sub4sub
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Abbreviation of subscribe for a subscription back or a similar phrasing, otherwise analysable as sub (“a subscription”) + 4 (“abbreviation of for”) + sub (“a subscription”). Compare follow4follow.
Noun[edit]
sub4sub (uncountable)
- (Internet slang) On the video-sharing service YouTube, the practice of subscribing to a person's channel in exchange for said person mutually subscribing back to one's channel, often with the goal of artificially inflating one's subscriber count.
- 2008, Alan Lastufka, Michael W. Dean, YouTube: An Insider's Guide to Climbing the Charts, O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 170:
- Similar to those who subscribe to everyone, secretly hoping those users will subscribe back, we have the Sub4Sub[sic] users. Sub4Sub users blatantly tell you they will subscribe to you if you subscribe to them.
- 2017 February 5, u/Asuko_XIII, “Can someone help me understand how sub4sub is bad?”, in r/letsplay[2], Reddit:
- Sub4sub doesn't get you any actual viewers. Subscribers are not equal to viewers. You want viewers who will actually watch your videos, and that's what's important. Sub4sub people will probably not watch your channel, just like you probably won't watch theirs.
- 2019, Patricia G. Lange, Thanks for Watching: An Anthropological Study of Video Sharing on YouTube, University Press of Colorado, →ISBN, page 123:
- A video maker named Ontus (his YouTube channel name) was a white man who posted a video entitled sub4sub? on YouTube on March 28, 2008. He characterizes the practice as "brilliant" and "awesome" because, if executed widely, it could provide a "launch pad" of subscribers and facilitate meeting new people.
- 2023, B. Vincent, YouTube Hacks: Secrets to Boost Your Views and Engagement, RWG Publishing, page 22:
- Requesting subscribers in exchange for subscribing to other channels, commonly known as "sub4sub," is a violation of YouTube's guidelines.