Video-sharing giant YouTube has just introduced a new experimental feature called Notes that will be included under videos.
The platform mentioned how the rollout is designed to provide more insights related to the video’s context seen online. Speaking more on the feature during a recent interview, YouTube says the goal is to add more clarification when songs are meant to be parodies or if you wish to let the viewer know when old footage is getting portrayed.
The news of the launch comes at a time when we see the 2024 American elections all set to take center stage. And that means social media apps are going to need to work hard in terms of ensuring misinformation is kept at a bare minimum.
The risk is more now than ever, thanks to the launch of generative AI, and with a new feature like this getting launched, we can see how the app is trying its level best to minimize the spread of the problem through its platform.
To begin with, the pilot form of the app would be up for grabs on mobile phones soon across the US but it would only be found in English.
The company acknowledged how the feature is bound to come with errors during the entire testing phase and they are anticipating that. In the same way, the app says it anticipates how notes would not be a great option for videos displaying wrong data as that could make matters worse.
This is why they are rolling out a test phase to ensure things like these are kept at a bare minimum and user feedback would assist in making sure the quality of the feature stays top-notch.
During the test, YouTube mentioned how only a small number of users would be invited to produce notes. In this manner, those considered to be eligible would have active YouTube channels.
Those located in America can soon begin viewing notes on their content in the next few weeks and months. At the start of this test, it hopes to include evaluators from third parties to judge how useful and accurate the notes are. And after that, the app would make use of these replies for training of systems.
In case the feature is found to be a great source of help, it’s going to pop up under videos. After that, viewers would be asked for their feedback and to rate it on the basis of its usefulness. They would even be asked to justify their ratings.
For example, if someone says they found the note useful because of high-quality sources being used or because it was written from a neutral standpoint, it would assist others in placing more reliance and trust in the feature and video on offer.
The app hopes to then make use of algorithms for determining which notes are produced based on these ratings received. Such algorithms will go about highlighting the notes which are useful for bigger audiences.
For instance, any note getting greater ratings is going to be loved by the masses as they are more liable to trusting the content so YouTube would surely be displaying that one under its video.
With time, the company hopes to keep on improving and as more and more notes of this kind get submitted and attain ratings for various kinds of content on the app, the better and more useful it can become. Improvement will come with time and YouTube knows that, which is why the success of the rollout ultimately depends on the feedback of the test.
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