this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2023
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No Stupid Questions

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I consistently hear people on YouTube complain that the subscribe button doesn't do anything for viewers, now that channel notifications are controlled by the bell. But it does do something: it puts the videos from that channel in your subscription feed, which is readily accessible on all versions of YouTube. So why do people act like it doesn't exist? I think it's super convenient, especially if you're subscribed to a ton of channels and don't want your notifications feed flooded with new videos.

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[–] Zarxrax@lemmy.world 155 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I use the subscription feed and it's how I've always used YouTube. I certainly don't want it giving me random notifications. It's not like I need to drop what I'm doing during the day just because someone published a video. When I want to watch videos, I'll go check my subscriptions.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Agreed. In my mind every notification is a chore to be dealt with, and I'm not going to let Youtube assign me chores.

[–] BURN@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I turned off notifications for everything outside text messages a couple of years ago and I could physically feel the anxiety going away. I hate this trend of notifications for the smallest things.

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[–] grill@thelemmy.club 70 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think most people sadly don't use subscription feed. They just blindly watch whatever youtube algorithm throws at them.

[–] tahoe@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I started with subscriptions and now I like both methods, they’re complementary. The algorithm is really good at suggesting either random stuff I like or new stuff I might like. And I subscribe for stuff I know I’ll want to watch no matter what. Works pretty well!

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[–] june@lemmy.world 54 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait…. Thats not how people use YouTube? I browse almost exclusively from my subscriptions page.

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Same, the front page is a scary place and god help your soul if you click on trending

[–] SloppyPuppy@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Really? For me the front page hits almost spot on on what I want to watch. Weird. I use subscriptions tab first and then when im done with it I move to feed to watch new stuff I might not know and almost all of them are interesting.

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[–] dustojnikhummer@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Default front page yes. Customized with my data, no not really

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[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is my default page for Youtube. I want to see the most recent content from creators I have subscribed to.

After exhausting the subscriptions page, then I will go to the main page for related content. Shorts and the Explore are avoided at all costs.

[–] alokir@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Same. My subscription feed is a curated list of creators whose videos I look forward to and probably watch on release. If I notice that I consistently don't watch the new videos anymore I unsub.

I thought everyone used YT like this.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

apparently it is a very low count, supposedly 2% of views.

I don't know if the information is accurate any more, I heard it on the Hello Internet podcast quite a few years ago.

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[–] Carter@feddit.uk 37 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I want to know who has seriously ever clicked the notification bell. YouTubers are constantly telling me to and I have never even come close. Why would I want more pointless notifications in my life?

[–] TunaSounds@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago

I use them for some YouTubers who only post once or twice a year. Very useful tool. Just because you don't see the value doesn't mean it is valueless.

[–] slipperydippery@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I use the subscription feed and use the notification bell for my favorite channels. I don't have notifications turned on for YouTube, but it does show in the top right corner of YouTube itself.

I don't always feel like watching everything I'm subscribed to, so this gives me a kind of "favorites of favorites" feed.

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[–] mhz@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That is how i use youtube, but now it is poisined with those crappy shorts. They are changing youtube into tiktok

[–] twistedtxb@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago

Shorts ruined the subscription feed.

You can't really blame creators for trying to stay afloat, but fuck Google for not letting me turn off YT Short Notifications

[–] KeisukeTakatou@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

youtube feed is a toddler you're trying to tame. even the slightest misdirection will end you up with infinite crochet videos for 2 weeks because you watched a video about the last crochet artists in cambodia

[–] Thorry84@feddit.nl 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yes this, so much this. The worst part for me is that it includes random videos you clicked on the internet with the same weight as videos I personally selected. And since they are mainly about stuff I'm not interested in it gets even more weight.

For example somebody posts on social media "Look at my cool new toy". It's a YouTube video of a guy with a brand new tractor and he's super happy about it. I like his genuine pleasure, so I give it a thumbs up. Go to sleep and wake up the next morning and YouTube be like: "Hey there, good morning. I heard you are super into tractors at the moment, so here are a million tractor vids for you." OK, not a big deal, just pick out the videos that aren't about tractors and watch those. No big deal, the algorithm will figure it out and fix it right? Wrong, it pushes more and more tractor vids. The next day you somehow manage to watch a non tractor video and the doorbell rings. It's your cute neighbor and you make smalltalk with him/her for a while. Oops big fuckup, autoplay was on and it just played 10+ tractor vids for you. Now you're an official tractor superfan and your whole life revolves around watching tractor vids. At least, that's what the algorithm thinks.

I wished when I watch a video embedded on another site it would just not track that as being my interest. On my phone I had it configured to play youtube vids in the browser and not in the app, that helped a lot. But an update broke it, so now I have to delete it from my watch history anytime I open a YouTube vid anywhere.

Same thing with instructional videos. I got me a nice new dishwasher, but how to hook it up? Cool, they included a QR code to the brands site with clear instructions and a helpful video on how to hook it up. But oops, they hosted that video on YouTube. Now the next two weeks it's nothing but instructions on how to hook up dishwashers you don't own. At least it fits well with all the ads you get for the dishwashers you considered buying but ultimately didn't decide on. That's really useful right? Yay algorithms

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[–] half_built_pyramids@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I've heard that the subscription feed doesn't always show you uploads from the creators you're subscribed to.

I must not be subscribed to enough people for that to happen.

Otherwise, I don't let a non-subscription video live in my history unless liked it, and I generously block channels for the slightest click bait bullshit, so my home feed is pretty consistent as well.

[–] BeigeAgenda@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use YouTube in a similar fashion, I have a bunch of subscriptions and nearly exclusively watch them, and I make sure the algorithm don't see non subscribed videos in my history.

It seems to work because I only learned about Mr beast from my nephew a year or two ago.

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[–] Izzy@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

Thank you for asking this question because this has bothered me too. I subscribe to a bunch of mostly educational Youtube channels and then the only thing I do on Youtube is go to my subscribed feed and watch them.

But then I hear people talk about how channels they subscribe to just don't ever show up on the home feed so they end up missing things. Then Youtube implemented an additional system where you not only have to subscribe but you also have to set it to be notified of new videos. Thus starting the whole problem all over again where the home feed algorithm has too much stuff you are subscribed and notified to for it to all show up.

There is this nice little feature that shows you a chronological view of subscribed video releases that everyone ignores for no reason.

[–] Phegan@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I had no idea people didn't use the subscription fees. It's the only way I engage with YouTube

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[–] eugenia@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I always use the subscription feed, in fact, my custom homepage has a link to specifically that page. However, my husband didn't even notice that there was such an option and only uses the recommended feed (we talked about it recently). I personally can't stand recommendation engines. These have destroyed my art business in social media platforms. I need chronological.

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[–] anteaters@feddit.de 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

TBH I don't use the subscription feed often. I subscribe to many channels and rarely clean them out after not watching them for years. So that feed is full of videos that I'm not really in the mood for right now but I might watch some day. My home feed is filled with videos that I'm currently in the mood for - from subscribed channels and new ones I can then discover.

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[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

I have zero notifications enabled and use the sub list exclusively (about to switch to RSS), although I'm probably an outlier since I have a habit of sacrificing comfort just to stick it to big tech.

[–] TheBananaKing@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

I just use subscriptions as a super-like: please keep putting this channel's videos in my feed.

I'm generally not interested in seeing all the updates for every channel I like in one place, especially not per-artist. I just want a mix of stuff I'll probably like in with stuff I might like, so I stand a good chance of finding something cool.

[–] eyezhenn@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I use it consistently. I, however, do not like the shorts panel taking up a ton of space in the feed now. My subs feed shouldn't have shorts from people I am not subscribed to, but it does.

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[–] WiseassWolfOfYoitsu@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use it almost exclusively - I've bookmarked Subscriptions instead of any other page. But it does feel like I'm unusual in this sometimes.

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[–] glau@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

I very much use the subscription feed. I don't know how alone I am with this, but I usually only subscribe to channels when I want to watch almost all videos they post.

A lot of the time if a creator gets a little bit popular they start to spam videos and that's when I unsubscribe, even if I generally like their content. I feel like I cannot ever keep up anymore so I just watch their videos sporadically from then on.

[–] Moonguide@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (5 children)

The one thing I hate about the sub feed is that I can't seem to filter out shorts. I have no interest in shorts, and they make up more than half of my feed.

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[–] GARlactic@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

I almost exclusively use the subscription feed. The front page is a mess of terrible recommendations on videos I have no interest in watching.

[–] oij2@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

If you turn off history, it is very important and definitely shows in your Home feed, actually, it is the no.1 reason to turn off history

[–] ExcessivelySalty@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use an extension called PocketTube to manage my subscriptions into categories. I'm sure there's a better way, but it works for me.

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[–] tearow@feddit.nl 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Personally I remember when the main page used to be the user's subscription feed. After they changed it, I just updated my bookmark and continued to land on the subscription feed. At some point everyone else seems to have forgotten that that happened and started pushing the bell.

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[–] excel@lemmy.megumin.org 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I only use the Subscriptions feed, and use an extension that blocks recommendations and shorts.
Additionally, before watching any video I'll check the channel page to see if YouTube is hiding any of that person's videos from me (which they do even on the Subscriptions feed sometimes).
Fuck the algorithm.

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[–] dustojnikhummer@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I have seen myself times where someones video just is not in my sub feed, but I can see it on the Youtube channel. Happened twice in the last year with Louis Rossmann for some reason?

[–] DrQuint@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

There was a short time when YouTube was removing videos from the feed, and the only guarantee was the bell. But that is not true for like 4 years now.

I guess those people still erroneously believe that's how it works.

[–] emax_gomax@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

I used to, but then I got so many subs it wasn't really practical anymore. Now I just let the algorithm recommend new vids. Just too much great content creators, what can you do.

[–] RotatingParts@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

I just use RSS feeds of the YouTube channels I want to follow. I am sure that will be taken away from us soon to force us to do things the way they want. Until then ... go RSS!

[–] nero@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My YT account is like 10 years old, so my subscribed tab is a mess.

Also, i like seeing what youtube throws at me cause the algorithm is actually quite good.

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[–] hrxbfrnuructdny@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I use it all the time since the main feed is full of fluff half the time.

[–] Cralder@feddit.nu 6 points 1 year ago

Yes thank you! I have thought the same thing and it annoys me so much when people complain about "subscriptions don't work anymore". Yes they do.

[–] Casey_Masterpiece@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I don't mind the YouTube algorithm cause at least I still have the choice. With TikTok or shorts I have to actively scroll to not watch something. So I let the algorithm give me new stuff on youtube, but it tends to focus on one or two areas at a time. So if I want to see more gardening in my feed I use my sub feed and watch a few gardening vids and presto old vids from channels I'm subbed to and new vids from new channels or cool one offs from the algorithm.

But I don't like my sub feed because I have such varied interests and moods I'm not interested in 60% of it at any one time.

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