One of YouTube's most recognizable features is being imminently removed after being introduced a decade ago, and users have offered their worried predictions of what's in line to replace it.
YouTube has dominated the video space online for nearly two decades, and remains one of the most visited sites on the web for good reason, earning billions of active users every single month.
While most people have curated their own feed by subscribing to their favorite channels and finding new content based on algorithmic recommendations, navigating onto the 'Trending' page allows you to see which videos are performing best on the platform.
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Unfortunately, a recent announcement from the social media has revealed that the trending page is being axed in the coming weeks, being replaced by a new alternative with a different approach.
What is replacing the YouTube Trending page?
As reported by Dexerto, YouTube is now shuttering the Trending page in favor of what it is now calling 'Charts', which appears to emphasize the ranking of popular content on the platform.
"Back when we first launched the Trending page in 2015, the answer to 'what's trending?' was a lot simpler to capture with a singular list of viral videos that everyone was talking about," YouTube's official statement explains.
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"Today, trends consist of many videos created by many fandoms, and there are more micro-trends in different places across YouTube - from recommendations and search suggestions to Shorts, comments, and Communities. With these shifts, we've seen visits to the Trending page decrease significantly, especially over the last five years."
It certainly makes sense if you've used YouTube, as most people prefer to remain confined to their specific interests like gaming, music, or certain creators like MrBeast, instead of looking for what is popular overall on the site.
"So, we're making updates to better match how people discover trending content today by shifting away from one all-encompassing Trending list towards category-specific charts that we'll continue to invest in over time," the statement continues.
How will Charts work on YouTube?
When it is implemented, Charts will enable users to look at popular videos in specific categories, with YouTube specifically highlighting music videos, podcast shows, movie trailers, and gaming content.
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An example image of the music section of Charts shows the option to sort between general trending videos, and then specific categories for music videos, songs, artists, and even Shorts songs.
"Along with highlighting popular content in Charts, we'll keep showing viewers the videos that we think they'll love through personalized recommendations," clarifies YouTube.
"This way, we can show a wider range of popular content that's relevant, and it feels more natural to how viewers already find new videos. Viewers can still browse content that isn't personalized in the Explore menu, on creator channels, and in their subscription feed."
What are people saying about this change?
It's safe to say that the change hasn't been well received by many YouTube viewers, even though it's reforming a feature that many considered to be even more unpopular.
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"Trending was broken when they started curating it to remove things that were indeed Trending but were not advertiser friendly," writes one comment on Reddit. "It just got so sterile and defeated the purpose of it existing. The most valuable thing about a Trending page would be highlighting when something unusual, unmainstream, perhaps controversial or polarizing, has managed to trend."
Another added that they "never used trending anyways," branding it a "useless feature."
Others have speculated that it'll be a way for YouTube to push artificially generated content and ads onto its users, with one comment writing: "Top AI Content, Top of the Slops," and another predicting that it will just be "ads probably. It's going to be a page in which you can watch all the trending ads without those pesky videos."