4 ms·

Platforms that create filter bubbles should show "opposite content"..perhaps with a heading that could have titles like "Videos we don't recommend"..."Videos yo

Platforms that create filter bubbles should show "opposite content"..perhaps with a heading that could have titles like "Videos we don't recommend"..."Videos you may disagree with".."break out of your filter bubble" or something to that effect.

Avamander 6y ago
Do you seriously think a lot of people would want to do that? I don't. I think conservatives will yell out loud that YouTube is promoting "gay propaganda/agenda" and vice versa from liberals. People intentionally bubble themselves, Twitter with it's much weaker suggestion algorithm has netted the same result, it really takes a special type of person to fight that.
- bluGill 6y ago
  What is needed isn't the opposite view, it is the more moderate similar view. Liberals are evil isn't counter by liberal conspiracies. It is countered by conservatives who can see the point and a middle ground. Likewise liberal bubbles are popped by liberals who can understand conservative positions.
kanox 6y ago
Somehow I've managed to avoid most political/argumentative content on YouTube and this solution wouldn't make sense for me. Would I get videos about how bikes suck? What people who complain about "filter bubbles" mean is that they're sad that traditional media's hold over what people watch is weakening but that's a good thing. I don't need more people telling me that "orange man bad".
- iforgotpassword 6y ago
  I wouldn't strictly limit the term filter bubble to politics here. Sometimes its just "whoa that stuff exists!" moments. Unless YouTube decides to let some video/channel go viral, you'll never get recommended stuff that isn't very similar to the last couple videos you watched. All the cool stuff that isn't related to IT stuff or retro computing I've found through comments on hn or elsewhere. Like that guy that restores matchbox cars, or the other one who builds dioramas.
iforgotpassword 6y ago
But would that make much sense? I mean I guess if you have a simple metric you could just show whatever is at the other end of the spectrum, but after I watched 20 cat videos, what would even be opposite content of that? I'd really like to know how their recommendations even work for starters. It currently just seems some simple "more of the same" stuff. Could they not just look at the last 100 videos I watched, then find 1000 users who watched as many of those as possible and look for common videos in their history that I haven't seen yet. Maybe even make sure those videos have as few tags in common with my 100 videos as possible to help discover really new content. Really I have so many ideas I'd try if I had such a huge source of information available, instead YouTube feels like the dumbest "more of the same" algorithm they could come up with.
catalogia 6y ago
Regardless of the merits of this idea, it seems a tricky thing to implement. What is the polar opposite of right wing political videos? It's tempting to say left wing political videos, but both are political videos and thus not opposite each other along that particular dimension. So obviously you have to pick and choose which dimensions you want flipped and which you don't. Otherwise the opposite of political videos might be... a documentary about marbles or something. That wouldn't be very useful.

Avamander 6y ago

Do you seriously think a lot of people would want to do that? I don't. I think conservatives will yell out loud that YouTube is promoting "gay propaganda/agenda" and vice versa from liberals. People intentionally bubble themselves, Twitter with it's much weaker suggestion algorithm has netted the same result, it really takes a special type of person to fight that.

bluGill 6y ago
What is needed isn't the opposite view, it is the more moderate similar view. Liberals are evil isn't counter by liberal conspiracies. It is countered by conservatives who can see the point and a middle ground. Likewise liberal bubbles are popped by liberals who can understand conservative positions.

kanox 6y ago

Somehow I've managed to avoid most political/argumentative content on YouTube and this solution wouldn't make sense for me. Would I get videos about how bikes suck? What people who complain about "filter bubbles" mean is that they're sad that traditional media's hold over what people watch is weakening but that's a good thing. I don't need more people telling me that "orange man bad".

iforgotpassword 6y ago
I wouldn't strictly limit the term filter bubble to politics here. Sometimes its just "whoa that stuff exists!" moments. Unless YouTube decides to let some video/channel go viral, you'll never get recommended stuff that isn't very similar to the last couple videos you watched. All the cool stuff that isn't related to IT stuff or retro computing I've found through comments on hn or elsewhere. Like that guy that restores matchbox cars, or the other one who builds dioramas.

iforgotpassword 6y ago

But would that make much sense? I mean I guess if you have a simple metric you could just show whatever is at the other end of the spectrum, but after I watched 20 cat videos, what would even be opposite content of that? I'd really like to know how their recommendations even work for starters. It currently just seems some simple "more of the same" stuff. Could they not just look at the last 100 videos I watched, then find 1000 users who watched as many of those as possible and look for common videos in their history that I haven't seen yet. Maybe even make sure those videos have as few tags in common with my 100 videos as possible to help discover really new content. Really I have so many ideas I'd try if I had such a huge source of information available, instead YouTube feels like the dumbest "more of the same" algorithm they could come up with.

catalogia 6y ago

Regardless of the merits of this idea, it seems a tricky thing to implement. What is the polar opposite of right wing political videos? It's tempting to say left wing political videos, but both are political videos and thus not opposite each other along that particular dimension. So obviously you have to pick and choose which dimensions you want flipped and which you don't. Otherwise the opposite of political videos might be... a documentary about marbles or something. That wouldn't be very useful.