YouTube just announced they’re rolling out a new experimental feature allowing users to add contextual notes to videos, super similar to the Community Notes tool on X (Twitter). This feature is designed to provide viewers with additional context, such as indicating when older footage is being misrepresented as recent or clarifying that a video is intended as a parody or for comedic purposes.
Users will have the ability to give feedback on these notes, which will help YouTube’s algorithm assess their usefulness.
The system will highlight notes that receive positive feedback from a diverse group of users. According to YouTube, “These systems will continuously improve as more notes are written and rated across a broad range of topics” — this means the notes system will continually improve as more notes are written and evaluated across various topics.
Initially, YouTube will enlist select creators to write these notes for the algorithm, and the feature will gradually be introduced to viewers in the U.S. over the coming weeks and months. During this initial phase, third-party evaluators will be involved in rating the notes’ helpfulness.
For instance, YouTube provided an example involving a video titled “15 Extinct Animals That May Actually Still Be Alive,” which included Giant Tortoises. An appended note pointed out that some Giant Tortoises were recently discovered living in the Galápagos, correcting the misconception that they are extinct.
It remains unclear if the Notes feature will extend to YouTube Shorts. While many creators view Shorts as a distinct type of content, the addition of notes could provide valuable context to these brief clips as well.
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