4 ms·

Seems like the underlying problem is that YouTube is 1 generic platform that contains news, entertainment, random home videos, etc. Perhaps the right answer is

by bfung 5y ago

Seems like the underlying problem is that YouTube is 1 generic platform that contains news, entertainment, random home videos, etc. Perhaps the right answer is to “divide” it up and set requirements for each category of video, similar to how “YouTube kids” is a thing now. News and podcasts would go under its own section and have some level of sanity checks while home videos can be as random as they want to be.

kevincox 5y ago
I don't think there needs to be division by topic, there just needs to be alternatives. If you divide by topic you still have effective monopolies, just smaller ones. I think we need to focus on how to make it easier to consume content from multiple platforms together. Small starts are things like web notifications (which are unfortunately abused) so that you can be notified about new videos from an author your just discovered, even if they aren't on your regular platforms. Of course RSS is an awesome version of this but needs some UX built for the average user. The harder thing is getting curation and recommendation across platforms. But this definitely isn't impossible.
monkpit 5y ago
As a parent I must say, that’s an extremely generous characterization of YouTube Kids.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  Whenever I see YT Kids I get the nagging feeling that the content may actually be more harmful to kids than regular YT.
makeitdouble 5y ago
Youtube kids is just an excuse to put the blame on creators if a video happens to be problematic. For a lot of reasons actual kids targeted content is not there, and a ton of predatory stuff still thrives there. To your point, Youtube has a strong legal incentive to make Youtube Kids succeed, and they failed. I’m not sure we can expect better for other category splits that are no less controversial.

4 ms·

Seems like the underlying problem is that YouTube is 1 generic platform that contains news, entertainment, random home videos, etc. Perhaps the right answer is

by bfung 5y ago

kevincox 5y ago
I don't think there needs to be division by topic, there just needs to be alternatives. If you divide by topic you still have effective monopolies, just smaller ones. I think we need to focus on how to make it easier to consume content from multiple platforms together. Small starts are things like web notifications (which are unfortunately abused) so that you can be notified about new videos from an author your just discovered, even if they aren't on your regular platforms. Of course RSS is an awesome version of this but needs some UX built for the average user. The harder thing is getting curation and recommendation across platforms. But this definitely isn't impossible.
monkpit 5y ago
As a parent I must say, that’s an extremely generous characterization of YouTube Kids.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  Whenever I see YT Kids I get the nagging feeling that the content may actually be more harmful to kids than regular YT.
makeitdouble 5y ago
Youtube kids is just an excuse to put the blame on creators if a video happens to be problematic. For a lot of reasons actual kids targeted content is not there, and a ton of predatory stuff still thrives there. To your point, Youtube has a strong legal incentive to make Youtube Kids succeed, and they failed. I’m not sure we can expect better for other category splits that are no less controversial.