The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video]

#91

Post by zamadatix » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 10:15 PM UTC

slg wrote: post #18

I know this is just a fun little easter egg, but features like this seems a little risky to me. It calls attention to the fact that Youtube isn't just serving me videos neutrally, it knows what is being said in those videos at the exact moment it is said. It highlights how much Google analyses the content of its videos in a way that more neutral features like automatic transcripts don't and in turn how much that can…

Apart from whether or not it's really something new to users, it'd be interesting how many are actually concerned with the concept Google/YouTube has analyzed the content of videos it serves vs interested in what things that means are done (automatic video sections, better find in video, automatic summaries, whatever it is someone might want).

The biggest issues tend to be when "Big Brother" style companies perform that kind of analysis on your content like the Microsoft AI screenshotting backlash.

Re: The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video]

#92

Post by netsharc » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 10:17 PM UTC

superjan wrote: post #35

I have recently been wondering how it is possible that they can make features like that, and provide closed captions, but that they continue to insert ads halfway a speaker’s sentence.

When I caught a movie after not watching them on German TV for a few years, I noticed a terrible new thing: ads in the middle of scenes. In one very memorable one, 2 guys are waiting for a girl at the airport. One of them says "There she is!" Cut to: not the girl going through the arrivals door, but a beer ad!

I turned the TV off and walked away...

Re: The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video]

#93

Post by nickthegreek » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 10:20 PM UTC

ars wrote: post #40

ydnaclementine wrote: post #17

I have never once hit that bell

You've never found a single content creator that put out stuff you liked so much you wanted to see everything they did? Not a single one? Do you prefer TV instead?

I never use the bell. I just subscribe and go through my subscribed list to watch videos, and for some I add to my rss reader.

Re: The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video]

#94

Post by rcxdude » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 10:35 PM UTC

SllX wrote: post #77

rft wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have noticed multiple YT content creators just casually mentioning things like "like and subscribe for the algorithm" and even "leave a comment for the algorithm", which people do, sometimes just saying "comment for the algorithm". One creator I remember did a "if you watched until the end comment 'boat'" or similar, which of course is again just baiting more comments. It also nudges recurring viewers who know that…

Just yesterday I discovered a channel that asks for people who watched all the way to the end to replay the video at 0.25x speed to support the channel. I have zero clue if that would work and I’m not going to do that, but he makes good videos so I mean, if others want to do, it’s whatever I guess. I no longer care about crap like that, YouTube is essentially its own medium at this point.

Youtube definitely switched at some point from rewarding number of views (which incentivized short content: 10 minutes was a bit of a meme for a bit because that was the minimum for monetizing) to rewarding watch time (which incentivizes longer content: suddenly people noticed VODs of 6 hour livestreams doing numbers), as far as their recommendations and ad rewards worked. I wouldn't be surprised if they take the video speed adjustment into consideration such that the suggested action would contribute.

Re: The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video]

#95

Post by rcxdude » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 10:37 PM UTC

ars wrote: post #40

ydnaclementine wrote: post #17

I have never once hit that bell

You've never found a single content creator that put out stuff you liked so much you wanted to see everything they did? Not a single one? Do you prefer TV instead?

RSS works much better, and youtube still supports it despite hiding it well

Re: The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video]

#96

Post by Cordiali » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 10:38 PM UTC

ars wrote: post #40

ydnaclementine wrote: post #17

I have never once hit that bell

You've never found a single content creator that put out stuff you liked so much you wanted to see everything they did? Not a single one? Do you prefer TV instead?

I've never used a YouTube account, I've always just used the site as-is. For a (very few) accounts, that I want to know when they release a new video, I just add them to my RSS feed reader.

Re: The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video]

#97

Post by dakial1 » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 10:58 PM UTC

slg wrote: post #18

I know this is just a fun little easter egg, but features like this seems a little risky to me. It calls attention to the fact that Youtube isn't just serving me videos neutrally, it knows what is being said in those videos at the exact moment it is said. It highlights how much Google analyses the content of its videos in a way that more neutral features like automatic transcripts don't and in turn how much that can…

That's not an easter egg, that feature probably increased the number of likes in videos since it made the button easier to spot when users were looking for it (which is when it is mentioned on videos).

So that sweet engagement KPI is positively impacted and Youtube's CRO/experiment/Ab testing team gets their cookies.

There are probably various small tweaks like this in the UI.

Re: The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video]

#98

Post by xcv123 » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 10:58 PM UTC

slg wrote: post #18

I know this is just a fun little easter egg, but features like this seems a little risky to me. It calls attention to the fact that Youtube isn't just serving me videos neutrally, it knows what is being said in those videos at the exact moment it is said. It highlights how much Google analyses the content of its videos in a way that more neutral features like automatic transcripts don't and in turn how much that can…

I don't like Google but this is not a Big Brother scenario. The videos are hosted on their own servers and are publicly available. They are not snooping on your private videos on your personal hard drive. How could they provide this service without analyzing the content of the videos? The cost of hiring humans to review and classify all of the content uploaded every day is prohibitive.

Re: The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video]

#99

Post by root_axis » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 11:00 PM UTC

dylan604 wrote: post #83

pb7 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it understand it or does it have a regex for "smash that subscribe button"?

do you really think that Googs has implemented a regex for this little easter egg without parsing the rest of the content in a much more meaningful manner as the original comment is suggesting? i'm in agreement that the levels of what these platforms can infer about the content you consume is beyond creepy.

Yes, because a regex match is cheap, easy and predictable. I don't see a reason why it needs to be any more complicated than that.

Re: The YouTube like button glows when you say "smash that like button" [video]

#100

Post by fragmede » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 11:03 PM UTC

slg wrote: post #39

gruez wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It calls attention to the fact that Youtube isn't just serving me videos neutrally, it knows what is being said in those videos at the exact moment it is said. It highlights how much Google analyses the content of its videos in a way that more neutral features like automatic transcripts don't and in turn how much that can teach Google about me based on the videos I watch. How else do you think the "up next" and "re…

>How else do you think the "up next" and "recommended videos for you" feature works? Did you think they were serving up relevant videos purely out of chance? It is absolutely possible to serve recommendations in a content agnostic way based on other user behavior. That is how the Youtube's recommendations worked at least initially. It should be obvious that they didn't have this ability to analyze content when Youtub…

Google owned YouTube'a ability to analyze content at scale for copyrighted music is the only reason YouTube is still around today. That the engine that does that analysis might be doing more seems like not a stretch at all. How much easier is it to detect "smash that subscribe button" that "the > 30 seconds of music is possibly a copyrighted song of all the known songs"?