YouTube music has begun testing a whole host of new ‘Home’ feed suggestions. As reported by 9to5Google, these include suggestions such as ‘Workout’ and ‘Commute’ on the home page.
YouTube clearly wants to innovate and improve its music streaming service now that it will soon be the only Google supported service. This desire is probably increased owing to the issues experienced by users transferring across from Google Play to YouTube Music.
As a result, YouTube music has worked to add a number of new features including this one. Most recently the platform added Spotify-esque personalized daily mixes. It also rolled out lyrics integration for its web client in recent weeks.
Therefore, more innovations onto the platform are hardly surprising. However, the decision to begin testing of high-level filters for the Home feed of recommendations is an interesting one.
YouTube Music testing high-level filters for Home feed
The introduction of feed suggestions for YouTube Music was first received by a Reddit user. It places the filters at the top of the page on the Android app which is a similar principle to how the main YouTube client works.
As the above screenshots show it appears below YouTube Music logo, search button, and profile avatar. There are four filters currently in place which are Workout, Focus, Relax, and Commute. All of which come with background images.
When they are not selected the chips look partially transparent allowing the image to show through. Clicking on one of these filters determines the songs, albums, playlists, and sections appear in the Home tab.
They continue to remain docked at the top off the ap when you scroll down the page as well so they remain available at all times. It essentially is a way for Google to surface the algorithmic and curated it creates onto YouTube.
Lots of unknowns about new YouTube filters
Despite what have heard there is still much that is unknown about these new features. For a start, there is arguably a lot of content that does not fit under any of these filters. Perhaps for different people, the filters are personalized so that they change to fit your preferences.
It is also worth noting that very few people have received this feature that we know of. Therefore, we know little about the nature of this test and as a result, have no idea when or if it may roll out more widely. Hopefully, we will find out a bit more in the coming days.