YouTube’s content discovery through search and algorithm suggestions speaks to its underlying business model of ad revenue. YouTube makes money when a user watches a video, and, as a result, the videos on the homepage feature eye-catching content and clickbait-esque titles (as shown below).
While YouTube’s content discovery process seeks short term response (watching a quick video), AirBnb’s platform motivates users to make long-term commitments. Rather than enticing users to quickly click on a room, the site provides a teaser of their offerings in certain cities. Even though it’s highly unlikely the user needs a room in New York or Miami specifically, this interface aims to build legitimacy of AirBnb’s presence and therefore encourages a customer to engage in a search to find a room for their vacation needs.
The Netflix experience entices the user to stay on the platform. Recommendations simultaneously curate content you know and love as well as new suggestions based on your tastes. Consider the screenshot from my Netflix home page. It includes Hindi cinema (a favorite of my family’s), a cooking competition show (I’ve recently started the new Great British Bake Off season), and sci-fi movies, all content I’d definitely watch.
What’s particularly interesting about Netflix is that despite this systematic curation, it also includes choices I would have never seek out, such as “Physical Asia” (where contestants face off in physical challenges for national pride – a show I’m sure is entertaining but I’d never watch myself). These options seem like a failure of the algorithm; however, including these low-quality recommendations still serves to retain users on the platform. These suggestions, though they do not lead to immediate views, demonstrate the vast diversity of content Netflix offers and encourages users to return to Netflix to further explore the various content they have to offer.
