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by risos 2594 days ago
Except that's not what the algorithm does at all. It shows you things SIMILAR to what you've already watched, but not exactly the same. Of course no one wants to listen to the same songs over and over, but Spotify recommends you SIMILAR music so that you have a chance of finding something else that you like.

Sure, if your goal is to broaden your horizons and find media that's different to what you normally consume, then those algorithms probably won't allow you to do that. But for Youtube and Spotify, it means their users are constantly finding more things on their platform that they enjoy, which means more time on the platform and ultimately more ad revenue (or revenue from other premium services they offer).

1 comments

It was about YouTube, not Spotify. YouTube will happily put you in an autoplay recommendation loop, cycling back and forth between the same 2 or 3 songs.
That certainly has not been my experience for music on Youtube; for the most part, it's very much in line with stuff I'd want to be listening to.

I can't say the same for "Content" trash like "Bill Burr destroys feminism" and "Louis CK owns Parkland kids", because those do repeat heavily. Absurd recommendations when you consider that my view history in the comedy arena are Eddie Griffin and Dave Chappelle, two old-school comics who did not make their name off of culture-war "controversies".

Can't confirm. They always recommend me new stuff, never stuff I've already seen. And I watch a lot of YouTube (too much...)
I wonder what the difference is between viewers - I end up in view loops as the previous poster, where I'm recommended the same stuff over and over.