YouTube testing Places Mentioned, Collections, editable auto captions, and new guided policy experience. Each of these new updates will have varying levels of benefit, but for marketers, the automated Places Mentioned highlight could be a big one.
YouTube testing new features: Places Mentioned
YouTube is testing out a new option that will automatically provide a new link format for any places mentioned within YouTube clips. You’ll be able to edit auto-chapters with text descriptions in future updates.
Places Mentioned could be a big one for businesses – as described by YouTube:
“This new feature, within the video description box, will give users an easy and engaging way to find out about places mentioned in a video.”
Now, creators don’t have to manually add links to their videos to indicate where they are talking about. In fact, the feature will automatically add a new visual link format for videos where YouTube can detect a place mentioned.
YouTube says it’s testing out a new format with a select range of food and drinks, with more to follow.
YouTube testing new features: Collections
YouTube’s trying out a new “Collections” option for channel subscriptions. It’ll make it easier for users to find videos from different channels in different categories, based on the channels they follow.
As explained by YouTube:
“To make it easier for viewers to organize and find content quickly in your Subs feed, we’re testing out customizable ‘collections’ that will appear at the top of your feed. If you’re in the experiment, you’ll see we’re starting off with a ‘Favorites’ collection which is based on subscriptions you’ve recently watched. You can edit your collections, including the Favorites collection, by simply adding or removing channels from your Favorites. You’ll also be able to create new collections around topics, creators, and other content you enjoy.”
YouTube testing new features: Editable auto captions
YouTube is testing editable auto captions, with creators able to change the descriptions attached to automatically assigned segments within the video details.
As you can see in this example, now, when auto chapters have been added, you’ll be able to go into the video details and provide your own text, giving you more space to write a blog post or insert images.
YouTube testing new features: New guided policy experience
YouTube will soon test a new “guided policy experience” to help creators when they’re working through a policy issue.
“We’ve heard feedback about how difficult and frustrating this process can be, so we hope providing a clearer outlook on how to move forward will help in these stressful moments. Now, creators will have more information about how to proceed when they receive a Community Guidelines violation and be given clearer options on how to resolve it.”
-YouTube
