YouTube is testing a mystery button that starts playing random videos
androidpolice.com
- YouTube is testing a new video button on its app, allowing users to easily access random Shorts content based on their suggestions.
- Additional features of this play button are currently unknown, but it is likely to pull content based on watch history, subscribed creators, and video likes.
- The feature is being tested with a limited number of people and does not appear to be part of an official YouTube experiment.
I'm at the stage now where I view everything Google does with great cynicism and suspicion.
And it's fairly obvious how that would work here. The videos won't be "random", they'll specifically be videos that are known to keep people on the platform longer.
A "gimme a discount facebook feed" if you will.
"random" videos
Aren't shorts random already? What a useless feature
their search function also returns primarily random, unrelated videos... I think they just don't like people deciding what they look at
They can control your watch time better if you make less decisions. Just be a good little brainless consumer and scroll through endless amounts of bullshit instead of specifically finding one video, then doing something else.
It started with autoplay, wormed it's way into search feature, and now it's all over home and subscriptions.
I feel the same. It will probably be more random than shorts in which the algorithm decides what to give you.
The day I have so little will to get off my ass that I need to hit a button made by youtube to force feed me random entertainment is the day someone needs to forcibly take my internet connection away from me.
It's a brave new world with new consumers and addictions
It’s just a Skinner’s Box for rats but for teens
Skinner Box For Teens is a good band name.
That also describes Tiktok now, I think?
INTO IT
Too drunk right now or I’d shop in a small hand holding a cellphone with a tiktok logo on the sceen bumping into a big red button that says “DOPAMINE” above it. Maybe tomorrow.
I think Teen Skinner Box works a bit better.
Respect, but I like the verboseness of Skinner box for Teens. It starts with a concept that folks should know, and ends with leaving you thinking: “what’s a Skinner box for teens?” I automatically go with tiktok now, musical.ly before, vine beforefore, and when I was younger I would have said MySpace or AOL teen chat.
Random video (that has the highest relative monitization values for YouTube)
So only shorts are delivered? Who not "normal" videos as well/instead?
Maybe because shorts are short and un-seekable, so more "engagement".
What's un-seekable
You can't skip parts of the video or go back to a part you want to see again. You have to watch the whole thing.
I find myself watching a lot of shorts these days but I'd prefer if it was a separate app or function. Sometimes I want long format and not to be inundated with smaller thumbnails or in some cases stretched out oversized portrait thumbnails taking up the whole screen
Good timing.
I just started using Invidious.
dont click its a virus
The article link?
I"m remarking on the "culture" of the internet users that if you introduce a new button they may not click it out of ignorance.
Gotcha
I really wish YouTube would quit trying to make shorts happen.
I like them. I watch a lot of long videos (30 - 90 minutes) so it's nice to just watch really short stuff from time to time.
I don't mind videos that are exactly as long as they need to be, they can be 1 minute or 1 hour or whatever. But personally I don't need skinny portrait mode and no seeking.
Everyone's different. I've watched videos on shorts that I would never click to watch and I really enjoyed them.
Seeking is avaliable on the mobile app. You can also do this trick on desktop Firefox where you click the picture-in-picture button and press back or forward to jump 5 seconds.
As someone with my watch history off, it’ll be interesting if this button even shows.
I have no subscriptions, no history, and no tracking of any kind enabled. If this shows a recommendation related to my watch history, that’d shine a light on what those privacy controls really do.
If you see it you'll have to report back!
Is there any to get notified about comments like this without commenting?
Not to my knowledge. Reddit had bots for that but lemmy is still getting its sea legs. I might get a notification because I posted the article but I might not too.
It will probably be something from trending that has great ad value
The Pirate Bay did this with the "I'm feeling lucky" button, how many years ago?
I thought Google started the I'm feeling lucky button 8n 2001. Does the pirate Bay one predate that?
No, The Pirate Bay didn't exist until 2003
Wouldn't surprise me!
Random? Yeah, I don't think so. I've seen the absolute garbage YT's algorithm tries to smear in front of my eyes - I enter YT through a bookmark so I can avoid having to see that crap.
Fail #1, you downloaded the YouTube App.
Choose a different front end or use a desktop.
People don't usually download the YouTube apps, the most common way to get it is by forgetting to degoogle a phone.
Just started using invidious. Is it common for subscriptions to be out of date for a couple of days?
There’s a video posted nov 2 and just showed up today in subscription menu. It did show up when I clicked on the channel.
Not sure about that. I use NewPipe on Android and the regular YouTube site on Desktop with Firefox/uBlock Origin.