YouTube has improved a lot, but it’s still difficult to find the best channels. You can find a YouTube channel without knowing its name, but it’s often down to chance or recommendations. YouTube’s own algorithm that suggests videos aren’t perfect either.
So how do you take control of your own YouTube research?
Master YouTube’s advanced search to get started. Or, take the lazy option of using the recommendation sites below.
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The page displays today’s trends on YouTube. This list is updated every 15 minutes. It’s not a perfect place to find videos to suit your tastes.
YouTube says the Trends page is representative of a wide range of interests in a region. It’s not personalized, but just aims to show the scale of what’s happening on YouTube and around the world. The left bar gives you a few categories like music, games, sports, news, and YouTube vertical fashion to dive in.
But if your interests lie elsewhere in narrower niches like crafts and education, the trends don’t show them here.
Looking for educational videos on YouTube? You can set up your own personal learning program with the YouTube channels offered by Channels Stack.
The hand-curated site has neat strings categories that can teach how to code, play guitar, design a website, do any craft, or lead a healthier lifestyle. YouTube has always been a free educational platform and with the right channel you can dip your toes into a topic.
The Organized Library of Educational Channels is a project of Alexander Olssen. Right now, you can explore the four major categories of Creative, Technology, Business, and Lifestyle.
Sometimes you don’t know what to watch. You might want to find a video that reflects your mood right now, or you just want to relax with some superficial entertainment. Neverthink offers you some themes to click on.
Neverthink is a web app and also offers apps for Android and iOS. All videos are handpicked by the team and organized around themes. Pick a theme and let yourself go. The app will work as a YouTube remote that showcases the best videos on a specific topic until you stop watching.
The handpicked videos help you bypass YouTube’s algorithm and you don’t have to search and poke around. There is a good chance that most of the selected videos are of excellent quality. And each video can lead you to the creator’s other work on YouTube.
Download: Neverthink for Android | ios (free)
CreatorSpot is quite similar to ProductHunt for creators on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. The site features eight new creators every day and that gives you a window to discover a budding YouTuber to follow.
With thousands of videos uploaded every day, it’s hard for a new content producer to get everyone’s attention on platforms like YouTube. The biggest names benefit from YouTube’s algorithm while the new creators try to survive. This site tries to help them get known.
For starters, the platform relies on user submissions. Creators are evaluated on quality, originality, attention and frequency. You can use the site to not only discover new videos and the content creators behind them, but also recommend photographers, YouTubers, writers, influencers, and producers you know who do a great job.
Social recommendations can take care of your YouTube appetites. Walnut TV combines two popular social platforms into one: YouTube and Reddit.
You can run the risk that the community of Reddit users will vote for interesting videos. Walnut TV steps in to organize these videos into a nice interface with a continuously scrolling playlist on the left and a player that occupies the center.
Walnut features recommended videos from the past 24 hours using Reddit’s “Hot” algorithm. You can search for a topic or use the categories listed at the top to focus on science, documentaries, music, food, crafts, and more.
There is an Android app if you want to consume them on the go.
Download: Walnut TV for Android (free)
PocketTube is a neat little subscription manager that helps you place all the videos you find in a well-organized collection. It works on Chrome, Firefox, Android and iOS.
Videos can also be added to your digital treasure even if they are contained in YouTube. The earlier you start organizing your playlists, the easier it is to find, add, or remove the ones you don’t want.
PocketTube organizes your subscriptions into folders that function as “subscription groups” of channels on the same topic. You can customize them with different icons and make your layout prettier.
Organize your subscriptions and let the tool show you the latest YouTube video on the topics you follow.
Download: PocketTube for Android | ios (free)
Download: PocketTube for Chrome | Firefox (free)
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Ignite your curiosity with hidden gems on YouTube
YouTube can be a sinkhole of bad videos or a sinkhole of distracting videos. But with a little thought, you can harness the creative power of YouTubers and find some hidden gems. A little help from a new YouTube might get you thinking of a new hobby or help you study a difficult subject.
