{"id":6688,"date":"2022-01-26T04:49:07","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T04:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/26\/youtube-ceo-defends-removal-of-dislike-counts\/"},"modified":"2022-01-26T04:49:07","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T04:49:07","slug":"youtube-ceo-defends-removal-of-dislike-counts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/01\/26\/youtube-ceo-defends-removal-of-dislike-counts\/","title":{"rendered":"YouTube CEO Defends Removal Of Dislike Counts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki defends the removal of dislike counts<\/a> on videos in her annual letter outlining the company\u2019s priorities for the year.<\/p>\n

Many may be disappointed to hear that revisiting the decision to remove dislikes is not in YouTube\u2019s plans for the year, as Wojcicki stands firm in her belief that it\u2019s best for the platform going forward.<\/p>\n

This is quite a contrast from how a YouTube co-founder feels about the decision, saying it was a bad move.\n<\/p>\n

Wojcicki repeats much of what we\u2019ve heard before from YouTube spokespeople, saying dislikes were removed because they were sometimes a reflection of viewers\u2019 opinion of the channel and not the video itself.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe heard from many of you about the removal of public dislike counts on YouTube, and I know this decision was controversial. Some of you mentioned dislikes helped you decide what videos to watch.<\/p>\n

However, people dislike videos for many reasons, including some that have nothing to do with the video, which means it\u2019s not always an accurate way to select videos to watch.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why dislikes were never shown on the home page, search results, or Up Next screens where users were most likely to choose a video.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Further, Wojcicki repeats the standard company verbiage that it was best to remove dislikes sitewide due to select channels being targets of \u201cdislike attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe also saw the dislike count harming parts of our ecosystem through dislike attacks as people actively worked to drive up the number of dislikes on a creator\u2019s videos.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Removing dislikes allegedly has no impact on viewership, Wojcicki says.<\/p>\n

However, that doesn\u2019t take into account the impact to user experience.<\/p>\n

She continues:<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo we experimented with removing the dislike count across millions of videos over many months. Every way we looked at it, we did not see a meaningful difference in viewership, regardless of whether or not there was a public dislike count. And importantly, it reduced dislike attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The dislike button remains on the site and channels can find their dislike counts in YouTube Studio.<\/p>\n

Dislikes will continue to be factored into YouTube\u2019s recommendation algorithm, impacting the videos that are suggested to users on the home page.<\/p>\n

Other Highlights From YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki\u2019s Annual Letter<\/h2>\n

In Wojcicki\u2019s letter we learn:<\/p>\n