Comment by 331c8c71
3 months ago
Given that a lot of people have multiple interests and consumption patterns I wonder why the platforms like YouTube (the only one I use) do not give user a conscious choice? For instance, I watch educational content, music-related content and some talk shows. Yt can figure out this out (clustering) and let me choose what i want to focus in a given moment.
All these platforms aren't build for users who want to make choices. They're all built for the lowest common denominator, namely a user who opens a app, uses it for 30-120 minutes then close it, and don't really mind much what they're consuming. These users are not out after learning something necessarily, but just pass time watching something. The higher up you put something, the more likely they're to watch it.
You think promoting a minimal level of agency for consumers would drive engagement and revenues down? One could use such "user care" for marketing as well.
I have been wondering quite a while how engineers working explicitly on "lowest common denominator" tech feel about themselves and their work?
EDIT: I kind of forgot that yt serves ads in unbearable quantities for quite a while. Thinking that yt might care for viewers seems indeed a bit naive.