More power to users! Now decide what's on your YouTube homepage

Your TouTube experience is about get better as the Google-owned video streaming platform is rolling out more controls, giving more power to the users. The new controls will allow you to decide what you want to see on the Homepage and also the recommendations in the Up Next bar. This would allow you to filter the unwanted content from the Homepage. The video streaming platform said that the new updates will be rolled out for all users in the next few days. 

The users will also see quick access options for topics on the YouTube homepage. These options will be from the topics that may be of relevance to you, based on your present recommendations and viewing history.

"They could be videos related to the one you’re watching, videos published by the channel you’re watching, or other topics which may be of interest to you. This new feature can be found on the homepage when you scroll up, and on Up Next when browsing," says Essam El-Dardiry, Product Manager, YouTube. 

This new feature will be available for signed-in users in English, and on the YouTube app for Android. It is believed that the feature will be soon rolled out for the YouTube app for iOS, when you access YouTube on your desktop and also for users who have other languages set as default.

"Although we try our best to suggest videos you’ll enjoy, we don't always get it right, so we are giving you more controls for when we don’t. We’ve now made it simple for you to tell us to stop suggesting videos from a particular channel," says El-Dardiry. This means that you may also get an option to remove channels that you don't want to watch. 

For this, you need to tap on the three-dot menu next to a video and select the "Don’t recommend channel" option. The latest feature is available globally on the YouTube app for Android and iOS. It will soon be available on the desktop. The third feature to be introduced by YouTube is the added information on why a video is showing up in your suggestions list. 

"When we’re suggesting videos based on this, you'll now see more information underneath the video in a small box. Our goal is to explain why these videos surface on your homepage in order to help you find videos from new channels you might like," El-Dardiry said.