At its Made on YouTube event held Wednesday, Google introduced a new tool called Custom Feeds, designed to give viewers more direct influence over the videos appearing on their homepages. The feature allows users to move beyond standard interactions like liking videos or blocking specific creators, offering a natural-language interface to shape their feed.
To use the function, viewers can click the “Your custom feeds” button located beneath the search bar and type a detailed request describing the content they wish to see. YouTube’s large language models then process these prompts to generate a personalized homepage. For example, a user might request a “rainy Shanghai vibe: café jazz, street food, and vlogs,” or a mix of specific niches such as macaroni and cheese recipes, clip compilations, and short crystal singing bowl videos.
Emily Moxley, YouTube’s vice president of product management, emphasized that the update addresses long-standing user feedback. “Users are always telling us that they want more control,” Moxley said. “They want more ability to steer their algorithm. With custom feeds, we’re giving them a natural-language way that they can do that. They can tell us exactly what they want.”
The company previously tested Custom Feeds as an experimental feature earlier this year before deciding to roll it out more broadly. It is expected to become available to all users in the United States soon across mobile, desktop, and TV platforms. The tool sits alongside existing topic tabs like “Music” and “Podcasts,” and users can save multiple custom feeds for later access. The standard homepage remains available by clicking the “All” button, ensuring the new feature complements rather than replaces the default algorithmic experience.
Leave a Reply