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My big problem with YouTube recommendations isn't that they're so good that I get sucked in; it's that they're so bad. I would happily spend more time on the si

My big problem with YouTube recommendations isn't that they're so good that I get sucked in; it's that they're so bad. I would happily spend more time on the site watching interesting videos if they only would show up in my recommendation feed. Instead, I get recommended the same old crap, all coming from a small set of the same video categories over and over again (except for the occasional America's Got Talent or any other clip that've reached over 100 million views). It's not like I don't like airplane and board repair videos, but it's not the only thing that I'm interested in, which YouTube seems to think. Show me something new! Try recommending a video about how to grow flowers or about Titanic rather than thinking that the only thing I'm interested in are whatever I've been watching for the last couple of months.

joenot443 5y ago
I've found the same thing. I like snowmobiling and I like Dota 2. Surely in the billions and billions of hours of content on YouTube, there's something else I would like as well, but the algorithm seems content to only ever serve me up videos from two categories. Some kind of forced flavor in an "I'm Feeling Lucky" or "Discover Weekly" format would be a great improvement I think.
scrollaway 5y ago
The recommendation engine does tend to hover around recommending more of the same topics you like, because it looks like it's mostly driven off "people who like the stuff you like also liked this other stuff". The solution to that is to bootstrap the engine with a variety of topics. I'm subscribed to channels about game design, film critics, engineering, urban planning, math, sudoku, beat saber, figure skating, history, and stand ups. This much does mean the homepage gets pretty diverse and once in a while new topics do show up.
mdrzn 5y ago
Lately YouTube started proposing "Wanna watch something new?" and offered me a tab "New to you" with only videos from creators I've never watched before. That was a good change of pace for once, instead of showing me videos I've watched less than a week ago.

joenot443 5y ago

I've found the same thing. I like snowmobiling and I like Dota 2. Surely in the billions and billions of hours of content on YouTube, there's something else I would like as well, but the algorithm seems content to only ever serve me up videos from two categories. Some kind of forced flavor in an "I'm Feeling Lucky" or "Discover Weekly" format would be a great improvement I think.

scrollaway 5y ago

The recommendation engine does tend to hover around recommending more of the same topics you like, because it looks like it's mostly driven off "people who like the stuff you like also liked this other stuff". The solution to that is to bootstrap the engine with a variety of topics. I'm subscribed to channels about game design, film critics, engineering, urban planning, math, sudoku, beat saber, figure skating, history, and stand ups. This much does mean the homepage gets pretty diverse and once in a while new topics do show up.

mdrzn 5y ago

Lately YouTube started proposing "Wanna watch something new?" and offered me a tab "New to you" with only videos from creators I've never watched before. That was a good change of pace for once, instead of showing me videos I've watched less than a week ago.