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YouTube rolls out Hype, which lets users boost creators with under 500K subscribers via a hype button that gives videos points, in the US and 38 other countries (storage.googleapis.com)
submitted 22 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) by Pro@programming.dev to c/Technology@programming.dev
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A quick recap of how it works: Viewers have the opportunity to hype up to three videos per week for a creator with under 500,000 subscribers. When a video is hyped, it receives points, giving it a chance to end up on a new ranked leaderboard that you can find in the Explore menu. To level the playing field, hype gives smaller creators a bigger boost. The fewer the subscribers, the bigger the bonus, giving the most authentic emerging creators a better opportunity to get noticed.

Source: YouTube Official Blog.

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[-] HalfSalesman@lemmy.world 28 points 22 hours ago

This... is an actual good idea from Youtube?

I'm honestly extremely shocked. This might legitimately help in finding interesting content on Youtube. Shit's been so plain and dull because everyone is chasing broad appeal and the lowest common denominator. This would reward niche content more, which Youtube badly needs. Shits gotten boring.

[-] tyler@programming.dev 13 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Yeah I read this fully expecting to hate it but I think it should work??

Edit: I just thought of one way it could be abused. Large creators make lots of extra channels. Their massive audiences can now boost those smaller channels in an even worse way.

[-] brb@sh.itjust.works 20 points 21 hours ago

"And don't forget to like, subscribe, hit the notification bell and hype my other channels"

[-] scytale@piefed.zip 9 points 19 hours ago

Fucking hell, that’s exactly what they’re gonna say for sure.

[-] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago

The YouTube workout

[-] pressedhams 5 points 19 hours ago

With no rest days 🥲

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 11 points 22 hours ago

As with pretty much every Google feature, there's always a motive beyond what's on paper.

Sure, it may help small creators. But what's the ultimate goal? "Hype" fast-tracks data collection by giving Google very focused insights into a user's preference.

After all, it's hard to market based on someone's behaviour if you've got a massive list of viewed videos, hundreds of videos with thumb's up, hundreds more in playlists and subscriptions, etc.

But if you only give users three videos per week, that can get really specific.

Anyway, that's my anti-google take on it. LOL

[-] otacon239@lemmy.world 5 points 22 hours ago

As a video hosting site, I want better curated recommendations targeted to my own interests. If their algorithm is capable of feeding me entertaining, not-braindead content, I don’t care if they collect the data on that. That’s the one situation where I’m okay with it.

The conversation is very different the moment we start talking about targeted advertising though.

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 4 points 21 hours ago

That's the problem, though.

In an ethical tech world, the data used would be used to benefit the user. However, in our current state of tech, we all know that our data will be abused and weaponized against us.

Feeding our viewing addiction, selling us highly targeted products (that we don't need), and manipulating our feed to influence our behaviour is what data collection and behaviour tracking is all about.

[-] Nougat@fedia.io 4 points 21 hours ago

Under 500K subscribers

small creators

???

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 4 points 21 hours ago

Dude, you have channels with hundreds of millions of subscribers!

Anything under 1 million is a "small creator". But this particular program boosts the smallest creators more than those closer to 500,000, giving the impression of fairness.

[-] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 6 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

It sounds like a good idea. And it might be.

But it's just a double-like.

The reason it became the norm for youtubers to verbally say "like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell" is because they already do what this claims it will do.

Now it'll just be "like, subscribe, hit that bell, and SMASH THE HYPE BUTTON if you liked this video".

[-] Ging@anarchist.nexus 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

https://ibb.co/mCX4y383

this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
44 points (100.0% liked)

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