David Bridges
YouTube’s testing a new “Save” button for Shorts in order to make it easier for Shorts viewers to get back to their favorite Shorts clips in the app, which will also see it move the “Dislike” button from the main Shorts UI.
Which could have an even bigger impact.
As you can see in this example, the current YouTube Shorts player includes the “Like” and “Dislike” icons at the top of the right-hand function icons (the latest version of Shorts also includes a “Remix” icon at the bottom of this list).
But for those in this new test, the thumbs down icon will be removed, in order to make way for a “Save” button instead.
As explained by YouTube:
“To make it easier to bookmark Shorts that you love, want to return to, or want to watch later, we’re experimenting with a “Save” button in the Shorts player. If you’re a viewer in the test group, you’ll see the ‘Save’ icon which you can use to save Shorts to a new or existing playlist. To make room for the Save button, we moved our Shorts player menu around. In this experiment, the “Dislike” button is now housed in the 3-dot menu icon. To dislike a Short and share feedback, click the 3-dot icon in the top right of the Short you’re watching then select ‘Dislike’ from the menu.”
So you’ll still be able to like Shorts in the main UI, but if you want to signal that you don’t like a clip, you’ll need to dig a little deeper.
Which could impact the Shorts feedback loop, and how you refine your Shorts feed. But then again, YouTube’s Shorts algorithm is based on a range of factors, including watch time and engagement, so really, it can probably infer your dislike of clips based on how fast you scroll past it anyway.
But it is an interesting shift, which does suggest that Shorts viewers aren’t actively using the dislike option as much as the like. Which makes sense, but the gap between the two must be pretty significant for YouTube to even consider moving this from the upfront display.
Also, there’s already a “Not interested” option in the three dots menu on the Shorts player. So now you’ll have both “Dislike” and “Not interested” buttons to choose from? What a philosophical conundrum to be confronted with: “Did I dislike it or was I just not interested?” Could change your perspective on life.
For clarity, the “Save to Playlist” option is also currently in the three dots menu, it’ll just be switched with “Dislike” for those in the test.
This is only an experiment for now, so it may not amount to much either way, but worth noting in terms of functional and behavioral trends.
YouTube says that it’s rolling this experiment out “to a small number of viewers on mobile devices.”
Clara Hastings
Tessa Everly
