Choosing your algorithm
Experimental
The algorithms described here are at version 0.0.1. What they show, their settings and their names can still change. The page exists only on an instance whose operator installed the recommender and switched it on.
TypeType can build your home page with an algorithm you pick, read and tune. It says which of your data it reads, every row on your home page says why it is there, and what it deduced about you is shown to you and can be corrected.
Only the home page changes. Search, subscriptions and history stay the same.
Turn it on
- Open Algorithm in the menu.
- Under Home page by algorithm, switch on Build my home page with an algorithm I choose.
- Under Home page algorithm, pick one. If you hesitate, open Which algorithm suits me?: it compares them side by side.
- Go back to the home page.
The first page can take a few seconds to build. Meanwhile you see the usual home page with the message "Your home page is cooking"; the new one replaces it by itself.
If Algorithm is not in the menu, your instance does not offer it. On some instances the administrator turned it on for everyone: the option is then already on, and you can turn it off.
On an empty account, the home page shows a welcome card with two buttons, Import my data and Choose my algorithm. An algorithm has nothing to work from until you import your data or watch a few videos.
The algorithms
There is no right answer, only different ways of watching.
| Algorithm | What you will see | Data it reads |
|---|---|---|
| Subscriptions | The newest videos from the channels you follow, in upload order: today, the last seven days, earlier. Nothing is deduced about you. | Subscriptions |
| Discovery | New videos from your subscriptions, videos related to them and to your favorites from channels you do not follow, and trending videos. | Subscriptions and favorites. Never your history. |
| Signals | Videos you started, more from the creators you watched, rows by topic, and a row of creators you never watched. It reacts within minutes to what you just watched. | Video history, favorites, subscriptions; Shorts history only when enabled |
| Signals, channels | The newest videos of the creators you watch most, and of your subscriptions. | Video history, favorites, subscriptions; Shorts history only when enabled |
| Signals, videos | The subjects of what you watch, whoever made the video. | Video history, favorites; Shorts history only when enabled |
| Signals, mix | The creators you watch, and videos on your subjects from any creator. | Video history, favorites, subscriptions; Shorts history only when enabled |
Shorts are kept separate from regular-video recommendations by default. In the Signals family, Let Shorts shape the home page is off by default; turning it on lets Shorts also influence regular videos.
In the guide, each algorithm carries three meters, from none to high:
- Personal: how much the home page depends on what you watch.
- Discovery: how much room is left for channels you do not know yet.
- Variety: how much the page changes from one refresh to the next.
Every algorithm also reads what you marked Not for me, to leave it out, and all but Subscriptions read what was shown on your home page lately, to avoid repeating it.
An algorithm is only ever given the data it lists under Data used. One that does not read your history never receives it.
You can switch at any time. Your data and each algorithm's settings are kept.
The Algorithm page, section by section
Overview
Two charts: what your home page is made of (started videos, recently watched, subscriptions, your interests, new creators, trending) and the share of each of your interests. Each part leads to the place where it is set.
Data used
The page lists the six data categories whose use TypeType lets you manage for recommendations: video history, Shorts history, favorites, subscriptions, blocked channels and videos, and videos marked Not for me. Search history is not listed here or sent to Signals. In blue, what the current algorithm reads; in grey, what is kept without being used for the home page.
Open a category to set:
- Collect: video and Shorts history share this setting. When off, no new watches are recorded; existing entries stay according to the retention period.
- Use for the home page: off, the items stay recorded but no algorithm reads them.
- Read back: how far back the algorithm reads, from a few days to no limit. Older items stay in your account; they only stop counting for the home page.
- Exclude on a single item: that item is kept and never read. Include puts it back.
None of these choices deletes anything.
What it keeps
What the algorithm deduced from your data. It is empty until you have watched a few videos.
- Interests. Each one is named after the words its video titles share and shows how many items it is based on, with a few of your own videos behind it. On each:
- Pin: it always gets a row on the home page;
- Hide: it never comes back on the home page;
- Don't take into account: it stops counting as an interest, but its videos can still appear.
- Add a subject in your own words, in any language ("astronomy", "Japanese cooking"). The algorithm then looks for videos about it.
- Most watched channels. Select one to see what it is based on, or to stop it counting.
- Recently watched. Videos watched a short while ago that still steer the home page, each with the minutes it still counts for. Forget removes its effect without erasing your history.
Interests are found by what titles mean, in any language: a video titled in Arabic and one titled in English on the same subject land together.
A change applies on the next refresh of your home page.
Details
All settings lists every setting of the chosen algorithm, by family:
| Family | What it sets |
|---|---|
| Sources | Where the algorithm looks for candidate videos |
| Weights | What matters most when ranking the candidates |
| Recent videos | How long a watched video keeps steering the home page |
| Page | The size of the page and how it is shared out |
| Discovery | The room left for what you do not watch yet |
| Randomness | Whether the home page changes on every refresh |
Each setting shows its default value and a Restore button, and Restore defaults puts them all back. With randomness off, the same data always gives the same page.
How the last home page was built shows, for the page you just saw: how many videos were found and from which sources, how many were set aside and why (already watched, blocked, hidden interests, too many from one channel, from excluded data, Shorts), the rows with the reason of each, and the best scores with what made each of them. It comes from the same run that built the page.
If it says no home page was built by an algorithm yet, open the home page first.
Source code links to the code of the chosen algorithm.
My opinions
The opinions you gave on the home page, each with a Take back button. Only what you chose to send is kept, with the algorithm and settings you had at that moment. It leaves with your export.
On the home page
- Rows and reasons. Under Home page layout, choose As usual (one grid) or By category (one titled row per reason). The videos are the same either way.
- Not for me. On a card, Not for me takes the video off at once. Under Why? (if you wish) you may answer Already seen, Not this channel, Not this topic or Other. Undo puts the card back. After Not this topic, the card offers Hide the subject; a hidden subject can be found again under What it keeps.
- Does this page suit you? Answer Good or Not good, and say what is off if you wish: too repetitive, nothing to do with you, too many old videos, your channels are missing. Nothing is sent unless you answer.
Turn it off
Switch Build my home page with an algorithm I choose off. You get the standard home page back at once. Your choices, corrections and opinions are kept in case you come back.