I noticed my consumption has decased quite a bit. I would visit regularly to watch content from few channels. I would probably still visit every so often to watch the new videos. But the experience has become more deliberate and conscious. I go to YouTube because I want to go and watch something specific. Mindlessly browsing and watching additional content is harder.
This is good progress from Google to get off their platform :)
Why would I have my watch history turned off? I assumed that Google knows what I watched whether or not I tell them to keep that info available for me.
I have history turned on and it generally recommends stuff I'm interested in. My only complaint is that it doesn't update often enough and likes to recommend videos I've seen already.
Nah recommendations are shit anyway. I just watch my subscriptions
I’m watching less because I’m not getting any new or interesting recommendations. I just keep seeing the same stuff over and over again. I hate algorithms. I hate that something is deciding what I should watch while not showing me 99.999% of the other things on the platform.
Oh, and the ads are absolutely out of control. I have to decide if the content is really worth sitting through all the infuriatingly jarring ad placements. Most times, it’s not.
If you watch on Android get the reVanced app. No ads and skipping features. It'll skip sponsors, intros, and end credits plus a shit ton more. It's the stock YouTube UI with really granular control over features
I watch almost exclusively on my AppleTV. I’ve given YT premium a lot of consideration but it’s just a bit too much and I assume the price will continue to increase.
Yes, the ads is a whole another level. Using it without ad-block is not pleasant one bit
spent a few hours yesterday sorting all of my subscriptions and moving them to newpipe. while having everything auto-backed up by google was convenient, newpipe is much better - i go in, watch some videos i saved into a playlist or that have come out from subscribed channels, then go out. it feels way better then being sucked in by the algorithm. i think i'll still use youtube's algorithm on my pc sometimes, as this setup hinders new content discovery. but overall, i'm really pleased so far with the new setup.
I always keep watch history turned on, because the recommendation system has always sucked if you kept it turned off. It's more honest to the user now that they give up instead of intentionally sucking -- "we can't give recommendations if we don't know what you tend to watch". That basically makes sense to me and I accept the tradeoff this poses.
I know a lot of people think Youtube recommendations always suck and are therefore not even worth trying, but I beg to disagree. You can cultivate good recommendations, even if your interests have no overlap with the default front-page. It comes down to two basic ingredients:
- Use the "Not Interested" button on bad recommendations
- Click on the like/dislike buttons after watching videos
By default Youtube is going to try feeding you lowest common denominator junk. This is because it starts out knowing very little about you besides broad demographics. The more feedback you give it the less it falls back on this crutch until eventually you get solid recommendations. Every single bad recommendation is a hidden opportunity to tell Youtube to get that garbage out of your face.
And, yeah... in my experience this really works. If you click the buttons and make it a habit, you can get some really great stuff! As encouragement, I'll share a selection from my home feed full of fresh videos relevant to my tastes. Even the topic bar is on point:
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I'll probably watch all 3 of these videos at some point, which I think indicates a pretty successful outcome. In fact, over the years, I've found hundreds of channels almost exclusively using the recommendation system. Even if you primarily stick to your subscription box, improving your recommendations can help you with building that out little by little.
(Note: I am deliberately avoiding the question of whether or not one should want an algorithm to intimately understand their interests because that's a hard conversation and my soul has already long since been sold)
Recommendations have gotten better recently. I've been recommended more specific stuff and more stuff that has less than a thousand views, which is really small for YouTube. I feel like the algorithm now has more bias towards recency than trendiness. I don't mind being a guinea pig for new videos, much better than being inundated with successful clickbait and other crap.
I've noticed a lot of users on here actually really like the lack of recommendations. My use hasn't gone down but I do miss having videos on the YouTube main page, particularly on my PC.
not really, i'd been under the impression that you needed history for recommendations up till they sent out the email about it earlier this month, so it's just always been on.
Yes, considerably. Although I still get suggestions through the YouTube app on Apple TV but they are mostly crap anyways.
As far as I know, it recommends videos on the top page based on your viewing history
Yeah, I had a similar experience
I wonder why they did this though, before the change YouTube would recommend me videos based on videos I watched so it's not like they actually needed the watch history to be turned on
