I am personally of the opinion that you shouldn’t put yourself on public social media such as YouTube unless you are entirely willing to take the good with the bad. And let’s face it, among society there is a very solid mix of both of those categories and everything in between! In order to attempt to promote a more ‘positive’ outlook on YouTube, however, Google has confirmed that they are currently testing a new system with the ‘dislike/thumbs down’ option for an online video on the platform being (for some) removed.
YouTube to Remove Dislikes?
It should be noted that there has been a strong campaign among vocal critics of the YouTube platform for them to permanently remove the ‘dislike’ option. Specifically, because of either its misuse or, perhaps more specifically, the almost inevitable en-masse ‘down voting’ when a company or personality does something the online masses (which are ironically both small and large depending on the subject) do not approve of.
It does, however, beg the question as to whether this is a step in the wrong direction for the platform. Specifically, whether they are pandering to the critics rather than accepting the fact that, sometimes, we don’t agree with a video’s subject and/or opinion.
👍👎 In response to creator feedback around well-being and targeted dislike campaigns, we’re testing a few new designs that don’t show the public dislike count. If you’re part of this small experiment, you might spot one of these designs in the coming weeks (example below!). pic.twitter.com/aemrIcnrbx
— YouTube (@YouTube) March 30, 2021
What do we Think?
In all honestly? I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this decision. Yes, it is only currently being tested, and among a seemingly small number of content creators who have more than likely chosen to opt themselves in for this. Citing it as an ‘experiment’, however, it would suggest that Google will only consider deploying this permanently if, ultimately, the decision is generally well-received. – Yes, dogpiling is a problem, but it’s a problem practically every relatively controversial YouTube channel/content creator/critic will face at one point or another. Put simply, the blame doesn’t lie solely in one particular group, political leaning, or faction despite perhaps sometimes certain aspects of that being more ‘vocal’ in their disapproval of this than others.
So, who will make the choice as to whether this stays or goes? Well, there, you have another problem. I mean seriously, who’s decision will it be? Because call me crazy, but even despite our 60,000 subscribers (who we are eternally grateful for) I doubt they’re going to ask us our opinion on the matter!
What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!
