YouTube Tests ‘Notes’ Feature To Provide Context To Videos

Oluwasegun SanusiJune 17, 20241 Mins read1k

YouTube has announced a new experimental feature called “Notes” that allows users to add context to videos.

The feature aims to provide relevant, timely, and easy-to-understand context to help viewers better understand the content.

This feature is similar to Twitter’s Community Notes, which allows selected contributors to add context to posts.

Initially, the feature will be available on mobile devices in the United States, exclusively in English.

A limited number of users with active YouTube channels in good standing will be invited to write notes.

These notes can clarify when a song is meant to be a parody, point out when a new product version is available, or let viewers know when older footage is mistakenly portrayed as a current event.

Third-party evaluators will rate the helpfulness of these notes during the pilot phase, which will help train YouTube’s systems.

The feature will be refined based on these assessments and displayed under broadly helpful videos. Viewers will be asked to rate the notes as “helpful,” “somewhat helpful,” or “unhelpful,” providing reasons for their assessment.

The algorithm will prioritise notes that are helpful to a broad audience. For example, suppose a substantial number of people who previously rated notes differently now rate a particular note as helpful. In that case, YouTube will be more inclined to display that note under a video.

The feature is designed to tackle misinformation and provide accurate context to viewers. It will be rolled out initially on mobile devices in the US and expand to other platforms and languages in the coming weeks and months.

REUTERS