From the perspective of a content consumer without a youtube account, the quality of the service continues to decrease. The most basic use case of uploading and linking to or embedding content remains invaluable, but functionality facilitating content exploration has noticeably diminished over time. This can clearly be seen in the list of suggested videos presented to the user for each video being watched.

Google, understandably, wants to increase metrics related to time spent on site since it facilitates selling ads. This has led from suggestions having less emphasis on presenting related videos. Instead, priority is given to videos algorithmically determined to most likely be clicked on by the viewer. This has resulted in the suggestion list becoming increasingly obnoxious even for viewers without youtube accounts.

For instance, if I pull up the Dead Skeletons - Dead Mantra music video [1] -- my new favorite psychedelic rock song -- the first four video suggestions are:

I. Weird trick for baldness (ad)

II. Dead Skeletons Mix (playlist of 49 videos)

III. Magical Healing Aura - Om Mani Padme Hum (featured video) [new age esque instrumental with 8 million views]

IV. MOST SHOCKING DEATHS ON CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!!!.flv [presumably a Faces of Death style video for those that enjoy watching people die; absolutely not something I want to expose myself to]

The deaths on camera video only recently infected the suggestion list for this video. Apparently it's the highest ranking result of some algorithm predicting what I'll most likely click on independent of the video I landed on. My only guess at explaining this suggestion is I recently followed some youtube and wikipedia links on reddit about the mysterious circumstances surrounding Edgar Allen Poe's death.

This obnoxious suggestion that I can't opt out of has made me pay more attention to the top suggestions on the videos I watch. Ultimately I'm served up with suggestions that increasingly remind me how Google is tracking my past behavior even though I don't currently use a youtube or gmail account. This has left me longing for the good old days of youtube where I would often follow related video links and discover great new content.

The result of these changes in video recommendation strategy is gradually conditioning me to expect personalized linkbait instead of related content, leading to less time spent on site.

It's a damn shame that Google is so focused on maximizing ad sales at the expense of content exploration functionality. The immediate value and historical importance of the content hosted on YouTube needs a better steward than Google. Thank god Wikipedia hasn't fallen into the hands of a for-profit entity. I can imagine Google getting their hands on the current Wikipedia functionality and gradually jailing users in a Panopticon of filter bubbles optimized for ad targeting -- Orwell spinning in his grave.

Hopefully I'll be able to look back on the previous paragraph in the future and see it proved to be FUD...

[1]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsyrOGRxF0E

Edit: I may be wrong about the MOST SHOCKING DEATHS ON VIDEO!!!!!!!!!.flv suggestion being targeted specifically at me. However, "The Stupidest Bid on The Price is Right" further down the suggestion list almost certainly is.