- Go on. Dislike this video.
I dare you.
(laughs)
Nothing happened.
You just got owned.
- The update from YouTube is that the dislike button
is staying,
but the dislike counts will now be private.
- [Rob] And that, according to YouTube,
is happening the day I record this.
So if you do currently see a dislike count on this video,
you won't do for very long.
Besides, I've already tried this experiment once before,
and boy,
did you lot deliver?
I made this video when YouTube first started testing
removing the dislike count from videos,
and six months later,
it is now official.
So since there ain't no turning back now,
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Obviously there's been quite a reaction already,
and I'll show you some of that a little later on.
Basically in YouTube's opinion,
the experiment worked.
Dislike attacking behavior,
as they call it,
is down,
and this was something that small creators
in particular suffered from.
I guess at this point,
you're wondering what my opinion is,
and as just another creator,
generally speaking,
I approve.
I will agree
that in terms of being a very simple rating system,
removing the dislikes destroys that notion.
On the other hand,
if a significant portion of users cannot be trusted
to respect that button for what it should be used for,
then to protect the mental health of creators is required.
Now, I guess you could argue
that why should the majority of users
who respect that button be punished
for a few bad actors?
And yes. Maybe YouTube could have compromised
by limiting the use of that dislike button
for certain users who were obviously
using it far too much.
But something like that is just going to make everything
just that little bit more complicated,
and those who really want to abuse
the YouTube dislike button will find a way around it.
Ultimately,
what YouTube have done with a very simple change
is disarm the dislike trolls.
But is that going to push trolls
to go even deeper underground,
maybe to start abusing that flag button?
YouTube, I hope you've thought about this.
Now let's just clarify exactly what's happening here.
Only the public dislike count is being removed.
As far as creators are concerned,
it's business as usual.
You can still go to the content management screen
in the YouTube Studio,
and mouse over the likes-to-dislikes ratio
to get the exact number of dislikes for a video.
If you're a mobile creator
on the YouTube Studio mobile app,
you can go to Individual Videos,
go to Analytics,
and choose the Engagement tab,
which will show you the likes-to-dislikes ratios.
It's not an exact number and it can be delayed sometimes,
20 to 48 hours,
but it gets you what you need.
But since we are on the topic of dislikes,
there is still one blind spot.
YouTube have never shared dislike counts
on community posts for users or creators.
Why?
YouTube have made a very conscious decision here
to take control of the dislike count when it comes to users.
But ultimately,
creators are still in complete control
of the entire likes-to-dislikes system.
For any YouTube video on a channel,
creators can simply decide to hide the public count
for both likes and dislikes,
so that videos now look like this.
The setting can also be changed at an upload default level
in the master settings of the YouTube Studio.
And now for some of your opinions.
Mark thinks YouTube should just level the playing field
and get rid of both likes and dislikes.
Samantha doesn't even notice dislikes.
She's already consciously blocked them out.
Chris thinks YouTube should still leave a decision up to us
whether or not to hide likes and dislikes,
and SFS Eagle thinks it's all to do
with that very unpopular YouTube Rewind.
(laughs)
- [Will Smith] Oh, that's hot.
That's hot.
- Nope, no one's ever going to forget that.
On a more serious note,
this commenter did mention concern
over how elections are influenced by social media.
Could a YouTube thumbs down literally topple a government?
Eesh, that's a topic
that's probably a little too hot for me.
- So that's the update.
I hope it doesn't cause too much frustration.
Honestly, I think you're going to get used to it
pretty quickly,
and keep in mind other platforms
don't even have a dislike button.
- I will agree that in a few months time,
all of this will likely be forgotten.
I mean, nobody mourns the loss
of YouTube's five star rating system, do they?
As for the second point,
yes, I agree.
Most of the social media platforms
do not have a dislike button,
but when it comes to YouTube,
users are often making a much greater investment in time
on a single piece of content.
So if users relied on the likes-to-dislikes ratio
in the past,
now they're going to have to commit to one or two minutes
of watching a video to decide whether or not
they enjoy it and want to continue watching.
And let me leave you with this final fault
of a possible YouTube future,
but really think about it before you answer
in the comments below.
Why stop at dislikes?
Why not hide likes,
subscribe accounts,
view counts,
level the entire playing field for all content on YouTube?
Just a thought.
Now this video has been all about what YouTube
is taking away from all of us,
but YouTube very recently announced something
that's unlocked an amazing feature for millions of creators.
And to learn more about it,
check out the video over here.