YouTube: Difference between revisions
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→Anti-features and dark patterns to trick the user into staying longer: YouTube calls irrelevant videos "related". |
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This includes the introduction of a feature called Autoplay that resumes playback of another video (chosen by the platform) immediately after the current one ends (after a delay of about 8 seconds), in the hope that the user gets hooked and continues to watch. By default, this feature is enabled,<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 Apr 2025 |title=Autoplay videos - YouTube Help |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401080124/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |archive-date=1 Apr 2025 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |website=[[Google]]}}</ref> and the user is not immediately informed that it is enabled. | This includes the introduction of a feature called Autoplay that resumes playback of another video (chosen by the platform) immediately after the current one ends (after a delay of about 8 seconds), in the hope that the user gets hooked and continues to watch. By default, this feature is enabled,<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 Apr 2025 |title=Autoplay videos - YouTube Help |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401080124/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |archive-date=1 Apr 2025 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |website=[[Google]]}}</ref> and the user is not immediately informed that it is enabled. | ||
Another feature like this is the inclusion of irrelevant videos in search results.{{Citation needed}} If the user searches for something and scrolls down the list too far, the likelihood of them finding what they were looking for decreases since results are generally sorted by what the platform deems relevant to the search query. Hence, if the user scrolls down too far, it is likely that they give up and leave the site. Therefore YouTube started to add random videos out of its recommendation list for the user into the search results, increasing the probability that they see something they will click and watch.{{Citation needed}} This makes it much harder and more inconvenient to find relevant search results since the user has to scroll past all the noise that is designed to distract them. It also means that a video that is actually relevant is less likely to be discovered — especially if it still has low view counts — since unrelated videos are promoted in search in its place. | Another feature like this is the inclusion of irrelevant videos in search results, which are marked as "related".{{Citation needed}} If the user searches for something and scrolls down the list too far, the likelihood of them finding what they were looking for decreases since results are generally sorted by what the platform deems relevant to the search query. Hence, if the user scrolls down too far, it is likely that they give up and leave the site. Therefore YouTube started to add random videos out of its recommendation list for the user into the search results, increasing the probability that they see something they will click and watch.{{Citation needed}} This makes it much harder and more inconvenient to find relevant search results since the user has to scroll past all the noise that is designed to distract them. It also means that a video that is actually relevant is less likely to be discovered — especially if it still has low view counts — since unrelated videos are promoted in search in its place. | ||
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