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YouTube's Latest Update Shows That Online Monoculture Is Dead (gizmodo.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 135 points 1 year ago (4 children)

keep showing viewers the videos that we think they’ll love

We'll keep profiling you and target you with videos that drive engagement, so largely things that inspire rage or conflict between you and others. Extra points if we drive your political and social views further to the right.

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  • [–] 65 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I've noticed that with Facebook. Facebook will push conflict to my feed excessively hard, to the point that spending not even 30 seconds there will start making me angry. I refuse to use Facebook at all anymore.

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  • [–] 68 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Its nuts to me that we figured out their strategy like 10 years ago and people just chose to ignore that information and kept using all these platforms anyway.

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  • [–] 35 points 1 year ago

    My father was addicted to the “righteous” rage. Though he was mostly just addicted to being angry. Hated commercials but intentionally watched live tv to curse at the “motherfuckers stealing my time.” I’d say “rest in peace” but I think that might be antithetical to his wishes.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Youtube has just one priority, it wants you to watch as much monetised content as possible. If you watch and engage with those types of videos, it'll suggest them to you.

    I don't, and I never see them recommended either - here's my youtube homepage right now.
    DIY, electronics, cooking, gaming, science, with some weeb stuff sprinkled in - exactly what I'd expect.

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    • [–] 105 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I've been using YouTube as my primary source of entertainment since 2009. I don't think I've looked at the trending page even once.

    Has the internet ever been a 'monoculture'?

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  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    The trending page of YT is like the r/all of Reddit. If I want to see some stuff I couldn't care less about, that's where I'll find it. I have no idea who actually uses that, but I've never found anything of value there.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago

    At least Reddit's front page features some news sometimes while YT front page caters to 3-6 yr olds who are YT's main demographic. It's all AI junk clickbait brainrot and shorts content.
    I could never click on any YT's front page links. It's not appealing to me not even in my drunkiest state

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    • [–] 77 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Online monoculture died when the normies finally got online and brought real life cliques to the internet.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (11 children)

    When was this?

    Asking as someone who’s been on the Internet since 1989.

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  • [–] 34 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    IMHO, old internet started to slowly die with the introduction of MySpace, Digg, and even 4chan, I call the period of 2006 to 2010 the slow decline era, then 2010 to 2016 the rapid decline era. 2016 to 2022 is the "classic centralized internet era", and now we have the era of the "new centralized internet", characterized by the peddling of far-right ideologies of these centralized platforms, alongside with the potential rebirth of the old, decentralized internet.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago

    Yeah I have often said that the internet died when conservatives figured out how to use it. And not like the old school "libertarian" nerd conservatives, but like mainstream Republican cultists.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    15-20 years or so ago. Whenever smartphones became the dominant communications tool, and pretty much everyone had access to the internet from their pocket square.

    Been online since '93 myself at pretty much the dawn of the World Wide Web.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I remember cliques and a lack of online monoculture on Usenet and IRC before the World Wide Web even existed; the web exploded things even further, as did the privatization of DNS and takeover of funding by VCs and ad conglomerates. All that had happened by 1998.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Even then there were things that were more or less known in all corners of the Internet. You could mention things like SCP, 'Charlie bit my finger', or My Immortal on any forum and people there would recognize it.

    Now it's all fragmented. Someone can mention something that's a massive phenomenon in one part of the platform and no one else on the same platform would recognise it. For example, I only recently heard about backrooms and apparently it has been a thing for half a decade. That's a long time in internet years.

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    • [–] 45 points 1 year ago

    They've removed down notes, date posted in placeholders, and the ability to properly alter monetization the way you want to...seems like a competitive product could pop in at any time. Sadly, the only competition would have to come from another equally shitty company with a massive infrastructure footprint.

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    [+] 45 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)
    [deleted]
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    [–] 39 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I followed the link of a video here on Lemmy just a few minutes ago and it opened in the browser.

    Nothing shocking up to this point.

    Then I get a prompt from the video saying "Ready to buy products advertised in the video? Log into the official app in order to."

    Direct purchase through the YT app is a novelty for me.

    Newpipe all the way.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    I recommend Tubular. Newpipe with Sponsorblock. Didn't realise how much of a game changer that would be until I tried it.

    Just need to find a way to stop Eternity from opening Youtube links in the browser. Sure you can share it with the app but it would be a lot more convenient.

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    • [–] 32 points 1 year ago (30 children)

    I got rid of YT and replaced it with PeerTube and Nebula. Am I a bit less entertained? Sure. Am I a lot less angry? Yup.

    I’m also learning a lot more because I was forced to find new content and new creators which was actually really fun.

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    [–] 17 points 1 year ago

    Andy Warhol was so close, in the future everyone won’t be famous for 15 minutes. Instead everyone will be famous to 15 people.

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    [–] 16 points 1 year ago (14 children)

    People use the youtube app?

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  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Yeah people use all sorts of stuff that you don't. Wild, isn't it?

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    [–] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    On Apple: safari + AdGuard

    Or: Orion browser

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Safari + AdGuard used to work on my iPad, but it has recently been blocked with a disable Ad-block message. Orion works for me when I disable all build-in content blocking and using the Firefox version of Ublock Origin.

    I think the build-in blocker is too basic and gets detected by YouTube, while ublock works (everywhere I've tested it, desktop, android, iPad)

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    [–] 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Any iOS alternatives? The ad experience is not great.

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    [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    Probably true from about 10 years ago.

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    [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    Part of me expected that today is the day the subscribe button went away.

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