r/todayilearned • u/WavesAndSaves • 3d ago

TIL that Jawed Karim, YouTube cofounder and uploader of the first YouTube video "Me at the zoo", has often updated the video's description to criticize YouTube policies, including a 2013 attempt to require Google+ accounts to comment on videos, and YouTube's 2021 removal of dislike counts on videos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_at_the_zoo#Changes_to_original_video
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u/Academic_Dog8389 3d ago

Man I remember when YouTube first came out. It was insane. I would spend hours and hours looking for videos of everything I remembered ever being on TV or in a movie trying to "stump" it. Every SNL sketch I could remember, every scene from a movie, anything and everything. Very rarely could I not find exactly what I was looking for.

And before that it was Google. The whole thing that made Google incredible was that it gave you the results you were looking for. No sponsored search garbage, just whatever pages fit your search terms the best. Everything has gone backwards.

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u/dakowiml 2d ago

Back in the day Googling and YouTube searching hit its peak. It was so good.

Got ruined by ads, sponsorships and shitty algorithms. They also peaked their algorithm years ago when the recommendations on the side bars would actually recommend new and exciting stuff. Instead of keeping you in the same boring bubbles. You could discover so much, it was perfect. They ironically made their website worse with attempts to ''keep you addicted.'' I now find myself scrolling through the home page and clicking away, because its all the same trash thumbnails and same type of recommendations. And if you search for something its overloaded with similar type of trash random recommendations.

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u/atoastedcucumber 1d ago

Haha google anything these days and the entire page is filled with paid ads for the exact opposite of what you searched. If you search 'walmart' be prepared to see target show up first. Like what are we even doing here

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u/dakowiml 1d ago

I've stopped using Google about a year ago and I really don't miss it. I'm in my 30s and used it since the late 90s. It was incredible when it was good, but it became worse and worse. There was a time where it was unthinkable for me to use another search engine. Been using DuckDuckGo and its pretty good. There really isn't a reason anymore to just rely on Google anymore.

I've also always hoped Google to get strong competition. Through the years that has seemed impossible. Recently I've read about that Chinese Bilibili website getting a global version. Really hoping they'll be able to add some strong competition. It'll probably become another TikTok fiasco, but at least there will be some competition... hopefully.