June 2, 2011

YouTube Reactions

YouTube tests a new feature that allows users to express their reactions without posting silly comments. They can just click one of the six buttons (LOL, OMG, EPIC, CUTE, WTF, FAIL) and instantly tag the video.



YouTube already highlights tags that use Internet slag words ("#LOL", "#FAIL", "#CUTE") from the comments and places links to a list of comment search results.


Blogger has a similar feature, but blog authors can edit the list of reactions. "With Reactions, readers can easily respond with one click, increasing feedback on posts."

{ Thanks, Ron. }

49 comments:

  1. Maybe I'm getting old, but the cranky old Mr PC inside of me raises an eyebrow to the use of the F in WTF and G in OMG.

    I'm a persistent user of these myself, but am I the only one that thinks these buttons give the nod to younger users that it's OK to say to Mom and Dad "What the F%ck".

    I know it's inescapable, and there's much worse in the comments sections goes unmoderated.

    I've turned into an old man! <- #WTF!

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  2. Please do not do this I am begging you this is the worst idea.

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  3. Like and Dislike are one thing, but really this is the dumbest feature I have ever heard of.

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  4. I don't see using WTF is acceptable to all the people.

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  5. When are people going to realize that putting O, M and G together is still offensive to quite a few people? Call me names if you want, but I'm one of those people who find it offensive.

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  6. This is disgusting. I have no problem with the swearing, but please don't continue this trend of designing everything towards the lowest common denominator. We're slowly crawling into our own navels with this stuff.

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  7. This is great! Don't fix the real problems with YouTube so you can work on dumb stuff like this.

    I hate it when people use EPIC to describe something, specially it obviously isn't.

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  8. I love it! The comments section of the videos are essentially useless to get the overall feel of a video, except for a recent snapshot of the reactions.

    This system is much more scalable, and can provide a much larger array of information than the binary like/dislike measures.

    I hope they keep it even if they have to censor some of the terms (I hope not) because of those who take offense from them.

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  9. It offends me of the omg. I don't want religion to become move visible it only teaches hate and ignorance.

    Did you see that "youtube license"?

    I hope they implement Creative Commons license. So i can place all my videos in that.

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  10. I completely agree. I'm not sure I want to be explaining to my children what "WTF" and "OMG" mean. They could have just as easily used emoticons or something akin to Slashdot's adjectives. Why promote slang when we could promote literate and descriptive responses instead?

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  11. It won't last. I don't think people actively search these terms (I could be wrong), but if they want to increase engagement, just stick with the social network sharing buttons- YouTube "Like," FB "Like," Google "+1," etc. It's just as fast to use.
    They got rid of the 5-star ratings because no one used them (or rather, no one used 1-4 stars), I think the same will happen here.

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  12. looks like they are targeting a teenage market

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  13. How about just smiley icons or something? I'm not sure that encouraging swearing is going to go over very well... I seriously thought this was a joke.

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  14. Hey people, you're complaining about wtf button, but children can see wtf in comments too... so there is no big difference...
    there are some missing buttons for other videos not just break/failblog/fva like stuff... needs a Win and a Best button

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  15. wow this is a blatant ripoff of what buzzfeed.com has been doing for years already

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  16. I don't believe this is appropriate for YouTube.

    Not because of the swearwords, but purely conceptually, it doesn't fit into my perception of YouTube. Those reaction things are more of a break.com thing.

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  17. OMG can mean Oh My Gosh or Oh My Goodness, so I don't see the issue with. Yahoo even has the OMG! celebrity website.

    WTF - There really is only one meaning for it, so I am a little surprised they are using this one knowing that its an acronym with a vulgar word in it.

    Maybe NSFW would be a useful one to have.

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  18. It does not seem a good idea. If I see a scientific video, what label should I choose? There isn't "cute". And even less the rest.

    On the other hand I'm not a native english speaker, so I do not see significant differences
    between OMG, EPIC, WTF, FAIL.

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  19. It's hilarious to see people taking offense from the acronym OMG talking about ignorance.

    Seriously.

    #LOL

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  20. Proper tags could be put to better use.
    Examples: Funny, Interesting, Cute, NSFW and Fake
    YouTube could use them to sort videos in more appropriate categories, for example: "Funniest videos this week" and "Most interesting videos this week"

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  21. I have the same oppinion on the matter. I understand the thinking behind this move. Something similar would be more effective if you could tag the comments since that is the start of an conversation.

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  22. So, as someone else pointed out, the G in OMG doesn't have to mean God. It could me gosh, which I have heard used many times in place of God, even with children around, or even godness. There is nothing at all offensive with "Oh My Gosh", nothing at all.

    The F in WTF could stand for "frig/frick". Yes, less often used, but still a possibility. I have also seen it written online as "what the freak" as to be less offensive, so yet another alternative definition without the swear word, or "what's the fuss", "will to fight", "worse than failure", "wasn't that funny" and "way to fail". Maybe the problem is that you people are jumping to conclusions, or are inclined to go with the most offensive definition you can find. But in reality, I have seen numerous videos on YT where the first thing that came to mind was OMG, followed by WTF. Not just being a smart-a$$ either, I'm being serious.

    Perhaps before jumping all over something as being offensive, when it's nothing but a few letters that don't actually spell anything, maybe some more research is a good idea.

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  23. Or, a great example of where WTF has been said numerous times.

    Car pulls away from McD's drive-thru, guy looks in the bag ans exclaims "WTF!".

    Was this guys using words he wouldn't want his mother to hear? Nope, was just wondering "Where's The Fries?"

    That was a smart-a$$ example, but just shows that WTF could have more than the most offensive meaning you could think of.

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  24. American culture is obviously moving in a direction where swearing isn't as taboo as it once was. Please try not to assign too much meaning to a word, it is just a word. Oh man, oh shoot, oh sh*t, and oh f*$k all say the same thing but one is supposedly worse than the other because of meaning you attach to the word.

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  25. why the h*ll are people freaking out at kids being given WTF its not like there next actions is to sell drugs on the streets because they where given what the f*ck as an option on a website god forbid they learn a word young when there going to learn at least one day in there life

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  26. "Thumbs down" button

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  27. Excellent. Now ANYBODY can troll your videos, and there's nothing you can do about it. Thanks Youtube!

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  28. A fantastic future! Next to the like/dislike future, this will give the commenters a whole new array of intelligent and meaningful things to say.

    If it does gets implemented, use Adblock Plus to hide it. (I use it already to hide VEVO adds and comments...)

    Thank you Google!

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  29. This is retarded
    Whoever thought this up seriously deserves to lose their job

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  30. Hey guys, I got this reaction thing when I attempted to use another browser and the current reaction list is now:
    LOL WOW EPIC CUTE HUH? FAIL

    No OMG and WTF anymore.

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  31. Today I saw it and there is no OMG and WTF anymore.

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  32. it doesn't work for me

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  33. I got these on my account: LOL WOW EPIC CUTE HUH? FAIL. I like it and Im gonna use this reactions a lot . The like/ dislike(thumb down) feature is heavily abused , there are some users that their haters are subscribed only to make them dislike attacks minutes after they release a new video . Users of anonymous image boards amused by organizing these attacks. Im sure that they will use the FAIL reaction for the lulz.

    I believe that the best improvement is to imitate the niconicodouga style of comments, or introduce text colors size etc and forum style emoticons

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  34. Opinions on this thing aside, I think we will suffer the same problem with ratings and likes/dislikes - the vast majority of the people will select only the most positive response and spawn endless tired memes of the "X people are Y flaw related to Z portion of video content".

    But try if you must, it won't cut down on the inane chatter. It will only slightly change the content of such.

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  35. My reaction to reactions: FAIL

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  36. I don't like the choice of reactions. How about inspiring or beautiful?

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  37. Youtube, this is a dumb idea. Honestly, it's not even necessary, and the silly acronym reactions make me feel like I have no choice but to be an idiot with no language skills.

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  38. The "reactions" bar thing is not appearing for me on any vids, is it gone now?

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  39. Reactions I see now:
    funny
    incredible
    classic
    cute
    what
    ouch

    This is still immature at best, completely idiotic at worst. Six adjectives can't begin to cover the spectrum of material that's on YouTube. Like Michael said, where's "inspiring" or "beautiful"? If there's a serious video highlighting violence or abuse, it might be "disturbing" but "WTF" or "what" are inappropriate. I see a lot of news sites (Huffington Post, some local news) using a limited number of adjectives as a poll of reactions, and it is USELESS. At least like/dislike is an improvement over Facebook's and Google Plus's single option.

    Perhaps Google could have a Reactions link that, when clicked, expands to show a box of 10-15 adjectives, and if you select one, then you see the top 5. I don't know.

    You Tube ought to move to a 5-star system like Amazon and so many other websites use. Getting a few thousands or million hits with the ability to rate on a 5-point scale would produce meaningful metrics both for content-providers, advertisers, and users.

    WTF and OMG or Cute and Funny might be entertaining for 12-year-olds and those who think like 12-year-olds.

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  40. Most people OVERREACT to this.

    The reactions are a bit childish (or playful, or idiotic, you choose), but probably that's what YouTube considers its website is all about. I mean, really, have you read the comments that make up 90% of the posts?

    If ever should you feel some silly reactions could not possibly express the elusive complexity of your wondrous persona, feel free to post novel-like comments describing your awe-inspiring life, 'cause nobody said reactions will replace this option.

    Also, more than half of the reaction-hating comments on this page are passive-aggressive.

    Stop judging and fighting - enjoy life, even the silly, senseless, insignificant parts like YouTube reactions.

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  41. "Youtube, this is a dumb idea. Honestly, it's not even necessary, and the silly acronym reactions make me feel like I have no choice but to be an idiot with no language skills."

    dude you need to get a phone or at least text more often

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  42. "dude you need to get a phone or at least text more often"

    funny man..

    for me, it is quite simple, anything that can enhance reader engagement like this feature is a great thing.. sometime, people just don't want to write out their feeling or just being lazy... for me, i prefer this like and dislike feature...

    it just make an extra engagement for youtube viewer :-)

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  43. They should have it more like DeviantART's reactions box thing where clicking on one generalized adjective leads to more specific adjectives in that category and so on.

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  44. This is a great addition to all the cool stuff You Tube already have. One thing I can oppose to is reactions are missing "Fail" reaction, in some cases it is needed... I just don't understand this "Ouch" it's not suits here. In all other everything's great! Keep on a good work! You tube is the best!

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