Taking the User by the Reins ⇥ rakhim.exotext.com
Overall, consistency, user control, and actual UX innovation are in decline. Everything is converging on TikTok — which is basically TV with infinite channels. You don’t control anything except the channel switch. It’s like Carcinisation, a form of convergent evolution where unrelated crustaceans all evolve into something vaguely crab-shaped.
There is an element of this critique that feels very now and may become outdated, as TikTok’s relevance could perhaps fade with time, but platforms wresting control from users and foisting decisions upon them is a long and ongoing trend. To wit, here is Davletkaliyev:
Even the “New” section [in Netflix] is meaningless. It opens with a “For You” row (huh?), then “Continue Watching”, followed by generic “Popular in ” rows. It feels like YouTube search: ask for something specific, get a few hits, and then a flood of unrelated “popular” and “recommended” content.
The screenshots preceding this paragraph show Netflix’s homepage in 2012. The subtitle on the page reads “Based on what you like, we’ve filled it with personalized suggestions JUST FOR YOU”. The first row of items is “Popular on Netflix”. These are superficially similar qualities to those Davletkaliyev complains about in Netflix today.
If you scratch a little deeper, I think the version today feels different for two reasons. First, Netflix has a lot more original media; instead of a page filled with movies and shows you recognize, it is now full of Netflix-branded material. Second, Netflix is just one of many services prioritizing recommendations and suggestions, and perhaps this feeling accumulates to the point where none seem to be serving our interests. Davletkaliyev’s other example is Spotify, but it could just as easily be Apple Music. I use it very simply, yet I feel as though I am fighting with its home screen. I have to use entirely separate apps — MusicHarbor and Record Club — to learn about new releases from my favourite artists. If I dip into one of the suggestions and then go back to the home screen, the whole thing usually refreshes and shows me entirely different suggestions. It is all just one big fight with large business interests.