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Videos not being trackable is such a perplexing one. Is it intended to keep the user watching longer by forcing them to re-watch the whole video if they want to

Videos not being trackable is such a perplexing one. Is it intended to keep the user watching longer by forcing them to re-watch the whole video if they want to see something again?

komali2 3y ago
When I complained to my friend at Instagram about this, this is the exact answer she gave as to why they have it like this. Instagram is a Duke of dark pattern ux, I'd say king but there's travel booking websites out there that hold the crown.
Larrikin 3y ago
It's also there to force the user to watch the full video to see if the build up to some final product was actually worth seeing. Both reasons are there to take seconds off your life to juice their engagement stats.
lxgr 3y ago
Given that Youtube copied it for their "shorts" clone of TikTok/Reels, it must be working for the platforms...
- balder1991 3y ago
  I think their reasoning is that if it’s just a few seconds it “simplifies” the UI, which is why if the reel is just a bit longer it is trackable. TikTok on the other hand I think the video needs to be much longer to be trackable.
- chromakode 3y ago
  YouTube shorts are seekable.
  - schott12521 3y ago
    It’s a double edged sword, because the seekability of YT Shorts mean I’ll actually watch them.
  - mh- 3y ago
    That is a relatively recent change.
    - lxgr 3y ago
      Huh, yeah, I just checked and can indeed now scrub them! It's been a while since I last gave them a chance.
  - Noumenon72 3y ago
    Not in my web browser right at this minute. I have to edit the URL from /shorts/ to /watch?v= all the time.
    - redsaber 3y ago
      I used a greasemonkey script to automatically edit the URL for me
- whywhywhywhy 3y ago
  Really wish the engineers behind that design did us a solid and at least left the shortcut keys (left/right/j/l) in. Dropping those too is criminal.
CaptainBanger 3y ago
[dead]
SushiHippie 3y ago
You definitely can jump in a video (at least on android). The white bar at the bottom, which shows the progress of the reel/video, can be dragged. It is a very buggy experience, but it works. I think it doesn't work with very short videos.

Videos not being trackable is such a perplexing one. Is it intended to keep the user watching longer by forcing them to re-watch the whole video if they want to see something again?

komali2 3y ago

When I complained to my friend at Instagram about this, this is the exact answer she gave as to why they have it like this. Instagram is a Duke of dark pattern ux, I'd say king but there's travel booking websites out there that hold the crown.

Larrikin 3y ago

It's also there to force the user to watch the full video to see if the build up to some final product was actually worth seeing. Both reasons are there to take seconds off your life to juice their engagement stats.

lxgr 3y ago

Given that Youtube copied it for their "shorts" clone of TikTok/Reels, it must be working for the platforms...

balder1991 3y ago
I think their reasoning is that if it’s just a few seconds it “simplifies” the UI, which is why if the reel is just a bit longer it is trackable. TikTok on the other hand I think the video needs to be much longer to be trackable.
chromakode 3y ago
YouTube shorts are seekable.
- schott12521 3y ago
  It’s a double edged sword, because the seekability of YT Shorts mean I’ll actually watch them.
- mh- 3y ago
  That is a relatively recent change.
  - lxgr 3y ago
    Huh, yeah, I just checked and can indeed now scrub them! It's been a while since I last gave them a chance.
- Noumenon72 3y ago
  Not in my web browser right at this minute. I have to edit the URL from /shorts/ to /watch?v= all the time.
  - redsaber 3y ago
    I used a greasemonkey script to automatically edit the URL for me
whywhywhywhy 3y ago
Really wish the engineers behind that design did us a solid and at least left the shortcut keys (left/right/j/l) in. Dropping those too is criminal.

CaptainBanger 3y ago

[dead]

SushiHippie 3y ago

You definitely can jump in a video (at least on android). The white bar at the bottom, which shows the progress of the reel/video, can be dragged. It is a very buggy experience, but it works. I think it doesn't work with very short videos.