Re:YouTube’s ‘dislike’ barely works according to new study o...
by dmix on Tuesday September 20, 2022 @10:06PM
(#32920125)
I find both TikTok's and Youtube's algorithms show me highly relevant and interesting content. The idea that it only shows you memes seems to come from people who a) dont actually use these services more deeply than surface level interactions or b) they are actually watching low-quality memes (meaning finishing more than 75% of the videos) so Youtube/TikTok is simply showing them what they previously indicated they are interested in.
When I bought Youtube premium I started using it much more seriously (meaning curating subscriptions, marking things as "Not Interested", and actually following up on my notification feed when new videos get released) and I've been amazed at the level of quality it delivers. It learns exactly what you like and dislike.
And no it doesnt force feed me politics or ragebait like Reddit and Twitter - both of which do in spite of my efforts to curate them.
TikTok took a bit of time investment at first but now it shows me HN-style tech stuff, highly local restaurant recommendations, nerdy film stuff, etc. I never see dancing teenagers and I don't think I ever saw them after the first day I used TikTok.
From that point on, focus was reduced on working on recommenders. Instead the goal was not to trick users into spending their whole life on the platform, but to maximize ad revenue from those users in the limited time they did spend on the platform.
The one party that wasn't part of this was tiktok. And that's why they have stolen so much user share.