YouTube hides the “I don’t like”, that’s why and what changes
YouTube has made the count of "dislikes" private: users will no longer be able to see how many people did not like a video, but only how many liked it
From today, no more counting of "I don't like" YouTube videos. Only the "likes" will be visible.
On Wednesday, YouTube announced that the removal of disapproval counts is due to the fact that the company wants to improve the inclusiveness, respect and security of its service, calling it "one of the many steps we are taking to continue to protect the creator of harassment ".
“The dislike button will still be there, but it will be for private feedback, rather than public shame,” The Verge points out.
It's the latest move by a tech giant to modify a feature developed years ago.
"Audience likes and dislikes counts, once a staple offering for social media companies, are disappearing as technology platforms begin to discover ways in which they are abused," Axios reports.
The site remembers that recently "lawmakers have increased pressure on tech companies to address the ways their platforms can harm teens."
Like and dislike counts have been cited by researchers not only as tools for harassment, but also as factors in how social media harms the mental health of some users. Earlier this year Facebook and Instagram introduced the option for all users to hide public like counts, after a test started in 2019 . The same year, Twitter explored whether to black out likes and retweets.
All the details.
PRIVATE THE COUNT OF "I DON'T LIKE" ON YOUTUBE
YouTube has announced that it is making “dislike” counts invisible to users across the platform.
The Google video site, the largest online video source on the planet with over 2 billion monthly users, said the move is designed to prevent “dislike” harassment campaigns.
But the creators will still be able to see them behind the scenes.
The change "will begin to spread gradually," YouTube said.
THE BUTTON REMAINS
The Dislike button itself remains, so viewers may still dislike videos to optimize their recommendations and privately express their displeasure with a video. Creators can also privately track the number of dislikes on their videos, along with all of their private metrics. But the public dislike count will soon disappear.
THE MOTIVATION BEHIND THE CHANGE
After experimenting with the dislike button changes earlier this year, YouTube said it found that smaller creators and people just starting out are disproportionately the targets of dislike attacks.
THE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUTUBE
"But the fact that the number of dislikes will disappear for everyone (gradually, according to YouTube) is a big problem: viewers are used to being able to see the relationship between likes and dislikes as soon as they click on a video and can use that number to decide whether to continue watching ”highlights The Verge .
BUSINESS VS USER WELL-BEING
In addition, engagement mechanisms such as "likes" or "reactions" make technology platforms more engaging for users, which is a positive factor in selling advertisements. "But they are also becoming a risk factor for technology companies that are under pressure to address problems such as user well-being and disinformation," Axios reports.
“Engagement with the Like or Dislike buttons affects how content is promoted to users via algorithms. The number of visible likes can influence the way users choose to interact with certain content, for better or for worse ”.
WHAT FACEBOOK HAS DONE, NOW GOAL
Finally, YouTube is just the latest digital platform to make this decision.
In early 2021, Facebook and Instagram also began offering users the ability to hide public like counts. A choice that is also confirmed in the rebanding operation of the company founded by Mark Zuckerberg. With the name change to "Meta", Facebook has lost its "thumbs up" logo to something that resembles a more abstract infinite loop.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/perche-youtube-nasconde-i-non-mi-piace/ on Thu, 11 Nov 2021 14:57:06 +0000.