Susan Wojcicki and PhillyD and the Suggestion Algorithm

Changing the YouTube Suggestion Algorithm

PhillyD and YouTube Discussions

PhillyD has had discussions with YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki about their list of trending videos, which have long weighted corporate content unfairly. If you have the most views, then you should be on the most-viewed list. If you can’t created content that most YouTube users want to see, then you shouldn’t be on that list.

As long as YouTube is listening...

I am on YouTube far more than is good for me or anyone.  The algorithm goes in tight circles, recommending the same people and videos all the time.  It is tiresome.

YouTube Suggestion Algorithm Problem

By setting the YouTube recommendation algorithm to “following the buzz,” Google is only setting up its own failure. They may not know it yet, but if the only thing people are getting out of their product is buzz, it acts like mental candy. Sure, you want it all the time. Who doesn’t? But one day you will be sick of all the candy and reject the whole thing. It is inevitable. If human beings forever chose the buzz, we would not have survived as a species. So this proposal is a long-term survival strategy for the Alphabet Corporation as well.

There is an alternative.

Let users change their suggestion algorithms in user preferences.

I always want to see more content from smaller YouTubers and nothing about sports. Why can’t I choose that? Surely the YouTube algorithm can allow user input in terms of what percentage of smaller channels are suggested to me. I want to support local businesses rather than large chain stores, and my google search results should reflect that.

The Econo-Girl Suggestion Solution

It would not be hard to implement this change. Just break the code into sections, and make user input the driver of the algorithm.

So let the content providers set their video categories. Then, within those categories, let users define their preferences:

• NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS - I ALWAYS LIKE TO TEST OUT CREATORS WITH LESS THAN 20,000 FOLLOWERS; OR,
• MOST RECENT - A CATEGORY I REALLY MISS; OR,
• CORPORATE VS. NON-CORPORATE CREATORS; OR,
• BALANCE OF PRO/CON; OR,
• TRENDING TOPICS IN THAT CATEGORY; OR
• NOT TO SEE THAT CATEGORY AT ALL, OR TO SET A FLOOR FOR SEEING VIDEOS IN THAT CATEGORY, LIKE IF A VIDEO IN THIS CATEGORY HITS THE TRENDING TOP 100 LIST, SHOW IT TO ME.

The goal is to maximize value to the consumer.  The current suggestion algorithm is based on feeding rats a sugar-based diet that will make them obese and starve them at the same time.

A rabbit hole is a waste of time.  Humans are going to dump something that wastes their time, eventually.  Survival demands it.