YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim is open about his feelings about removing hate saying it’s not a good idea for creators.
Karim shared his thoughts on YouTube itself, though not in the way you might expect.
Instead of uploading a new video, he updated the description of his first video – the first to be posted to YouTube.
Earlier this week, YouTube announced its decision to remove the number of dislikes across the board.
The dislike button will remain, but the total number of people who clicked it will not be shown publicly.
YouTube Creator Liaison coordinator Matt Koval announced the change while claiming it was a positive step for creators.
Karim suggests that Koval’s body language tells another story.
YouTube co-founder: “Nothing can be great if nothing is bad”
Koval begins his thoughts by concluding that even a YouTube content curator thinks this change is a bad idea.
“Seeing Matt Koval’s ad about removing things I don’t like, I thought something was off.
The spoken words do not match the eyes. The video reminded me of an interview given by Admiral Jeremiah Denton in 1966. I’ve never seen a less enthusiastic, more hesitant advertisement for something that’s supposed to be great.
Removing likes can’t be considered good for creators without conflict from someone with the title “YouTube’s Creator Liaison”. We know this because not a single YouTube creator thinks removing likes is a good idea – for YouTube or for creators.”
Not only do YouTube creators hate the idea, but regular users widely share the sentiment.
At the time of writing, the YouTube video announcing the change had 13 times more dislikes than likes.
Karim wonders why the change was made, stating that YouTube is hiding the real reason behind it.
“Why is YouTube making this universally unwelcome change? There is a reason, but it is not a good reason, and it will not be revealed publicly. Instead, there will be references to various studies. Studies that seem to contradict the common sense of every YouTuber.” .
I will not comment on speculation about YouTube’s motives, as none of them have been confirmed.
If you’re curious, a search for “YouTube removes dislikes” will turn up a number of videos on the subject from notable YouTubers.
The one thing that cannot be denied is that no one wants that change to happen.
As Karim says, the hate count made it easier to identify bad content from good content.
“The ability to easily and quickly identify bad content is a key feature of a UGC platform.
Why? Because not all user generated content is good. it can not be. In fact, most of it is not very good. that’s good. The idea has never been that all content is good.
The idea was, however, that among the streaming content, there were great creations waiting to be revealed. For that to happen, the things that aren’t great need to fall by the wayside as soon as possible.”
The “dislike” button will continue to influence YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, but this does not help people who access a video via a direct link.
A workaround that has been suggested is to comment “dislike” on videos when the total count is officially removed.
If you are not sure of the general opinion about a video, you will have to check the comments section.
In the long term, Karim believes that the quality of the videos will gradually be achieved as a result of the removal of hate.
“The process works, and there is a name for it: crowd wisdom. The process is interrupted when the platform interferes with it. Then the platform steadily goes down.”
Does YouTube want to become a place where everything is humble? Because nothing can be great if there is nothing bad.
Creators will be able to see the total number of dislikes on their especially Videos by checking YouTube Analytics.
However, other users will not have an insight into the likes of the video.
Source: Youtube
Featured image: fizkes/Shutterstock
