Open Letter from YouTube

Yachts For Sale

Yachts For Sale

Yachts For Sale
YouTube tweeted an open letter to the YT community a few hours ago. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the content. In my opinion it was a good step in the right direction, if a little vague in places.
It read:




An open letter to our community: Many of you have been frustrated with our lack of communication recently. You’re right to be. You deserve to know what's going on.

    1. Like many others, we were upset by the video that was shared last week.

    2. YouTube‏Verified account@YouTube 8h8 hours ago
      Suicide is not a joke, nor should it ever be a driving force for views. As Anna Akana put it perfectly: "That body was a person someone loved. You do not walk into a suicide forest with a camera and claim mental health awareness."

      YouTube‏Verified account@YouTube 8h8 hours ago
    3. We expect more of the creators who build their community on @YouTube, as we’re sure you do too. The channel violated our community guidelines, we acted accordingly, and we are looking at further consequences.

    4. YouTube‏Verified account@YouTube 8h8 hours ago
      It’s taken us a long time to respond, but we’ve been listening to everything you’ve been saying. We know that the actions of one creator can affect the entire community, so we’ll have more to share soon on steps we’re taking to ensure a video like this is never circulated again.
 
I'm really curious what they will do to help prevent this. They already have thousands of people screening videos, and this video still slipped through.

I'd guess there may be a new focus on screening the content from larger channels that have a bigger engaged audience, but I don't know what else YouTube could have done with their current technology. I'd imagine that they may eventually have some sort of object-recognizing/flagging technology for videos, but I don't think they are there quite yet... :/
 
KatyAdelson said:
I'm really curious what they will do to help prevent this. They already have thousands of people screening videos, and this video still slipped through.

I'd guess there may be a new focus on screening the content from larger channels that have a bigger engaged audience, but I don't know what else YouTube could have done with their current technology. I'd imagine that they may eventually have some sort of object-recognizing/flagging technology for videos, but I don't think they are there quite yet... :/
Click to expand...

They have a real challenge, and I doubt it will ever be possible to completely stop people posting inappropriate content.
I've been reading the hundreds of replies to their tweet this morning over my cornflakes...it seems to me that they also need to work on their PR along with developing a super-smart algorithm. Creators are upset with them for so many things right now, it will be interesting to see how they react as this year unfolds.
 
Google being a corporation cares about making a profit the most, and obviously a popular channel like that generates a lot of profit for them so it would be a bad move to kill one of ther golden eggs geese. With this apology they gave the sop to the community but nothing more to protect their stocks. Mostly, I expect even more tighter guidelines for creators from now on, as if the adpocalypse wasn't enough already.
 
I think their response is very weak and they're showing signs of being overwhelmed by the sheer size of the task of policing their own platform. Personally I think Logan Paul's channel should be terminated. His response was just ridiculous - claiming he made the video for "awareness" Oh please, give me a break...

But putting aside his particular video, the deeper problem is that YouTube is completely lost at the moment and lacking direction and strategy. I think the days of YouTube as a platform where anyone can upload what they want are numbered. I can see Youtube having to go fully moderated and / or becoming a content streaming site like Amazon Prime or Netflix. The current business model isn't working and isn't sustainable much longer IMHO.
 
My guess is that YouTube would be THRILLED to become a content streaming site like Amazon Prime or Netflix. The problem I see is that they don't have the reputation and/or the money allocated to get the top talent to come over and produce content for them. So for now, their model stands, for which I'm still grateful, because I like uploading my own content there.
 
The whole thing is ridiculous. The video should've been taken down straight away. It's taken what a week maybe 2 for youtube to come out with a statement for this. Logan's channel should be taken down. That's my thoughts anyway.
 
I was reading the response on Twitter to the Open Letter this morning over my cornflakes, and now I'm reading this thread in the evening with a Campari Soda. I think @Crown is right that
Crown said:
they're showing signs of being overwhelmed by the sheer size of the task of policing their own platform.
Click to expand...
I remember selling a yacht years ago to a super wealthy Argentinian who said to me "never underestimate how stupid people can be".
He was right. Who'd have thought that people would be dumb enough to film themselves laughing at the sight of a dead body hanging from a tree, or cementing their head in a microwave oven, or beating their kids and making them cry. Worse still, who'd have thought that tens of millions of people would find this kind of content entertaining...
I keep reading comments (not just on this forum) from people who feel that YouTube are infringing on people's rights of free speech, but the evidence shows that if the platform is not policed properly it can't be sustained.

Maybe @Crown and @KatyAdelson should volunteer as mods for YouTube?
 
Yachts For Sale said:
I was reading the response on Twitter to the Open Letter this morning over my cornflakes, and now I'm reading this thread in the evening with a Campari Soda. I think @Crown is right that

I remember selling a yacht years ago to a super wealthy Argentinian who said to me "never underestimate how stupid people can be".
He was right. Who'd have thought that people would be dumb enough to film themselves laughing at the sight of a dead body hanging from a tree, or cementing their head in a microwave oven, or beating their kids and making them cry. Worse still, who'd have thought that tens of millions of people would find this kind of content entertaining...
I keep reading comments (not just on this forum) from people who feel that YouTube are infringing on people's rights of free speech, but the evidence shows that if the platform is not policed properly it can't be sustained.

Maybe @Crown and @KatyAdelson should volunteer as mods for YouTube?
Click to expand...


What is even more disconcerting is that despite the number of people calling him out, the number of people subbing to him is growing even more than before the video. So people (kids?) are actually fans of this guy ?! Like you say, "never underestimate how stupid people can be"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top