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Business goals trump good UX. Their executives have decided that you will like the TikTokification or else. Google is certainly more than capable of saving the

Business goals trump good UX. Their executives have decided that you will like the TikTokification or else. Google is certainly more than capable of saving the state of a “close this” flag..

kybernetyk 4y ago
>Google is certainly more than capable of saving the state of a “close this” flag.. With the new generation of devs I'm not too sure anymore.
danuker 4y ago
I am skeptical even the bottom line gains from it. Whenever I click a Short, I am extremely annoyed. The scroll wheel is repurposed to skip the video, rather than the typical desktop interaction of going to the description and comments. When that happens, I close the tab and visit some place other than YouTube.
- teawrecks 4y ago
  The eyes they care about are on mobile, the desktop experience is an afterthought.
- andsoitis 4y ago
  > Whenever I click a Short, I am extremely annoyed. Why do you keep clicking it?
  - rolenthedeep 4y ago
    Because they get inserted into the timeline like normal videos, or maybe there's just one that you really want to watch. By design, it's hard to avoid them entirely.
    - andsoitis 4y ago
      > or maybe there's just one that you really want to watch So in those cases you want them to be there?
    - johnday 4y ago
      Ublock makes it trivial to block the panel. I have a rule set to automatically hide it as if it were an ad (which, in some sense, it is)
      - pleb_nz 4y ago
        That's cool. Pity you can't do this in the mobile app...
        danuker 4y ago
        I recommend NewPipe instead of the mobile app.
  - danuker 4y ago
    I did it like, three times ever. I was curious about the content at some point. Then I remembered why I never click it.
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  One thing weird about shorts is how Youtube shows you a horizontal list of shorts it thinks you will like, and I generally do (for me they are recipes and health related). Yet when you click into one and scroll through them, instead of showing you the other shorts on the recommended list, it shows you general trending shorts. Always thought that was weird. In other words you have to click one, then navigate back and click into each other recommendation.
  - gs17 4y ago
    I find that bizarre and frustrating too. Why even bother to recommend things if they presume the trending content is good enough for us?
- Nextgrid 4y ago
  > I am skeptical even the bottom line gains from it. By the time the parent company realises there's no money to be made hosting endless amounts of stupid, repetitive and crappy content aimed at attention-deficient children, bonuses would've been paid and promotions would've been offered - the latter is what drives this crap, not necessarily some hypothetical bottom-line impact that's hard to measure and easy to excuse away should it not pan out.
bushbaba 4y ago
Wonder if their focus on becoming more TikTok like will open the door to TikTok having the opportunity to take a meaningful chunk of YouTube’s long form video market.
- thatguy0900 4y ago
  Just put some money behind the effort to make tiktok illegal, solves that problem
  - Shared404 4y ago
    Except that effort may well make much of Youtube/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat illegal as well, at least in their current format. At least, I hope it does. E: You'd think Google's money would be most effectively spent trying to manipulate that outcome though.
    - filoleg 4y ago
      > Except that effort may well make much of Youtube/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat illegal as well It won't, because the primary rationale for banning TikTok in the US is driven by the CCP-related fear-mongering (whether it is justified or not is a separate question), with a little dash of other common "scary" flavors mixed-in (privacy, algorithms shaping your feed, etc.). As long as YT/IG/Snapchat aren't companies based in China, the hypothetical banhammer hitting TikTok won't even touch them.
      - tanseydavid 4y ago
        YT/IG/Snapchat also are ostensibly NOT state-run enterprises. (please note the use of the word "ostensibly" as a caveat before you try to remind me about The Twitter Files)
        filoleg 4y ago
        Agreed. Which is why I think it is a ridiculous notion that making TikTok illegal would somehow outlaw YT/FB/IG/Snap as well.
tomjen3 4y ago
I don't think it is a business goal, but it is absolutely the case that somebody is getting a good bonus if the shorts takes of. Which they might do if people could actually make them.

Business goals trump good UX. Their executives have decided that you will like the TikTokification or else. Google is certainly more than capable of saving the state of a “close this” flag..

kybernetyk 4y ago

>Google is certainly more than capable of saving the state of a “close this” flag.. With the new generation of devs I'm not too sure anymore.

danuker 4y ago

I am skeptical even the bottom line gains from it. Whenever I click a Short, I am extremely annoyed. The scroll wheel is repurposed to skip the video, rather than the typical desktop interaction of going to the description and comments. When that happens, I close the tab and visit some place other than YouTube.

teawrecks 4y ago
The eyes they care about are on mobile, the desktop experience is an afterthought.
andsoitis 4y ago
> Whenever I click a Short, I am extremely annoyed. Why do you keep clicking it?
- rolenthedeep 4y ago
  Because they get inserted into the timeline like normal videos, or maybe there's just one that you really want to watch. By design, it's hard to avoid them entirely.
  - andsoitis 4y ago
    > or maybe there's just one that you really want to watch So in those cases you want them to be there?
  - johnday 4y ago
    Ublock makes it trivial to block the panel. I have a rule set to automatically hide it as if it were an ad (which, in some sense, it is)
    - pleb_nz 4y ago
      That's cool. Pity you can't do this in the mobile app...
      - danuker 4y ago
        I recommend NewPipe instead of the mobile app.
- danuker 4y ago
  I did it like, three times ever. I was curious about the content at some point. Then I remembered why I never click it.
hombre_fatal 4y ago
One thing weird about shorts is how Youtube shows you a horizontal list of shorts it thinks you will like, and I generally do (for me they are recipes and health related). Yet when you click into one and scroll through them, instead of showing you the other shorts on the recommended list, it shows you general trending shorts. Always thought that was weird. In other words you have to click one, then navigate back and click into each other recommendation.
- gs17 4y ago
  I find that bizarre and frustrating too. Why even bother to recommend things if they presume the trending content is good enough for us?
Nextgrid 4y ago
> I am skeptical even the bottom line gains from it. By the time the parent company realises there's no money to be made hosting endless amounts of stupid, repetitive and crappy content aimed at attention-deficient children, bonuses would've been paid and promotions would've been offered - the latter is what drives this crap, not necessarily some hypothetical bottom-line impact that's hard to measure and easy to excuse away should it not pan out.

bushbaba 4y ago

Wonder if their focus on becoming more TikTok like will open the door to TikTok having the opportunity to take a meaningful chunk of YouTube’s long form video market.

thatguy0900 4y ago
Just put some money behind the effort to make tiktok illegal, solves that problem
- Shared404 4y ago
  Except that effort may well make much of Youtube/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat illegal as well, at least in their current format. At least, I hope it does. E: You'd think Google's money would be most effectively spent trying to manipulate that outcome though.
  - filoleg 4y ago
    > Except that effort may well make much of Youtube/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat illegal as well It won't, because the primary rationale for banning TikTok in the US is driven by the CCP-related fear-mongering (whether it is justified or not is a separate question), with a little dash of other common "scary" flavors mixed-in (privacy, algorithms shaping your feed, etc.). As long as YT/IG/Snapchat aren't companies based in China, the hypothetical banhammer hitting TikTok won't even touch them.
    - tanseydavid 4y ago
      YT/IG/Snapchat also are ostensibly NOT state-run enterprises. (please note the use of the word "ostensibly" as a caveat before you try to remind me about The Twitter Files)
      - filoleg 4y ago
        Agreed. Which is why I think it is a ridiculous notion that making TikTok illegal would somehow outlaw YT/FB/IG/Snap as well.

tomjen3 4y ago

I don't think it is a business goal, but it is absolutely the case that somebody is getting a good bonus if the shorts takes of. Which they might do if people could actually make them.