Chat with the 'For You' Algorithm: An LLM-Enhanced Chatbot for Controlling Video Recommendation FlowThe rise of short-form video platforms like TikTok, driven by algorithmic recommendations, fosters immersive flow experiences. While users value personalization and engagement, they also seek greater agency over their For You recommendations. This paper designs, prototypes, and evaluates TKGPT, an LLM-enhanced conversational interface that helps users articulate their interests and understand recommendations. Through qualitative interviews and a user study, we examine how the TKGPT influences algorithmic folk theories and the sense of agency. Findings show that users primarily use TKGPT to seek relevant videos, explain preferences, and exert control over the algorithm. The resulting For You videos better reflect user interests, enhance the understanding of algorithm, improve content relevance, and reduce feelings of exploitation. Notably, users' sense of agency is significantly associated with their improved understanding of how the algorithm works. We discuss the opportunities and challenges of using conversational user interfaces to enhance user control over video recommendations.2025SNShuo Niu et al.Conversational ChatbotsExplainable AI (XAI)Recommender System UXCUI
Please Understand My Disability: An Analysis of YouTubers’ Discourse on Disability ChallengesVideo-sharing platforms offer a unique avenue for people with disabilities (PWDs) to highlight their experiences, including the challenges and accessibility barriers they face. While creators with disabilities effectively use these platforms to share their life struggles and advocate for societal changes, the scope of research exploring the nature of the discourse activities related to disability challenges remains limited. Our study addresses this gap by conducting a comprehensive qualitative content analysis of 468 videos posted by YouTubers with a range of disabilities, including vision, speech, mobility, hearing, and cognitive and neural impairments. Our findings reveal a predominant discussion on stigma and lack of support. YouTube is also used to share difficulties related to communication and systemic problems. Creators with disabilities also share experiences with technologies and public and private environments, through which they discuss accessibility issues and solutions. Building on our analysis, we propose future research directions aimed at enhancing the experience and support for disability communities on video-sharing platforms.2024SNShuo Niu et al.Session 2c: Blind Users and Collaborative SensingCSCW
The Impact of Risk Appeal Approaches on Users’ Sharing Confidential InformationEnd-to-end encrypted email can help users prevent unauthorized access of their sensitive information. However, many users struggle to utilize encryption tools due to usability issues and low understanding. Thus, we designed video messaging interventions to persuade users to use email encryption software (Virtru). Our first intervention combined Protection Motivation Theory with Anticipated Regret (PMT+AR), and was designed to help participants understand the benefits of using encrypted email. Our second intervention also included Action Planning (PMT+AR+AP), and was designed to help participants recognize opportunities to use encrypted email. We conducted online interviews with 121 participants and used a follow-up survey to evaluate our interventions. Pre-intervention, participants believed that Gmail encrypted standard email content by default. Post-intervention, both messages made participants more likely to utilize encrypted email in a simulated information sharing scenario compared to Control. Our results suggest that our interventions can help people adopt protective technologies and address their misconceptions about them.2024EQElham Al Qahtani et al.University of JeddahPrivacy by Design & User ControlPrivacy Perception & Decision-MakingCHI
A Literature Review of Video-Sharing Platform Research in HCIVideo-sharing platforms (VSPs) such as YouTube, TikTok, and Twitch have grown rapidly in recent years and attracted millions of users. Research topics such as online communities, video interactions, and recommendation algorithms have drawn increasing attention. Group and community dynamics were also examined with live streaming and short-form videos. However, HCI literature lacks a holistic picture of video-sharing research themes, methods, and findings that summarizes the diverse topics on interaction modalities and communities. Prior reviews on VSPs were about a particular platform or reviewed as a part of social media. This paper contributes a scoping review of 106 articles on video-sharing published in HCI literature from 2012 to June 2022. We identified six research themes through grounded theory analysis and encoded five HCI research methods in VSP studies. We concluded a framework with five components to structure findings in video-sharing research, with which we reflect on future directions on this topic.2023ABAva Bartolome et al.University of Minnesota, Clark UniversityLive Streaming & Spectating ExperienceSocial Platform Design & User BehaviorCHI
Education, Personal Experiences, and Advocacy: Examining Drug-Addiction Videos on YouTubeDrug addiction has become one of the most severe worldwide social problems. Recent research has examined utilizing social media to support addiction recovery and the problematic use of social media for selling drugs and glamorizing drug use. Prior studies have focused on textual and networking-based social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit, but there is limited understanding of how video-based platforms like YouTube allow creators to share drug addiction-related videos and discourse about addiction problems. This work performs a content analysis of 387 drug-addiction-related videos collected from YouTube. The grounded-theory approach based on the health-emergency framework identifies how drug-addiction videos discourse the addiction-related risk, blame, urgency, praise, and solution. Video viewership and comments are also compared between the emerged video themes. Results suggest YouTubers educate others about drug addiction, disclose personal experiences, and advocate for addiction prevention and recovery. Based on our findings, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of using video-sharing to prevent and educate drug addiction.2022SNShuo Niu et al.Social Media; Social MediaCSCW
Close-up and Whispering: An Understanding of Multimodal and Parasocial Interactions in YouTube ASMR videosASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) has grown to immense popularity on YouTube and drawn HCI designers' attention to its effects and applications in design. YouTube ASMR creators incorporate visual elements, sounds, motifs of touching and tasting, and other scenarios in multisensory video interactions to deliver enjoyable and relaxing experiences to their viewers. ASMRtists engage viewers by social, physical, and task attractions. Research has identified the benefits of ASMR in mental wellbeing. However, ASMR remains an understudied phenomenon in the HCI community, constraining designers' ability to incorporate ASMR in video-based designs. This work annotates and analyzes the interaction modalities and parasocial attractions of 2663 videos to identify unique experiences. YouTube comment sections are also analyzed to compare viewers' responses to different ASMR interactions. We find that ASMR videos are experiences of multimodal social connection, relaxing physical intimacy, and sensory-rich activity observation. Design implications are discussed to foster future ASMR-augmented video interactions.2022SNShuo Niu et al.Clark UniversityDigital Art Installations & Interactive PerformanceInteractive Narrative & Immersive StorytellingCHI
#TeamTrees: Investigating How YouTubers Participate in a Social Media CampaignYouTube is not only a platform for content creators to share videos but also a virtual venue for hosting community activities, such as social media campaigns (SMCs). SMCs for public awareness is a growing and reoccurring phenomenon on YouTube, during which content creators make videos to engage their audience and raise awareness of global challenges. However, how the unique celebrity culture on YouTube affects collective actions is an underexplored area. This work examines an SMC on YouTube, #TeamTrees, initiated by a YouTube celebrity and sought to raise people's awareness of tree-planting and climate change. The authors annotated and analyzed 992 #TeamTrees videos to explore how YouTube celebrities, professionals, and amateurs in different channel topics diagnose problems, present solutions, and motivate actions. This study also looks into whether platform identities and framing activities affect campaign reach and engagement. Results suggest that #TeamTrees reached creators who are generally not active in social issues. The participating YouTubers were likely to motivate the viewers to donate and join celebrities' and community's actions, but less involved in examining the environmental problems. Celebrities' videos dominated the campaign's influence. Amateurs' videos had a higher engagement level, although they need more support to frame campaign activities. Based on these findings, we discuss design implications for video-sharing platforms to support future SMCs.2021SNShuo Niu et al.Community ReflectionsCSCW
#StayHome #WithMe: How Do YouTubers Help With COVID-19 Loneliness?Loneliness threatens public mental wellbeing during COVID-19. In response, YouTube creators participated in the #StayHome #WithMe movement (SHWM) and made myriad videos for people experiencing loneliness or boredom at home. User-shared videos generate parasocial attachment and virtual connectedness. However, there is limited knowledge of how creators contributed videos during disasters to provide social provisions as disaster-relief. Grounded on Weiss's loneliness theory, this work analyzed 1488 SHWM videos to examine video sharing as a pathway to social provisions. Findings suggested that skill and knowledge sharing, entertaining arts, homelife activities, live chatting, and gameplay were the most popular video styles. YouTubers utilized parasocial relationships to form a space for staying away from the disaster. SHWM YouTubers provided friend-like, mentor-like, and family-like provisions through videos in different styles. Family-like provisions led to the highest overall viewer engagement. Based on the findings, design implications for supporting viewers' mental wellbeing in disasters are discussed.2021SNShuo Niu et al.Clark UniversityMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesSocial Platform Design & User BehaviorCHI