YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki remove dislike count In a video from her annual letter, she outlines the company’s priorities for the year.
Many may be disappointed because Wojcicki firmly believes that this is the best for the future of the platform, so reconsidering the decision to remove dislikes is not part of YouTube’s annual plan.
That’s in stark contrast to the YouTube co-founder’s take on the decision, which he said was a bad move.
Wojcicki repeated most of what we’ve heard from a YouTube spokesperson earlier, saying that dislikes have been removed because they sometimes reflect viewers’ perceptions of the channel rather than the videos themselves.
“We’ve heard from many of you about removing the public dislike count on YouTube, and I know the decision was controversial. Some of you mentioned dislikes to help you decide which videos to watch.
However, there are many reasons why people don’t like videos, including some unrelated to the video, which means it’s not always an accurate way to choose which videos to watch.
That’s why users are most likely to choose a video’s homepage, search results, or Up Next screens never showing dislikes. “
Additionally, Wojcicki repeats the standard company rhetoric that dislikes are best removed site-wide, as selected channels are the target of “dislike attacks.”
“We’re also seeing dislike numbers hurting parts of our ecosystem through dislike attacks, as people actively work to increase dislike numbers on creator videos.”
Wojcicki said removing disliked content allegedly had no impact on ratings.
However, this does not take into account the impact on the user experience.
She continued:
“So we tried to eliminate dislike counts in millions of videos over a period of months. We didn’t see a significant difference in viewership from any point of view, with or without the number of people disliked by the public. What’s more The thing is, it reduces disliked attacks.”
The dislike button remains on the website, and channels can find their dislike count in YouTube Studio.
YouTube’s recommendation algorithm will continue to consider dislikes, affecting the videos recommended to users on the homepage.
Other highlights from YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki’s annual letter
In Wojcicki’s letter, we learn:
- YouTube Shorts has reached 5 trillion total views.
- The number of channels with annual revenue of more than $10,000 grew 40% year over year.
- In 2021, YouTube channel memberships and paid digital goods will be purchased or renewed more than 110 million times.
YouTube’s key priorities this year include YouTube Shorts, helping creators earn more, and improving the shopping experience.
YouTube Shorts
Over the next few months, YouTube will expand Shorts by introducing more ways to remix content.
YouTube will continue to allow creators to make money on Shorts through the Shorts Fund, now available in over 100 countries.
The Shorts Fund is not exclusive to YouTube Partner Program (YPP) creators. More than 40% of creators who received Shorts Fund payments last year were not in YPP.
This year, YouTube will test new ways for Shorts creators to build branded content through BrandConnect, a program that matches creators with brands.
Content monetization
Wojcicki highlighted the following recent updates on monetization, which will continue to be a priority this year:
- Check before publishing: Allows creators to find out if there are issues with copyright or ad applicability before publishing.
- Updates to Advertiser Friendly Guidelines: Allows monetization of other content.
- More details on policy violations: The company is hiring more people to provide creators with details about policy violations, such as a timestamp of where the violation occurred.
YouTube Shopping
YouTube will continue to work on a product tagging pilot program to give viewers the opportunity to browse, learn about, and buy products in videos.
The company is in the early stages of testing how to integrate shopping with Shorts.
Also in the test are live shopping in the US, South Korea and Brazil.
This year, YouTube will bring shopping experiences to more creators and brands by partnering with commerce platforms like Shopify.
source: Official YouTube Blog
Featured image: Wachiwit/Shutterstock
