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Weekend thought: Is Youtube becoming more like Facebook?

So I'm at work today and my coworker is watching YouTube. And by watching YouTube I mean watching very "mainstream" content like Mojo top 10 lists and Good Mythical Morning. When he's not doing that he's watching Twtich streaming for 6-8 hours a day.

I've noticed that I watch YouTube a lot less than I used to because there's less content I find interesting anymore. And I wonder if it's because the platform's algorithm for showing content has been skewed so much away from original content. I'm not saying that YouTube was a bastion of fantastic content 5 years ago, but in my opinion it was easier to find good content over the click bait that I feel plagues it these days.

I might be feeling this because a number of channels I've enjoyed have had to turn to patreon to get money from the demonetization of advertisements over the past year. It hasn't affected viewership but it does affect what I think YouTube "wants" the users to watch.

Comments
  • 4
    If I even watch YT videos, I search for specific content. I don't care about those general sugggestions that YT makes because they aren't worth viewing anyway.
  • 4
    You control what YT feeds you by choosing what you watch. If you choose to watch crap, more crap will be served.
  • 6
    Never had any issues with that.. but then, YouTube clearly knows that I'm interested in engineering stuff. The same can't be said about their shitty ads though...
  • 2
    My YouTube homepage is mostly filled with Computerphile, Linux distro reviews, and TED-ED videos.
  • 1
    @electrineer Seems to be the case. I've had discussions before around the office about how I'll get different news feeds on my Firefox homepage even though we're all using the same platform. The standing theory is that I get more politically left-leaning feeds because of sites I go to that get tracked. So this line of thinking seems to be sound.

    Just an FYI I get general computer, Linux FOSS, programming topics and political commentary on my YouTube feed.
  • 1
    you can tell its suggestion to dont recommend you a certain video.

    It's pretty much your fault.
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