Even though YouTube is the world’s biggest streaming platform getting billions of views on a daily basis, this doesn’t mean that everything about YouTube is running as it should. One of the biggest problems that YouTube has encountered is making the recommendation page offer videos that are actually interesting to users. This is where YouTube’s innovative machine learning technology comes in and provides users with videos that they might want to check out. After getting many reports for the way this technology works, YouTube has decided to give users access to more tools that make it possible for them to create a better recommendation page.
Recommendation Page Changes
Connecting our users with the content they love is important to us. We want to help viewers find new interests and passions — such as a new favorite artist, a new creator they can follow or simply the best food recipes. But there’s one true expert in what you want to watch: you. One thing we’ve consistently heard from you is that you want more control over what videos appear on your homepage and in Up Next suggestions. So we’re doing more to put you in the driver’s seat. Three specific changes we will be rolling out in the coming days,” said YouTube in a new blog post.
New Features
Now that we have presented what is YouTube’s goal for the new changes that it brings to the recommendation page, let’s go ahead and check out all the new features that YouTube has received.
- Explore topics and related videos on your Homepage and in Up Next videos
Users are now encouraged to explore more topics that they wouldn’t usually access. This is thanks to the fact that the new update is making YouTube videos easier accessible and to explore. For example, YouTube is putting a lot of emphasis on late-night talk shows, the user’s favorite music genre and also the type of videos that the user likes to watch on a usual basis.
All options that users are going to be presented in the new recommendation page are personalized on the user’s already existing suggestions. Therefore, the recommendation page is going to help users find the videos that they are interested in and not necessarily to discover new ones. The new feature is going to be available on the video streaming platform’s front page and it is called “Up Next”.
- Remove suggestions from certain channels
“Although we try our best to suggest videos you’ll enjoy, we don’t always get it right, so we are giving you more controls for when we don’t,” said YouTube. The reason why YouTube is saying that is because it is now finally allowing users to remove suggestions that pop up in their recommendation page from channels that they don’t like to watch.
Removing suggestions is fairly simple and the only thing that users need to do is to tap in the three-dot menu next to a video on the homepage or Up Next and then pick the “Don’t recommend channel” option.
- Find out why YouTube is suggesting you certain videos
Another great feature that YouTube is introducing in the recommendation page is the ability to find out why certain videos are being recommended to you. What’s great about this feature is the fact that it makes it easier for users to see what YouTube knows about them.
“Our goal is to explain why these videos surface on your homepage in order to help you find videos from new channels you might like. This new feature is available globally on the YouTube app for iOS today, and will be available on Android and desktop soon,” added YouTube.
