The problem with subscriptions right now is that once you've subscribed, you're very unlikely to ever unsubscribe, because that decision is really hard to make: "Well, I must have subscribed for some reason", "But he used to make great stuff". Usually people unsubscribe only when a creator starts doing something really bad. And in general, the only ones who unsubscribe are very mindful people who analyze the content they consume.
Because of this, the average person ends up with way too many subscriptions and starts needing all sorts of smart feeds.
Another way to solve this problem, the one I came up with, is to show content consumption stats for every creator you're subscribed to.
Here's what such stats could look like, using YouTube as an example:
- how often you like or dislike this channel's videos;
- how much time passes between a video's release and when you watch it (how interested you are);
- how many videos you skip.
Also, these stats should be split into two periods: before and after subscribing. Because it may turn out that you subscribed to someone for what they used to make, and now they make junk you don't watch.
Then there should be a way to rank all your subscribed channels by these criteria, look at the bottom of the list and decide, based on these stats, whom to unsubscribe from.
Maybe YouTube itself could suggest channels you should unsubscribe from (a smart anti-feed).
Of course, this idea should be extended to everything: VK, Twitter, Telegram, etc.
With tools like these, life would get easier, and maybe subscriber counts would actually start to mean something.