I have an old Google account that I only use for one specific thing today: YouTube recommendations.
Their algorithm is actually decent. Which is not something I hear myself very often. And while it can be a trap, it does actually recommend me a fair bit of high quality content as long as I stay away from the obvious traps, make sure to block channels I don’t like, and use the feature “not interested” on videos that I don’t like.
However. I would like to only use my web feed client and no Google account at all, but I would then miss out on the recommended videos.
Is there some privacy respecting alternative to this that I’m not aware of?
Thank you for the, well… human reply! :D
I know all about this, both from a moral and technical standpoint. And I have seen the algorithm do this multiple times, but I’m aware of it, and I only watch wholesome family friendly content, which is mainly about tech, bikes and coffee. I don’t care for politics, drama or anything like that, which is why it’s quite easy to spot the dark rabbit holes I get presented with from time to time. :)
Recommendations from friends only work if you have friends. I do get recommended videos on social media (which is the fediverse for me), but it’s rare. I actually like checking my inbox, and if I don’t feel like watching something there, I just go and see the rekommendations, which is not always good, but they do have some fun stuff from time to time. I have found most of the channels that I subscribe to there.