Likes, views, subs and comments, which matters to you the most?

[domisotto]

Internet posting is a school of hard knocks, that’s for sure. And, absolutely, I don’t see the point of being coy about it. I want my writing to be read by as many people as possible.

[kirayuin]

That's very true! I really like it when people actually talk about the plot of the story or come up with theories on their own (for plot based stories that is). As a creator, it makes me happy when I see comments talking about the novel/webtoon and also as a reader, I like joining in the discussions in the comments as well!

I'm not sure which matters most to Tapas, but I do know that the like : view/sub counts matters to Webtoon algorithm for your placement in the rankings. I noticed my ranking dropped every time I updated because it messes up the ratio :')

[kirayuin]

Heck yea! I get that it's kind of like wine, where it needs to age but sometimes you crave for that instant shot in views, ya know? It took me a month to grow my sub/view numbers on Scribblehub and Wattpad but, I used to check my stats almost every hour after updating to see if it went up XD Kinda ridiculous now that I think about it (but I still do that even now!)

[drcharlotterodricks]

I'l binge tomorrow just so that we both dont feel bad okay/

[kirayuin]

Oooh interesting! So you don't really pay attention to likes? I'm not sure if you posted your comic on Webtoons but I noticed that on most webtoons (even the bigger ones), the number of likes tend to decrease the more the creator updates. Do you think that will bother you in the future?

[WolfUnderTheMoon89]

i always count the views on my week-old episodes as my actual viewership, because there's always a huge drop off after the first few, which is completely to be expected. There's the people that haven't caught up yet, but the latest episodes are the best measure I always figure

That's exactly how I see it.

I think for me
Comments > likes > views > Subs

[ItzaMeLuigi]

I'd say views by itself is a fairly worthless metric. What matters to me is views per engagement. If something is getting seen a lot but isn't producing any new subs/likes/comments, I see it as people not being interested enough in my work to stay around (they'll start reading, get bored, and leave). I'd rather have lower views but a higher view per engagement ratio since it means that while not a lot of people are seeing my work, the people who are enjoy it enough to stick around.

[KizKat]

It's hard to say what I like seeing the most, but I can certainly give my reasons for doing/not doing all of these when I ready comics!

When I'm reading a comic with a long story line (ie, not wrapped up in that page), I end up "saving up" pages to read in one long sitting. I prefer to read ongoing stories in chunks rather than seeing just a page at a time. Because of that, my views, likes, and comments probably look "backed up" to the creator or like I'm a dead sub. Unless I think a page is super duper wonderful I don't tend to like every page as I go either, just because I want to emerse myself in the story world. When I catch up, I usually comment only on the last page I read. It's not that I don't want to engage with all the creators work, its more that I don't want to stop at every page to do it.

Because of these habits I usually pick and chose short form comics, either with no real storyline or short stories that are finished each page. Because I know the next page isn't going to be connected I won't be breaking my emersion to comment. Same goes for my liking habbits.

Finally, I don't always have a lot of time to read comics, so I tend to sub to comics that I intend to read/catch up on - so it takes a while for my sub to turn into views! I don't sub to any comics I don't intend to read though. Just thought I'd share my experience of using Tapas since I know I'm one of those subscribers whose interaction doesn't crop for a while!

[kirayuin]

By view per engagement, do you meant the view to comment ratio or view per chapter ratio? Also, speaking of what you're saying, I've seen plenty of comics have a high total view count (around hundred thousands) but barely enough subs to hit 1k. I take this as a sign of people checking out the webtoon but, do not find the story interesting enough to stay the same goes for novels (my novel views per chapter tends to decrease with time even though my my subs and engagement goes up)

[kirayuin]

I do the very same thing! Especially when it comes to webtoons, mangas or novels that I really enjoy. I tend to save it up (even if it means reading it half a year later) to pile on the chapters so I can binge it in one sitting. As a reader, this is what I prefer to do but as a creator, it's probably the exact opposite where you'd rather have the readers join along on the journey from day 1 XD

[LadyN]

I comic is not on Webtoons (as for some reason, it doesn’t want to cooperate with me) I plan on mainly releasing pages in bulks of 8 pages at once and then drag the pages out like 1-2 every three days. Big brain strategy (aka I’m too lazy to have an actual schedule)

It won’t bother me too much as likes aren’t exactly what I’m looking for. Comments over likes anyday.

[kirayuin]

Ah ok! I don't really pay attention to which matters the most here on tapas (since I'm still confused on how to navigate the website XD) but yea I totally get you! Good luck!

[jensrichard77]

Oh thank you. That would be a treasure.
I hope you will enjoy yourself

[ItzaMeLuigi]

By view per engagement, do you meant the view to comment ratio or view per chapter ratio?

View per comment/like/sub ratio, although the amount of chapters you release will obviously affect the ratio.

Also, speaking of what you're saying, I've seen plenty of comics have a high total view count (around hundred thousands) but barely enough subs to hit 1k. I take this as a sign of people checking out the webtoon but, do not find the story interesting enough to stay the same goes for novels

Exactly. A high view count means you're good at advertising while a high viewer to engagement ratio means you're good at writing a compelling story.

[WolfUnderTheMoon89]

thing with the ratio is. you can only see views/likes/subs ratio, not comments.

But... what would be a good ratio in your opinion?

[foxnflames]

I like comments the most because it lets me know that people are reading my story and telling me what they like and answering the questions in the author’s note. I also want to be able to see if I need to improve on certain things in the story and if certain things are coming through. Subs are cool because they help with visibility and help you trend, also people will see a popular story and want to read it too.

I’m finding that likes are becoming more meaningless because it’s obvious when people arbitrarily like a new update because they get the notification vs them actually reading and liking, even if they don’t comment. It’s especially (I don’t feel like finding another word other than this) annoying when it’s a fellow creator because I feel like we should know better and should know how important engagement is. I’ve also had people scam likes, that was pretty funny, actually.

I know how daunting and intimidating commenting is because if you’re behind you don’t want to feel like you have a dumb question or feel like your comment won’t be recognized or if you have feedback it’ll come off as rude, but I take notice of those who are obviously reading and periodically liking. And I can see the increase in my later episode viewership so my new subs are taking the time to read even if they’re not actually making their presence known.

[kmlangleyauthor]

I have to agree that comments are the thing that make my day. That means I evoked a strong enough emotion (whether good or bad) that readers felt the urge to comment. I, obviously, enjoy likes/subs/views, but I guess I see them a little differently than comments since they can be so passive.

Every couple weeks or so I’ll check out my numbers and I agree with @sxxaint about the week old episodes having more accurate numbers for views. I always assume I’ll have some dead subs and some ghost subs.

Aaaaand.... don’t judge, but I used to be the ghostiest ghost sub out there I have since remedied that terrible habit (which began by not actually having an account and reading through a webtoon for the first time from a Facebook ad... )

Currently, if I “ghost sub,” it’s because I’m essentially bookmarking. And I really do come back around to read. Sometimes it just takes a little while for me to get around to it (I have toddlers - life is crazy). Sometimes I’ll sub when there’s only 3 episodes and wait to make sure a creator will continue to update before I read. Sometimes I just have too much on my plate at the moment. Sometimes I’ll binge 4 series in a row and stay up too late commenting on every single episode. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the story that I legit forget to comment. Every series is a different experience and every reader is going to experience your series differently, so an episode that evokes stronger emotions (and thus comments) from some readers, might not do the same thing for other readers. So, keeping the “human factor” in mind, I love my consistent readers who make sure to like every episode. They’re the steady heartbeat behind my subs where the comments are the fireworks subs. Anyway. Now I’m rambling

[AmandaJ-art]

Comments all the way!
I love getting feedback on my comic.

[foxnflames]

I didn’t think that people might have read then got too caught up and went back and liked everything. I was too into your story last night so I had to go back on a few and like them

[ItzaMeLuigi]

I think the only way to calculate a view/comment ratio is to count the comments manually.

For what a good ratio is, I've read that most people average 3-4 subs and 200-250 views per update. I myself tend to average 7-8 subs with the same number of views, but have also seen a sharp decline in likes/comments on each update (possibly since I've switched to a weekly schedule instead of a monthly). It really depends on what you're writing, how you're writing, and how often you update.