We are all set to receive a new feature on YouTube—Community notes. YouTube is testing a notes feature that will allow people to add additional information that might be relevant for viewers to know. Videos on the platform can be both informative and inaccurate in equal measures and people who notice errors in videos are usually drowned by others’ opinions in the comments. YouTube turning to an X-inspired feature sounds alarming at first, but in this case, it is a move for the best.
Image: YouTube
YouTube Introduces Community Notes to Combat Misinformation
Users of the English version of the mobile app in the U.S. should soon see little notes popping up under videos as YouTube starts testing the notes feature. The tool is in its experimental phase so the rollout will not be widespread, nor will it be possible for just any users to add their notes to the video. Viewers will be unable to contribute to the notes just yet, but the company has invited them to provide feedback on the feature in terms of accuracy and quality so they can continue improving the tool.
Providing examples of what you could expect to see in the YouTube Community Notes, the company says it may “include notes that clarify when a song is meant to be a parody, point out when a new version of a product being reviewed is available, or let viewers know when older footage is mistakenly portrayed as a current event.” Essentially, it’s YouTube’s version of a fake news identification tool.
Just as you can expand the description box to see what information a content creator has added to a video, you should soon have a small section user a video that says “Viewers added a note.” Click on it and you’ll be able to read the note in full. It’s a great feature in this era of misinformation.
Clickbait videos are part of YouTube’s legacy and videos that engage in such practices are often the ones that get the biggest boost from the platform’s algorithm. This new feature should be a smart way to combat that problem. This inevitably brings up the problem of drawing in more users who want to add in some misinformative information of their own, so the “bridging-based algorithm” that determines what notes get approved will have to work to the best of its abilities. Despite the concerns, YouTube’s X-inspired feature is a good start.
Image: Mock-up of the upcoming feature by YouTube
How Will the YouTube Community Notes Work?
YouTube has released a helpful blog post to explain the system and how they intend to roll it out. For now, YouTube has reached out to eligible contributors via Gmail and through the Creator Studio notifications to participate in the test. Soon, these candidates will start adding in their notes to videos on the platform for viewer feedback. YouTube’s fake news tool will be monitored by third-party evaluators who will rate the helpfulness of the notes as a way to train the platform’s internal systems to decipher which notes are or are not useful.
Viewers will also be able to rate the YouTube Community Notes as helpful, somewhat helpful, or unhelpful, and add feedback about why they feel the way they do. Eventually, a bridging-based algorithm will be established to help identify the helpful notes and determine which ones should be brought to the audience. The introduction of any automated tool is always a risky bet and they are rarely infallible. Realistically, it is hard for human supervision to exist on the scale necessary for a platform like YouTube so an algorithm will have to do.
Amidst the other controversies like the platform’s ad-blocking policies and the violation of creators’ rights by AI initiatives like Nvidia’s, we finally have some good news with the community notes. You might also be interested to know that this isn’t the last of YouTube’s new features.
“Brainstorm with Gemini” Joins YouTube’s List of New Features Being Tested
According to TechCrunch and its conversation with a spokesperson from the company, YouTube is running a small experiment with select creators to determine if they might benefit from working with the AI. The purpose of the AI tool is clear from the name—you get to brainstorm with Gemini to help jump-start your videos. The report reveals that Google Gemini could be integrated to help creators brainstorm ideas for their videos, titles, and thumbnails.
The platform has already tested some AI features to help YouTube Shorts creators use Dream Screen to generate backgrounds for their content—a tool we haven’t heard much about recently. We also learned about the AI-powered insights the company had been working on during the Made on YouTube event last year. Google and YouTube have not been forthcoming on more recent updates to these features and the audience reception to them.
Regardless, YouTube has a lot of different ideas for future features that could boost the platform. All in all, from the YouTube Community Notes to the YouTube Gemini brainstorming tool, there’s a lot going on that creators need to keep an eye out for if they want to stay on top of their game.