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 exploited (inadvertently or not) glitches in the brains of preschoolers (remember "Spiderman and Heidi" videos? if not, don't look it up). There's reason to believe these things can fly under our radar and influence adults in ways that are not perceptible and not something we would approve of in advance.
BTW I was already aware of all the questionable things AI is used for, but Mickens' analysis is beautiful.
An average person, not the average person. They'll at very least target the content by country, and if you have a fixed or rarely varying IP address (which I do at home, and may public wireless APs do in my experience) they can be more fine-grained than that and give recommendations based on what people in your more local area have searched for recently.
I had an Italian friend staying in my spare room for about half a year some time ago (hassles with previous landlord, took her and her fellow a while to save to the point where they could afford a place together). For many months afterwards I would get Italian language recommendations and adverts from youtube and others, even in incognito on a fresh device.
Sure the influencer stuff is pretty stupid, but whatever, it's not 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 inherently disingenuous.
3. They’re often just really terrible people. Being the kind of attention-seeker who is able to command a large online following often seems to correlate with being a jerk. Just look at Jake and Logan Paul — two of the biggest stars of today, and both mired in controversy and bad choices.
I also have never met people with "no aspirations at all" and am not sure they exist. Although you seem concerned about diminishing people's ambitions, you also seem to denigrate people who want to have "a regular life", as if there's something wrong with people who want to settle down and raise kids and live a good life. That's never been my path, but I respect it a lot.
Mark Rober is a good example of an influencer who has stayed true to his core values while scaling his brand. He’s the Gen-Z version of Mythbusters.
Potato Jet is the opposite, his brand has become overrun with every cinematography company using him to peddle their wares. It’s hard to take anything he says as an honest review of the product.
Humans aren't farm animals meant to be kept nicely penned up.
I just tried that and all of the top trending videos were something called "My Best Friends" followed by a long scroll of NBA videos.
I watched one of the NBA videos so, touché, youtube.
There is great content on YouTube, but what I consider great is completely different from the next person, which is why trending makes no sense...
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.
What else should they be showing? How does the algorithm determine what are "cool videos and content" to someone who hasn't entered searches? It makes the most sense to put the top Youtube channels/stars on the front page, after all they are the most viewed.
>Are you producing original and awesome content? No one will ever find your video.
This is why TikTok has blown up; an absolute nobody can get a million views on their video overnight.
I have no idea who this is, but can confirm that they take up something like 50% of the screen real estate. The other half is a BBQ channel.
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.