YouTube hides ‘dislike’ counts to discourage attacks

YouTube announced Wednesday the tally of "dislike" clicks on videos will no longer be visible to the public to protect creators from harassment and targeted attacks.

A public count of likes -- or dislikes -- that social media posts rack up is regularly cited by critics as harmful to well-being, and Facebook as well as Instagram have allowed users to opt out.

Users on the Google-owned video sharing platform will still be able to click on the "dislike" button below a clip, but they will no longer see the negative review count.

"To ensure that YouTube promotes respectful interactions between viewers and creators... we experimented with the dislike button to see whether or not changes could help better protect our creators from harassment, and reduce dislike attacks," YouTube said in a statement. 

"Our experiment data showed a reduction in dislike attacking behavior."

Content creators -- the social media stars who draw crowds online -- will be able to see the number of thumbs-down icons their clips elicit.

YouTube said smaller scale or new creators reported being unfairly targeted in attacks, where people work to drive up the number of dislikes on videos.

The changes at YouTube come as major social networks and video platforms are frequently accused by lawmakers, regulators and watchdogs of not doing enough to fight online harassment.

Facebook is battling one of its most serious reputational crises ever, driven by leaked internal documents showing executive knew of the potential harm of their platforms.

The revelations from the leaks by former Facebook employee Frances Haugen have put fresh impetus behind talk of regulating Big Tech companies.

Worry about Facebook's potential harm has spilled over to other platforms with TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube trying to convince US senators in a hearing last month that they were safe for their young users.

Agence France-Presse

YouTube says it removed 1 million ‘dangerous’ videos on COVID-19

YouTube said Wednesday it has removed more than 1 million videos with "dangerous coronavirus misinformation" since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement by the Google-owned video platform comes as social media platforms are under fire from political leaders for failing to stem the spread of false and harmful misinformation and disinformation about the virus and other topics.

YouTube said in a blog post it relies on "expert consensus from health organizations," including the US Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, but noted that, in some cases, "misinformation is less clear-cut" as new facts emerge. 

"Our policies center on the removal of any videos that can directly lead to egregious real world harm," chief product officer Neal Mohan wrote. 

"Since February of 2020, we've removed over one million videos related to dangerous coronavirus information, like false cures or claims of a hoax," he said.

"In the midst of a global pandemic, everyone should be armed with absolutely the best information available to keep themselves and their families safe."

YouTube said it was working to accelerate the process for removing videos with misinformation while simultaneously delivering those from authoritative sources.

Mohan said the platform currently removes close to 10 million videos per quarter and that the majority of them have been watched less than 10 times.

"Speedy removals will always be important but we know they're not nearly enough... The most important thing we can do is increase the good and decrease the bad," he said. 

"When people now search for news or information, they get results optimized for quality, not for how sensational the content might be."

YouTube also said it removed "thousands" of videos for violating election misinformation policies since the US vote in November, with three-fourths removed before hitting 100 views. 

Agence France-Presse

Facebook adds video sharing to Instagram

MENLO PARK — Facebook on Thursday added smartphone video-sharing to its Instagram photo-based social network, in a move challenging Twitter’s popular Vine service.

“We need to do to video what we did to photos,” Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom said while unveiling Video On Instagram at a press event at Facebook’s headquarters in the Silicon Valley city of Menlo Park.

Instagram video apps tailored for iPhones and smartphones powered by Google-backed Android software feature 13 filters for special effects and post to people’s Facebook pages the same way pictures do.

Video snippets can be 15 seconds or less, since the team saw that length as a “Goldilocks moment” not too long and not too short, according to the Instagram co-founder.

Systrom said that Instagram has topped 130 million users and all of them have “access to recording the world’s moments in real time” with today’s launch.

Instagram engineers worked with leading video scientists to develop a “cinema” feature that stabilizes shaking that is typical in smartphone video.

Within hours of the new feature being added to Instagram, video clips began streaming in from locales around the world including a fish market in Japan, a space memorial in Russia and a surfing haunt on the California coast.

Investors, however, seemed put off by the lack of a plan to make money from Instagram and Facebook shares were down slightly to $23.90 at the end of the official trading day on the Nasdaq.

Facebook acquired Instagram last year. The original price was pegged at $1 billion but the final value was less because of a decline in the social network’s share price.

Twitter earlier this year launched Vine, a service that lets people share video snippets up to six seconds long.

“Given the importance of mobile and video for Facebook, the prospect of video features in Instagram should come as no surprise,” said Ovum analyst Eden Zeller.

Facebook still needs to figure out ways to make money from Instagram, according to analysts.

“We didn’t design it with any advertising in mind,” Systrom said of the video-sharing service. “I think, over time, we will figure out advertising.”

He stressed that Instagram users would own their videos and that Facebook did not intend to use them for marketing or advertising.

The overall digital video advertising market in the United States is expected to surge more than 40 percent to $4.1 billion this year, according to industry tracker eMarketer.

Video advertising on mobile gadgets is expected to more than double to $518 million this year and account for more than a quarter of all US digital video ad spending by the year 2016, eMarketer said.

Systrom confided that he is eager to tinker with Instagram’s potential on Google Glass Internet-linked eyewear but has not been able to get his hands on a pair, which has been made available to developers at a price of $1,500 each.

Forrester analyst Nate Elliott noted that Facebook has done well by “borrowing heavily” from other Internet companies.

Examples given by the analyst included Facebook adding Twitter-style hashtags and news feeds, and the social network letting mobile gadget users check-in at locations after Foursquare found success with the model.

“This model of ‘borrowed innovation’ has worked well for Facebook — bringing interesting new features to audiences that the social start-ups can only dream of,” Elliott said.

“It also keeps Facebook’s services fresh, and is one of the reasons more than a billion people still use the site every month.”

Elliott added that “the greatest marketing value from social media isn’t trying to market to people on social sites, it is learning from social sites how to market to them everywhere else.

“Google figured it out and I am hoping Facebook figures it out.”

Google made billions of dollars last year powering advertising at other websites and Facebook could do likewise, using insights gleaned from users to better target ads at other Internet venues, the analyst reasoned.

“The more social behaviors you get people to engage in, the more you learn about them and eventually Facebook will learn how to use this database of affinity to make money on it,” Elliott said.

source: interaksyon.com

YouTube says has one billion monthly active users

Google Inc’s YouTube said on Thursday the number of unique users visiting the video-sharing website every month has reached 1 billion, about six months after social media company Facebook Inc also said it had the same amount of users.

“Nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visits YouTube,” the video website said in a blog post.

Facebook said it had passed the one billion user mark in September, a level of global penetration that has made its quest for sustained growth more challenging.

source: interaksyon.com

At seventh birthday, YouTube marks new milestones

SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube celebrated its seventh birthday by saying it has hit fresh milestones in terms of its offerings and the amount of time spent on the video-sharing website.

“Today 72 hours of video are uploaded to the site every minute,” the Google-owned website said in a blog post Sunday.

“Like many 7-year olds around the world, we’re growing up so fast! In other words, every single minute you now upload three whole days worth of video instead of two. That’s 61 Royal Wedding Ceremonies, 841 Bad Romances, and 1,194 Nyan Cats.”

The blog added, “all 800 million of you all over the world have shown us we’re on the right track by increasing subscriptions 50 percent and watching over three billion hours a month.”

Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion.

The Mountain View, California-based Internet search and advertising giant has not yet announced a profit for the video-sharing site despite its massive global popularity.

YouTube has been gradually adding professional content such as full-length television shows and movies to its vast trove of amateur video offerings in a bid to attract advertisers.

source: japantoday.com