Sunday Debate: Thumbs up for no dislike!

Is YouTube’s move to do away with the “dislike” tab with videos liked by all? Two YouTubers share their take

“There’s too much hate on social media. We don’t need more”

By Nikhil Sharma

Nikhil says that creators begin their day working for the approval of the audience and having negativity gone would be great

When YouTube launched, they had ratings. Then they got the Like and Dislike buttons.

Even before the pandemic, which saw a rise in viewers and trolls, people online would blindly dislike videos for no reason.

This comes at the cost of a creator’s mental health. It can lead to depression. Our day begins with working for the approval of the audience and having this negativity gone is great. You can dislike a comment, if you want to dislike something.

Dislikes have never mirrored the legitimacy of a video. They just gave trolls something to do. People would make 10 accounts to dislike a creator’s work.

There’s too much hate on social media. We don’t need more. I’m glad YouTube is looking at this and cares about creators. I got a lot of dislikes on a video on vaccination. The comments revealed that people assumed I was hating Indian vaccines. Then there was the video where I announced we knew the gender of our baby as we had gone for Shanice’s 25th week check-up in Dubai. I got flak for gender discrimination. Now people say I want my kid to be born in Canada as that’s how I will get citizenship—which is untrue and anyway, it doesn’t work like that.

Nikhil Sharma aka Mumbiker Nikhil is one of India’s largest vloggers with 3.8million+ subscribers. He has also been featured on an HT Brunch cover last year.

“We need to remove all numbers and evaluate content basis quality”

By Sherry Shroff

Sherry says that she would rather report something she doesn’t like than just dislike it

YouTube is not the space it was 10 years ago. The most drastic change has been the lack of genuineness when it comes to disliking content.

Many use the dislike button on the basis of random hatred. Algorithms and metrics play a huge part when it comes to your content’s popularity. What doesn’t help is just getting numbers as feedback—creators don’t know what’s wrong with their video and the audience doesn’t know why people have disliked the video. As a consumer, I’ve learnt not to go by numbers but give any video 30 seconds before I pronounce it pointless.

Creators and users alike today are obsessed with numbers, whether it’s likes, dislikes or views. We forget that these platforms were created for content consumption and not a number rat-race. The internet would be a better space if we weren’t so obsessed with metrics.

Removing numbers and evaluating content on the basis of quality is the era we need to get back to. It focusses on sharing content and building a community.

The biggest tech Youtuber in the US on the removal of the dislike button

As a user, I would rather report something I don’t like than just dislike it. It’s taking a stronger stand, which is crucial. Even with brands and collaborators, we need to shift focus and collaborate with a creator because of their content style and value system, not numbers.

Sherry aka Scherezade Shroff started her beauty, fashion, lifestyle and travel vlogs eight years ago, and has 325k subscribers.

From HT Brunch, December 5, 2021

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