YouTube’s latest cash-grab, the “Add Yours” sticker for YouTube Shorts, has been fully unleashed on unsuspecting creators. The Google-owned company is trying to peddle this “feature” as a way for creators to engage with their audience, but we all know what it’s really about: collecting more data and giving Zuckerberg’s algorithms more ways to manipulate users.
Just like Instagram, YouTube is copy-pasting TikTok’s “duet” concept, but with a tacky twist. With “Add Yours”, you’re forced to participate in some sort of digital social experiment, where you’re coaxed into sharing your personal content with the promise of “community engagement”. Yeah, right. What they really want is your precious data, and a platform to showcase their surveillance capitalist agenda.
Think you can use “Add Yours” to share some cute dog videos? Ha! You’ll be luckier if you get noticed by a bot or two. But hey, what’s a little dopamine addiction when you can feed YouTube’s insatiable beast? Or, post a “Outfit of the Day” Short and ask others to share theirs? Please, spare us the Instagram-style “content creator” wannabes clogging up the feed.
Once you’re done creating your “Short” and adding the sticker, YouTube will be happy to mine your content for valuable metadata. And when viewers respond with their own Shorts, the algorithm will be primed to learn more about what makes you tick (pun intended). It’s like they’re trying to break the code of human nature, one “engagement” metric at a time.
This “feature” was announced as part of a suite of “creativity-boosting” tools, including auto-transformation of longer videos and auto-generated captions that look like they were designed by a toddler with a Playskool keyboard. Nice try, YouTube, but we’re not buying the “creator empowerment” facade. We know you’re just trying to keep up with the times and appease the advertisers.
