligator can swim without make ripples in the water.

If you are a YouTube creator that has peaceful content, there is a good chance you have sen an uptick in views and subscribers if you post YouTube Shorts. The major algorithmic change that happened after January 2026 was for the YouTube Shorts Feed. While YouTube likely adjusted the desktop feed, we noticed a significant difference in the YouTube Shorts Feed.

In April of 2026, the YouTube Shorts Feed started pushing still Image posts. Not only is YouTube actively trying to calm users down, it is now amplifying content that is still. YouTube Image Posts work very well because most viewers are inundated with loud audio and fast moving videos. When they see a still picture of something calm, it is a different emotion invoked.

As we continue to move forward in this AI Algorithmic world, it is going to be interesting to see how the Youtube Calm and/or Peace algorithm continues to adjust. The Walk for Peace is over and there is a War in Iran. Now would be the time for YouTube and Google to crunch the data as much as possible to see what people truly want to watch.

While we are likely not out of the rage baiting era, young creators behavior will change if they can make $250 on a video of a duck jumping in the water versus only making $0.34 on a video trying to anger a convenience store employee. Money will always talk in America.

If you are a YouTube creator and you’d like to increase your engagement, likes and subscribers, reach out to us at jesse@wojdylosocialmedia.com. We can help you optimize the YouTube Shorts Feed to get more views and more subscribers as soon as today.

The Growth of the Walk for Peace on Instagram

As mentioned earlier, the Walk for Peace started in October 2025 but did not receive much fanfare. While there were Facebook groups and general peaceful people following the monks, it was not a viral mission until the monks reached Georgia and South Carolina.

On day 26, November 19th, 2025, one of the monks was struck by a vehicle and had to have his leg amputated. The distracted driver accident also injured a volunteer named Jesse. When word got out that one of the monks was struck by a motor vehicle, many wondered if the Walk for Peace would stop. It did not.

Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara remained resilient and continued on with 19 of the 20 monks that started the journey. As they approached Atlanta, it was known that the monks would be reunited with the monk that had his leg amputated. That particular monk lived in the Atlanta area. After the video of the reunion was released on New Years Eve 2026 (Day 67) it was the beginning of many viral moments to come.

Several people have asked us what caused the Walk for Peace Monks to go viral. It is as simple as this. Americans wanted to see other Americans caring for one another. In a time when federal agents were seen in confrontations with protesters, America was ready to see a police officer give a peaceful monk a bro hug.

It helped quite a bit that most government employees were incredibly kind to the monks. In fact, at least once every few weeks they make it a point to thank:

– Law Enforcement & First Responders: Sheriffs, Chiefs of Police, State Troopers, State Patrol, Correctional Officers, Chief of SWAT, FBI, Fire Departments, EMS, and Flight EMS

– Government Officials: State Representatives, Mayors, Congressmen, Chairwomen, and other distinguished officials

If you want virality on YouTube Shorts, find yourself in a position with a large group of people enjoying an event with police officers and sheriffs participating to make the event even more memorable. That is what the Walk for Peace offered. It offered a safety net for those that needed a safety net of peace in early 2026.

Can Peace Go Viral on YouTube Shorts?

Since COVID, it has become widely known that rage baiting is a quick way to make money online. Millions of people want to watch reaction videos. Reaction videos with anger and frustration do even better. That said, it may be the case that people are getting burnt out of the intense and anger driven videos.

As we know, the Walk for Peace did incredibly well on social media. It is going to be interesting to see if any other peace or hope organization can replicate something similar. In fact, it is shocking that no Buddhist Temples have started daily or weekly walks to start gaining bringing more awareness to their causes.

This is a behavior they are doing every day anyway so why not start at the Buddhist Temple and walk for 30 minutes in a different direction each day and take a few videos. After a few weeks of consistently uploading videos, the algorithm would realize there are millions of people that want to see peaceful content of people physically doing something for a cause.

If you have an organization of group that has a daily or weekly activity, publishing it on YouTube will build your audience. This will also give you an opportunity to learn more about how other people enjoy the same things you enjoy.

If you have a popular YouTube channel in which you get views from the YouTube Shorts Feed, you know there is a breaking point when most viral videos simply stop receiving views. One minute your video will be getting 300 views and the next minute it drops to 13 views. So, what gives?

The YouTube Shorts Algorithm is time sensitive. If you have a YouTube Channel that actively shows up in the Shorts Feed, you will know within five (5) minutes of publishing a video. For most YouTube Channels, creators will know within seconds how popular the video will be in the YouTube Shorts Feed.

Throughout the first hour or two of the video showing up in the YouTube Shorts Feed, the algorithm is doing its work. There are hundreds of factors that go into the exposure of a short form video. Some of these factors include audience retention, how often viewers swiped away, impressions to like ratio and so on.

Once the video has a few hours of data applied, the algorithm decides if it will amplify the video or reduce the impressions. Depending on the content of your Channel, it is likely the content is fed into a specific algorithm feed based on topical area.

Note that each of these different topical areas have slightly different algorithms assigned to them. Someone watching F1 high speed race videos will view in a much different way than someone that identifies rare species of birds. While the foundations of all the algorithms are the same, there are slight tweaks based on the way fans view that style of content.

This is why it can be incredibly challenging to get answers when it comes to the Google and YouTube algorithm. If you asked a Google or YouTube employee why one piece of content ranks well, or gets many views, and another piece does not, they do not have the answer. The engineers at Google and YouTube are simply working on a small part of the algorithm and they have no clue as to the amplification of a piece of content.

If you track your YouTube Short videos in real time, you may have seen the YouTube Studio analytical chart that looks like this:

Notice how the video was trending up and it suddenly falls off a cliff. This particular video was getting around 2,000-3,000 views an hour and it dropped all the way down to less than 50 views an hour within a two (2) hour period. Here is another chart to show what that looks like:

If you have spent any amount of time building your Channel, you have seen this a number of times. A video will get several thousand views and then it will just stop getting views. This is because it is no longer being amplified in the YouTube Shorts Feed.

It does not mean you have been blacklisted. It does not mean that your Channel will never show up in the YouTube Shorts Feed again. It simply means that this was the longevity that the YouTube Shorts Feed Algorithm felt your content should be served to the audience. There was a metric somewhere along the way that told the YouTube Shorts Algorithm that fans and viewers were no longer interested in that content.

Oftentimes, this particular Short Form video will never get more than a couple views an hour. Rarely, a video will resurface in the YouTube Shorts Algorithm and it will gain even more momentum. The ultimate goal for most YouTube creators is to have a number of evergreen pieces of short form video content that are consistently getting views in the YouTube Shorts Feed.

Note that it takes a special type of non time sensitive content for that to happen. Any in the moment news or sports story is not going to resurface because when it is amplified in the YouTube Shorts Feed later, the viewers will not engage the way the did on the day of the event.

This is not to say that YouTube creators should only create evergreen and none time sensitive content. To “hack” the YouTube algorithm, time sensitive content gains your Channel exposure. That said, it does not give it longevity. Most really smart content creators do both.

When something timely happens in their industry or topic area, they post a live video, Short Form Video or even a long form video with the proper title so people searching will find their Channel and subscribe. In fact, you will see the clever YouTube creators actively changing the titles of their video throughout the day of the event just to keep viewers tuning in based on what is happening.

If you are stressed that your Channel has been shadow banned, blacklisted or simply doesn’t shoot up in the YouTube Shorts Feed anymore, there are some ways you can test it out. Check your YouTube Studio app and identify the “When your viewers are on YouTube” section on the Audience Tab under Analytics. Post a different short form video during the most optimal hour for three (3)consecutive days. If none of these videos are picked up by the YouTube Shorts Feed within 10-15 minutes, your Channel is likely shadow banned and it will take a lot of time and energy to “un shadow ban” yourself.

If you want to grow your YouTube Channel by getting more views on the YouTube Shorts Feed, reach out to us at jesse@wojdylosocialmedia.com. We have been studying the Google and YouTube algorithms since 2007. This means that anything that can and will happen to your account is something we have seen before.

Do not stress that your YouTube Channel is ruined because your video has completely dropped off in views. Take it as a challenge to make an even better piece of short form video content to submit to YouTube as your next viral YouTube Short.

Note that we are not seeing true YouTube Image Post analytical data from the YouTube Shorts Feed quite yet, but that should be coming in the next few months. When we start crunching that data, we will update with the most optimal way to grow your YouTube Channel with Image Posts.

Reasons for Sudden Drop in YouTube Shorts Views

There are dozens and potentially hundreds of reasons that a video suddenly drops all YouTube Shorts Feed views. The most important thing to know is that almost all videos do this. It can cause your heart to drop and stress or anxiety when the YouTube Channel you have worked so hard to grow all of the sudden sees a huge drop in YouTube Shorts Feed views.

Know that almost every single time a Short form video sees a drop is Shorts Feed views, it does not mean that videos is blacklisted or will never get views again. It simply means that video has shown the YouTube Shorts Feed algorithm what it needs to know and now it is time to move on to different videos.

This is not to say the video won’t repopulate in the YouTube Shorts Feed at a later time, but it will likely not happen for the next several days or weeks.

Some reasons a YouTube Shorts video may see a drop off in views are:

• High swipe away percentage
• Likes vs dislikes ratio diminishing
• Negative comments
• No positive share data
• Audience retention well below 100%

While many creators will want to make certain their videos do not suddenly drop off in the YouTube Shorts Feed, the only way to guarantee that is to create better content. There are ways to improve watch time, make the thumbnail more appealing and other tactics, but, for the most part, YouTube viewers simply want to watch and see great content.

If you are seeing almost all of your YouTube Short form videos dropping off the YouTube Shorts Feed when the views are less than 1000, you might want to consider thinking about improving your channel with different or much better content.

On September 14, 2016 YouTube launched the Community Tab for YouTube Creators. Ten years later, we are now seeing more community involvement in the Shorts Feed. Prior to the Shorts Feed, the only way to find images, polls or quizzes was on the Desktop YouTube homepage.

As one can imagine, this was not very effective as most users were consuming video content on their smartphones. It made sense for creators to be able to post behind the scenes pictures, quiz subscribers on past events or create a poll to get feedback. Most creators with large subscriber bases completely ignored this feature of YouTube as the engagement was so poor. If people have to find it, they are not going to consume it.

Fast forward to Spring 2026 and we are seeing more and more Posts showing up in the YouTube Shorts feed. Prior to late 2025 and early 2026, Posts garnered basically zero engagement. On one of the YouTube accounts we administer, the engagement rate is incredibly high on posts. In the month of March 2026, our Posts received an impression to like ratio of over 40%. You read that correctly. If 1000 people saw a picture YouTube Post, 400 of those users like the post.

These are engagement ratios that have never been seen before on the Internet. A strong engagement ratio on almost all social media websites/apps is 2%-3%. Anything reaching 5% triggers algorithms and can get channels, accounts or websites blacklisted.

Part of the reason for such high engagement is the fact that YouTube Posts are still and not moving. When scrolling through the YouTube Shorts Feed, users are overwhelmed with loud audio and fast moving video. One’s eyes consume these videos over and over and then they see a still image with no audio. It is a shock to the system and the senses. This is exactly why YouTube is finding such high engagement with picture Posts. They are different from the loud and eye catching short form videos.

In December 2025, major social media news websites started to report that YouTube was testing still image carousels within the shorts feed. Here is what we have noticed.

While the news outlets reported “image carousels”, YouTube seems to be pushing engagement and views on single photos or pictures; similar to the early days of Instagram. “Image carousels” are populating in the feed, but the highest engagement is on the first picture.

On other social media apps and websites, the algorithm encourages users to post a carousel of images because posting multiple images, in separate posts, in a single day can harm the creator’s account.

We have also noticed that timing matters quite a bit when attempting to optimize engagement on YouTube Posts within the YouTube Shorts Feed. Unlike other picture sharing algorithms, YouTube Posts are finding more engagement with consistent activity. Somewhere along the way, Instagram users decided to post one picture, or a carousel of pictures, once a month or even once a quarter. The Instagram algorithm adjusted and penalizes users that post multiple pictures in a day.

This is not the case with YouTube Posts. The YouTube Shorts Feed is pushing these picture posts out consistently whether you publish one (1) picture post a day or eight (8) picture posts a day. When actually discourages carousels. Why post a single carousel of images that gets 400 likes when you can post those five (5) images separately and get 300 likes on each photo?

We are still in the very early days of YouTube Picture Posts showing up in the YouTube Shorts Feed, but a major “glitch” happened at the end of March 2026 that we caught.

Within the YouTube Studio app, creators can see live views for videos only. In late March, we noticed a YouTube Picture Post showing day for live views. While it was housed under “Top videos” in the YouTube Studio App, this is clearly something YouTube is going to push out to creators in the near future.

One of our popular YouTube Channels receives about 8000 likes (per day) on Short Form Videos yet it receives over 10,000 likes on Picture Posts.

The writing is on the wall that YouTube is going after Instagram. The YouTube audience is enormous and the Short Feed continues to improve each and every day. It will likely be the case that more and more popular YouTube creators start to embrace Picture Posts to increase engagement.

We have not tested Polls or Quizzes but we have seen “Text Posts” showing up in the YouTube Shorts Feed. The engagement on the “Text Posts” is going to be significantly lower because most users are not on the YouTube Shorts Feed to read a paragraph. They are getting that on Substack, Twitter(X) or other apps that are more text based.

If you are looking to improve your YouTube Channel with higher engagement or getting more subscribers, reach out to us today at jesse@wojdylosocialmedia.com. We have studied the Google and YouTube algorithms since 2007 and are very confident we can assist you in growing your channel.

YouTube Picture Posts are going to challenge Instagram in the near future. Be ahead of the game and start seeding the algorithm with your best pictures and photos starting today.

The Masters Increasing YouTube Shorts Activity

A very interesting case study is about to occur in early April 2026. Prior to this year, the YouTube Shorts Feed was not amplifying Posts and now it is. The Masters Golf Tournament is a perfect YouTube Channel that would benefit from still images, quizzes, DYK facts and polls. We will be tracking the growth and the engagement in these pieces of content until after the tournament concludes on Sunday, April 12th, 2026.

During the 2025 Masters Tournament most Image Posts received between 500 and 1k likes; with Rory McIlroy holding up the trophy being the most liked post with 7.3k likes.

If The Masters is diligent about posting still images throughout the tournament, their engagement is going to triple, at minimum. It will be interesting to see the approach they implement when it comes to their YouTube posting strategy. There might not be a better and more viral vertical/sport for short form videos than golf.

What is very interesting is most golf YouTube Channels have yet to optimize for the YouTube Shorts Feed or the Community Tab. If you have a popular Golf YouTube Channel and would like to increase your exposure through more likes and subscribers, reach out to us today at jesse@wojdylosocialmedia.com. We have worked with a golf account that has garnered over 150 million views with YouTube Shorts.

As we continue to make our way towards the first tee shot of The Masters Golf Tournament on Thursday, April 9th, 2026, we expect to see lots of behind the scenes activities posted by The Masters YouTube Channel. If a women’s junior golf image post can get almost 1k likes, it will be fascinating to see how many likes the image of a well struck shot during the tournament receives.

Since we are tracking The Masters activity in our YouTube Shorts Feed, we suspect we will be introduced to many other smaller, golf YouTube Channels. Hopefully these smaller channels have figured out the importance of posting still images.

Unfortunately, it seems to be the case that still image Posts are only working incredibly well for those that have made the commitment to posting them. In our research, it takes about 100k total likes on Image Posts to start really generating a lot of traction through Image Posts in the YouTube Shorts Feed.

If you are a golf YouTube creator, start posting still Images today so you will have seeding the algorithm for the full golf season when major golf tournaments happen and crazy shots go in the cup. Golf is a wonderful activity to both enjoy and video.

Major Link Update Helps with SEO

On Wednesday, April 8th, 2026, YouTube finally released YouTube Image Posts links for creators. In the past, we had to find the URL and it was a task. Now, within the YouTube app, you can “Report on YouTube” or “Copy Link” for YouTube Posts. This will be enormous for search exposure.

The next step will be for YouTube to allow creators to embed their Image posts on websites throughout the web. We look for this sometime in the spring or summer of 2026.