• YouTube is testing a new video button on its app, allowing users to easily access random Shorts content based on their suggestions.
  • Additional features of this play button are currently unknown, but it is likely to pull content based on watch history, subscribed creators, and video likes.
  • The feature is being tested with a limited number of people and does not appear to be part of an official YouTube experiment.
    • bionicjoey
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      1 year ago

      And it’s fairly obvious how that would work here. The videos won’t be “random”, they’ll specifically be videos that are known to keep people on the platform longer.

      • kboy101222@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Google and killing products

        Microsoft and a bizarre amount of backwards compatibility

        • DarkenLM@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Backwards compatibility does have it’s merit. Windows at least tries to make shit from the XP era work all the way up to 11. I’ve had some big headaches because some system decided to throw backwards compatibility out the fucking windows and break tons of scripts I had.

      • RealM@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        They can control your watch time better if you make less decisions. Just be a good little brainless consumer and scroll through endless amounts of bullshit instead of specifically finding one video, then doing something else.

        It started with autoplay, wormed it’s way into search feature, and now it’s all over home and subscriptions.

    • Octopus@thelemmy.club
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      1 year ago

      I feel the same. It will probably be more random than shorts in which the algorithm decides what to give you.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The day I have so little will to get off my ass that I need to hit a button made by youtube to force feed me random entertainment is the day someone needs to forcibly take my internet connection away from me.

    • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      Skinner Box For Teens is a good band name.

      That also describes Tiktok now, I think?

        • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          INTO IT

          Too drunk right now or I’d shop in a small hand holding a cellphone with a tiktok logo on the sceen bumping into a big red button that says “DOPAMINE” above it. Maybe tomorrow.

        • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          Respect, but I like the verboseness of Skinner box for Teens. It starts with a concept that folks should know, and ends with leaving you thinking: “what’s a Skinner box for teens?” I automatically go with tiktok now, musical.ly before, vine beforefore, and when I was younger I would have said MySpace or AOL teen chat.

    • Madis@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Maybe because shorts are short and un-seekable, so more “engagement”.

    • Squizzy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I find myself watching a lot of shorts these days but I’d prefer if it was a separate app or function. Sometimes I want long format and not to be inundated with smaller thumbnails or in some cases stretched out oversized portrait thumbnails taking up the whole screen

    • Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      I like them. I watch a lot of long videos (30 - 90 minutes) so it’s nice to just watch really short stuff from time to time.

      • dan1101@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I don’t mind videos that are exactly as long as they need to be, they can be 1 minute or 1 hour or whatever. But personally I don’t need skinny portrait mode and no seeking.

        • Salamendacious@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          Everyone’s different. I’ve watched videos on shorts that I would never click to watch and I really enjoyed them.

        • Octopus@thelemmy.club
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          1 year ago

          Seeking is avaliable on the mobile app. You can also do this trick on desktop Firefox where you click the picture-in-picture button and press back or forward to jump 5 seconds.

  • hightrix@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    As someone with my watch history off, it’ll be interesting if this button even shows.

    I have no subscriptions, no history, and no tracking of any kind enabled. If this shows a recommendation related to my watch history, that’d shine a light on what those privacy controls really do.

  • masquenox@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Random? Yeah, I don’t think so. I’ve seen the absolute garbage YT’s algorithm tries to smear in front of my eyes - I enter YT through a bookmark so I can avoid having to see that crap.

  • Teon@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Fail #1, you downloaded the YouTube App.
    Choose a different front end or use a desktop.

    • monk@lemmy.unboiled.info
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      1 year ago

      People don’t usually download the YouTube apps, the most common way to get it is by forgetting to degoogle a phone.

    • deleted@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Just started using invidious. Is it common for subscriptions to be out of date for a couple of days?

      There’s a video posted nov 2 and just showed up today in subscription menu. It did show up when I clicked on the channel.

      • Teon@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Not sure about that. I use NewPipe on Android and the regular YouTube site on Desktop with Firefox/uBlock Origin.