One at least poor (if not dumb) and unwanted kind of recommendation I keep getting is for videos I have very recently watched, and completely - and both the watching and then the recommendation happen in the same YouTube app on the same phone, often within minutes or seconds of each other. Unless there is some reason I don't know of, this seems useless, a waste of processing cycles, and potentially irritating to the user.
‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
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Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#282Let’s be honest - toxic here just means “people are accessing content that doesn’t agree with my personal politics”. This word doesn’t have meaning anymore, like “fascism”.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same experience here. I have to actively curate them by removing some one-off dumb videos from my watch history, but my YouTube recommendations are by far extremely high quality. Youtube is the only service I know of that has actually achieved working content recommendations for me. My Watch Later has hundreds of hours of content from things that I definitely want to watch but I'm either not yet in the mood for or to…
My big curation-related grief has to do with YouTube playlists (the ones you can create with the +Save button on YouTube.) The list of playlists can't be sorted in alphabetical order by playlist name. It seems to be ordered either by playlist creation date and/or by when I last added a video to the list (with most recent playlists first.) I'd say the playlist feature is next to useless to me, except that I keep using…
This is intentional. They want you to just follow their AI more than curate your own world. You live in their world.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
We don't actually know what the "ingredients" are for recommendations. I don't think it's possible to draw conclusions from one's own experience with youtube recommendations and extrapolate it to others or to any sort of judgement about the quality of the algorithms. We are simply not privy to what, exactly, youtube is doing. I think it's wise to heed Guillaume Chaslot's warnings. In the same way that youtube exploit…
The stuff is what the stuff is brother. [1] [1] https://youtu.be/ajGX7odA87k?t=945
Holy shit, this talk is amazing. Thank you!!
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#285If you want a glimpse of the average person's youtube experience, open the site in incognito and go to the "trending" tab. It's a completely different site depending on what you initially search for when you start using it. The problem is, 80% of youtube userbase never really typed a search query for anything in the first place, and as a result the stuff they get recommended and watch is pure shit.
The Trending videos always disappoint me. It seems like it's always some fame chasing YouTubers/people who dont deserve being on the Trending list instead of actual cool videos and content. People are gaming the algo hardcore to make tens of millions for themselves. The James Charles & Charli D'amelio entire crew of like 10 people who are always in the trending list, Soundcloud rappers, etc. Then, on the flipside, you have the YouTube algo punishing content creators and shadowbanning their videos of content YouTube doesn't like, great example of this is any of the popular firearms channels. You'll never see any of those in the Trending list despite them having millions of views.
Are you a LGBTQ makeup artist rapper who gives money away and plays Minecraft? Straight to #1 Trending video for you. Dont forget the clickbait title and misleading thumbnail image.
Are you producing original and awesome content? No one will ever find your video.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#286Earlier quoted context omitted.
Influencers are very often harmful. 1. Their aspirational lifestyles perpetuate feelings of inadequacy amongst their viewers, especially when their target market is often predominantly young people. Their audiences grow up with self doubt and anxiety by comparing their lives to that of the influencers they follow. 2. They are in the pockets of their advertisers and sponsors. Any recommendations they make are inherent…
I'm a fan of Reddit's AmITheAsshole and I'm always stunned by the stories of teens whose life plan is to become an influencer. As a sociological phenomenon, it's fascinating: celebrity distilled down to an implausibly pure form, like Paris Hilton rendered into uncut white powder. But as somebody who feels responsibility to the kids in my extended family, it's a worry. I'm not even sure how to explain to them that it…
You know what's worse than aspirations to become a celebrity? No aspirations at all. I know people like that. They just seem to see the future as a regular life with nothing particularly to do in it except exist and perform normal regular practical activities to sustain it. I can't imagine how dull it must be, but they seem to cope, and get all their excitement from immediate events. I hope you can be happy that your relatives at least have ambition, even if it's not quite accurately targeted yet. Not everyone is that fortunate.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#287If you want a glimpse of the average person's youtube experience, open the site in incognito and go to the "trending" tab. It's a completely different site depending on what you initially search for when you start using it. The problem is, 80% of youtube userbase never really typed a search query for anything in the first place, and as a result the stuff they get recommended and watch is pure shit.
Or they typed one thing 5 years ago and now YT thinks that's what you're all about
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#288I actually miss the Ben Shapiro DESTROYS Feminists recommendations that I was getting 2 years ago. It was kinda fun. Now they have toned it down so much that it's hard to find engaging content. Their music recommendation is still good.
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#289If you want a glimpse of the average person's youtube experience, open the site in incognito and go to the "trending" tab. It's a completely different site depending on what you initially search for when you start using it. The problem is, 80% of youtube userbase never really typed a search query for anything in the first place, and as a result the stuff they get recommended and watch is pure shit.
I have quite similar results in incognito and normal mode. Are you that the trending tab is profiled?
Re: ‘YouTube recommendations are toxic,’ says dev who worked on the algorithm (2019)
#290For me YouTube recommendations are not toxic, they are so amazing I some times wonder how comes the world around is not heaven when everybody has free access to this. That's because I always watch high-quality educational content and some beautiful comforting and inspiring music. So for me YouTube is a fountain of knowledge, visual and musical aesthetics etc. Every day I get inspiration, healthy kind of fun and learn…
> That's why I recommend to avoid signing-in into YouTube. Better watch anonymously so you can always clean the cookies and get out of the pit. There definitely needs to be a "reset" button on these services, or at least a better way for your to actively monitor your algorithmically-determined interests and give feedback (I swear, you watch one SNL video...). Another poster in the thread said you can do this by editi…
The fundamental problem is that these desirable features are likely contrary to google's interests. They have convinced themselves that their recommendation system maximizes engagement, so anything that pulls users away from that is a pottential threat to growth of attention directed toward ads. They will tolerate these power-user style methods as long as they remain statistically unpopular among users. I seriously doubt they would willingly provide a button that negates the fruits of the targeting work at the core of their business model.