Filed under: Internet, Video, Social Software, Analysis, Search
YouTube needs a system for detecting duplicates
Considering YouTube's undeniable 800 lb gorilla status in the video sharing space, it's becoming more and more apparent that the company needs to develop some sort of a system for detecting duplicate video uploads. Even digg and Netscape - who are admittedly social news and bookmarking sites with different issues to worry about - have a decent dupe system, as they both watch for identical URL submissions and titles, alerting the user when they aren't the first to submit a link.
So why can't YouTube make its user's lives easier by doing something like this? Granted, YouTube and others are still working on video analysis and detection technology, but what about a simple system that watches for duplications and similarities in titles, descriptions and video lengths? Searching YouTube for just about any popular music video typically returns at least half a page or more of the same exact video uploaded by users who either couldn't bother searching, or those who simply don't care and feel some need to provide their own copy for their loyal viewers.
If YouTube got their act together and created a duplicate warning system, as well as a way for users to link and share each other's videos under their own accounts, it would do wonders for cleaning up the expanding mess of duplicates, as well as simply navigating and searching the web's most popular video sharing and streaming service. As a bonus, YouTube would no longer need to host endless copies of some videos, and stats like ratings and view counts would be far more accurate due to what could be a significant drop, or possibly even an eradication, of duplicates. Everyone wins.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ruegr said 11:38AM on 7-04-2007
I think that you're missing one other possibility - that users have seen YouTube pulling copyrighted (and sometimes not) content left right and center, and hope that by submitting items multiple times that at least one copy will stay on line.
Faced with actions like those linked below, people may be looking for ways to get around being deleted.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/07/02/TelusImage/
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richard.gailey said 12:46PM on 7-04-2007
Agreed 100%.
You'd think that they would have already done this and saved themselves alot of hassle with the hosting debate. Maybe they like the idea of having alot of dupes posted all the time as it makes it look like hundreds of thousands of 'new' videos are posted each day.
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Danilo said 1:11PM on 7-04-2007
Also, as different people upload content they spread the word to their friends thus gaining more visitors. Storage space isn't also much on Google's mind, its pretty cheap for them I suppose.
But I do agree, it is confusing for users and a pain, but I guess YouTube's team has more stuff as priority.
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Kat2 said 1:36PM on 7-04-2007
The reason I sometimes duplicate videos is because I want to blog them... if the original uploader decides to mark it private or delete it altogether, then the video is gone on my blog too.
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Jhon said 2:13PM on 7-04-2007
see http://hotshadow.com/
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Caffeinate said 10:28PM on 7-04-2007
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's annoyed by this. While YouTube is an excellent example of how bad it can get, it's not the only place. The entire World Wide Web is filled with duplicate information which usually makes it harder to find something if what you're looking for is a little obscure.
I think a wiki-like system would work for YouTube. While they may not allow users to delete each other's videos, users could use some kind of system to report duplicates and then users could vote on which to keep (based on quality, etc.).
It wouldn't be perfect (the work of crowds rarely is) but it would certainly be an improvement over the existing system.
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Andrew Schrock said 2:45PM on 7-05-2007
I suspect the reason for youTube not deleting duplicates is that keeping multiple versions of the same clip actually encourages people to use the site more frequently. More clips lead to more users, more site usage, and everybody's happy. That said, I do think Caffeinate's suggestion of voting on duplicates has legs. This would encourage yet another level of user involvement, and fits within modern web ideas of sharing, rating, and commenting. Perhaps it would even foster a source of pride: "Mine was the best-encoded clip of this footage on youTube."
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Vitor said 1:02PM on 8-01-2007
Honestly, I like to find duplicates because some have better quality (either video or sound) then others, so I'm happy to be able to bookmark a better version.
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