YouTube begins using Collaborative Filtering
According to Wikipedia, Collaborative filtering is a “method of making automatic predictions (filtering) about the interests of a user by collecting preferences or taste information from many users (collaborating). Wikipedia also states this technique was first used in business by Amazon.com. Amazon “Build an item-item matrix determining relationships between pairs of items and used the matrix, and the data on the current user, infer their taste”.
This can been seen on websites when a user views an item and the website generates a cash of other items the user my like based on what other customers have bought in the past who bought the particular item being viewed.
YouTube has also adopted this feature by having a channel guide follow the user while they navigate through the website. This guide suggests channels the user might like to subscribe to and videos they should be interested in based on their browsing history.
This channel guide is also designed to correspond with the users existing subscribed channels and not only guide the user through the website, but on all devices. Write designer, Josh Sassoon and Engineer, Alex Nicksay say all a user needs to do is “subscribe to their (your) favorite channels and the Guide lets them (you) know when there are new videos waiting for them(you) to enjoy” the guide also “suggests the latest and greatest channels they(you) might like, and shows them(you) what your friends are sharing across the web.”
The most noticeable change the user will notice is the absence of the titles above the videos. They have been moved to the bottom to minimalize the space between the user and the video window and search bar.
Sources:
http://mashable.com/2012/12/06/youtube-changes-subscribe/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_filtering
Other items of interest:
http://mashable.com/2011/12/01/youtube-gets-its-biggest-makeover-ever-becomes-more-google-like/
Erica Lynn 