YouTube announced that it’s launching a For You section for content creators’ pages. The new section will recommend relevant videos from creators to the viewers based on their viewing habits. This new feature is similar to TikTok’s FYP, where viewers scroll through videos recommended to them based on their watching history on the app.
According to YouTube, creators “can choose what types of content to show and select to show only content recently posted within the last 12 months.” The company started rolling out this feature just this week and will be available to the general public on November 20.
What if you don’t want it?
Creators can also opt to turn off the feature on the channel customization page under channel settings. They can also have more control over what to show their viewers under the “more settings” section. Creators can show Shorts, live broadcasts or long videos — or all of them or a combination of two.
Months in the making
YouTube first announced this feature back in May and started testing it in August. Initially, creators didn’t have the option to turn the feature off. But YouTube decided to give creators more control over the feature. Ultimately, the new feature aims to give the viewers a tailored experience when visiting the creator’s channel Home tab. Note, though, that the For You shelf is different from New To You. The latter is a feature that shows viewers recommended channels that they have not encountered.
Unsurprisingly, other social media platforms started copying TikTok, as the social media giant became the top platform for short-form content. YouTube created Shorts and Meta introduced Reels to compete with TikTok. This year, YouTube added more TikTok-like features to Shorts, launched a video editing app similar to Capcut and introduced vertical scrolling.