No. 151 / Apr 19, 2021
Which video do you watch the most on YouTube? If you like movies or dramas, then related channels such as movie reviews or drama highlights will appear on your YouTube suggestions. If you search for games, next time YouTube will recommend videos related to games. The same applies to Facebook and Instagram. Videos and photos that are in line with your interests will be suggested to you. How can they know what you like and recommend a corresponding video?
An algorithm refers to a set of procedures, methods, and instructions to solve a certain problem, and it is combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to form an AI algorithm, which is the basic form of algorithms that people know.These algorithms are used in many countries around the world, including Naver, Amazon, Netflix, and are also used in social media. In the case of YouTube, click, view, and collaborative filtering and content-based filtering are used. The purpose of collaborative filtering is to recommend videos that other viewers who have seen the same video watch, and content-based filtering recommends videos similar to those you have watched before. Facebook also directly informs users why a certain post appears on their feed through the feature, Why am I Seeing This Post (WAIST). Instagram influences algorithms based on interest, relationships, publishing time, frequency, follows, and usage time.
An example of the benefits of using algorithms is “Brave Girls”, which debuted in 2011. They were a girl group that did not gain much popularity. In 2021, a YouTuber posted a video on YouTube called “Brave Girls_Rollin_Comments Collection”. This video was recommended by the YouTube algorithm and started to go viral, and it started to hit the charts and eventually topped the music charts. Of course, they have been able to produce results because of their efforts. However, all this would not have been possible if the YouTube algorithm did not recommend their video. Another example is “Hold My Hand” by singer “IU”. This song was released in 2011 and was very popular at the time. It naturally disappeared from the music charts, as all songs do.Then, a clip of singing the song “Hold My Hand” at an “IU” concert in 2019 was edited briefly and began to be shared on YouTube. The “IU official YouTube channel” posted a live clip of “Hold My Hand” and it was recommended by an algorithm. Now, this live clip has over 17 million views, and the song is at the top of the music charts.
Algorithms are gradually melting into our lives. It is applied not only to social media but also to various places such as fashion, restaurant, etc.. In the future, it will be more influenced by algorithms. Through algorithms, not only singers, but also food, fashion trends, and other things that we did not know will appear. Let's wait and see what will become popular.
By Kim Jae-hyun, AG Cub Reporter
zxc2337@ajou.ac.kr
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