YouTube, on Thursday, has made an official announcement that it will start hiding the dislike counts on all videos across its platform. This change will roll out slowly over the next few days and there is no way to opt out, says YouTube.
In a blogpost, Jensen, Community Manager, YouTube, says, “We understand that some of you won’t agree with this decision and have used the public dislike count to help decide whether or not to watch a video. But we believe that this is the right thing to do to protect creators from harassment.”
In April, YouTube started experimenting on hiding the dislike counts on videos in response to creators’ feedback, citing online harassment and targeted attacks. The experiment data showed a reduction in dislike attacking behaviour.
YouTube says the dislike button won’t be removed, and people will still be able to dislike any video, but it will be private feedback instead of showcasing publicly.
The like/dislike ratio on a video can help viewers decide if the video is worth watching, one might argue.
“We want to create an inclusive and respectful environment where creators have the opportunity to succeed and feel safe to express themselves,” says Jensen.
Right now, the most disliked video on YouTube right now is YouTube’s Rewind 2018, with a massive 19M dislikes. However, it won’t be too long until those numbers go private.
Still, creators will be able to find their exact dislike counts in YouTube Studio, along with other existing metrics to understand how their content is doing on their channel.
Creators reaction
Many famous YouTube creators have expressed displeasure over the strategy.
Marques Brownlee, a.k.a MKBHD says, “Hey @YouTube removing info from the rating system is NOT helpful. Public like/dislike ratio = Useful tool to see how helpful a video will be at a glance. Hiding dislikes helps nothing… but increases the # of ppl dissatisfied by spending too much time watching an unhelpful video”
Linus Sebastian, a.k.a LinusTechTips says, “For those wondering I’m furious that @YouTube removed public dislike counts. Thank you for making me waste my time watching some garbage guide that doesn’t work when I used to be able to just look at the like/dislike ratio and move on. It also takes away tools as a creator.”
Philip DeFranco says, “BREAKING: Youtube will begin hiding dislikes on videos. The dislike button will still be there and creators will still be able to see how many people hit it, BUT the number will not be viewable to the public.”
Even YouTube’s most-subscribed creator PewDiePie isn’t a fan of this decision and has come out with a 9:19 minute video. So far, the video has garnered 2.6M views.
“On YouTube, the dislike counts are an indication of if it’s a good video or not,” said PewDiePie. “If you’re looking up a tutorial video and it has 20 percent or more dislikes, I’m not gonna watch that video. I know it’s a bad tutorial.”
Talking about targeted harassment, PewDiePie said this doesn’t happen often, and even asked YouTube for a reference.
“If you’re getting targeted by a ton of dislikes, remove the dislike bar. They’re fixing a problem that already didn’t need to be fixed,” he says. “Anytime there is a lot of dislike on a video because it’s not good.”
PewDiePie concluded the video by saying that the hiding dislike button is unnecessary. “It remains to be seen, but it’s kind of like, well, if it ain’t broke, why fix it, right?”
‘New to you’ feature
A few weeks back, YouTube rolled out the “New to you” feature on its platform after testing it earlier this year. The new tab is now available on the YouTube homepage across mobile, desktop, and other platforms. YouTube says the new feature will help users to discover new creators and fresh content–beyond the usual stuff they watch.
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