Official YouTube Blog: annotations

Official Blog

Annotations Updates - Now It’s Easier to Get Interactive

9 Aralık 2010 Perşembe

We launched YouTube annotations in June 2008 to allow people get even more creative with their videos and add layers of interactivity, information and, well, good old fun. What followed was a tidal wave of innovation. From guitar lessons to interactive pianos, inspirational videos, ads, quizzes and games, not to mention everyone’s favorite, choose your own adventure videos, YouTube creators big and small really took to annotations and put them to use in incredible ways, including creating entire websites. Nonprofit organizations found annotations an effective way to direct viewers to their site and raise money for their causes.

To put this in numbers, we currently have close to 100 million individual annotations in the system and the rate of publishing is growing. One in five YouTube video views shows annotations and many of these are clickable. Annotations have been an effective mechanism for content discovery and cross promotion with some creators getting as much as 20% of their views from annotation links placed in videos.

Today, we’re happy to announce some important improvements to annotations:

A brand new annotation editor - based on user feedback, we overhauled the annotation editor and moved most of the functionality to a new side panel to streamline annotation creation, editing and deletion while leaving the player less cluttered.

New annotation type - “Title” - Title annotations enable overlaying headlines, videos titles, credits and other “big text” on top of your video, just like you would with professional video editing tools.

New Font size options - you can now select from a combined set of six font sizes.

New color options - annotations are now available in 16 background colors and 14 font colors.

Annotations can be a very powerful creative tool and make videos that are engaging, informative and interactive; however it’s important to realize that overlay text and hotspots can also interrupt and distract viewers. Not every use of annotation is necessarily a good use - there is an art to it. This is why we published Tips and Suggestions on how to get more from your annotations while respecting viewers’ wishes and maintaining a small footprint.

Finally we’re discontinuing the Collaborative Annotations feature to make room for even more new features coming soon.

To start annotating your videos, go to My Videos and choose “Annotations” from the drop down menu next to the video you wish to annotate. For inspiration check out this playlist and see some of our favorite annotated videos. Happy annotating.

Itamar Gilad, Product Manager, recently watched “The YouTube Radio! (Interactive)” and Aaron Bingham, Annotations Engineering Lead, recently watched “Felix’s Machines.”

Google

Etiketler: annotations

A Year of Interactive Video Annotations

14 Eylül 2009 Pazartesi

Choose a different ending

Annotations Man

Provide dynamic commentary: Basically, this means placing a layer of comments on a video; things like director comments, pet dubbing clips, and how-to tips for everything from origami to guitar lessons.

Add interactive links and menus: Many video-makers use the links to direct traffic to other videos and to create spatial video menus.

Create branching story-lines: Unlike the above two types, which maintain the individual video as the comprehensive story unit, this third group emphasizes a collection of videos organized in a hierarchical structure as a new format of storytelling. Here we find a wide spectrum of use cases, including interactive advertisements, murder mysteries and even wacky dating tips.

Play interactive games: The climax of interactive sophistication can be found in these intricate collections of interconnected video elements. Examples include spot the difference, break-dance competitions and this clever ad agency homepage that's actually a YouTube interactive video.

We really find it hard to imagine that all this happened in just one year, and can't wait to see how you might knock us out in 2010. So go ahead and choose your own ending…Michael Fink, Software Engineer, recently favorited "Annotize me!"

Google

Etiketler: annotations

Adopt a Feature: All Hail MikeandToneRP

7 Eylül 2009 Pazartesi

last spoke about Adopt a Feature v2annotationstagsQuicklistmobile uploadscustomized homepageafeatureadoptaKOHPelordbrought an annotation to lifefeatureDeStorma"Annotation Man"AdoptaFeatureMikeandToneRPexploration of tagsaAdoptaFeature

Quicklist featuring LaughingLeaf's video

YouTube With My Webcam featuring incorporatedfx's video

Learn More About Insight featuring BeforeAndAfterTV's video

Subscribing to Videos featuring Yobachi2007's video

How to Add Closed Captions and Subtitles featuring SandburgSpartans' video

Hunter Walk, Director, Product Management, recently favorited "Metal Heart by Keith Loutit - in HD."

Google

Etiketler: annotations , community , contests , homepage , mobile , quicklist , tags

Adopt a Feature v2

30 Haziran 2009 Salı

inaugural edition of Adopt a FeatureAudioSwapCountry PulldownInsightPlaylistsQuick CaptureSubscriptionsherethecomputernerd01zany explanationawesome T-shirtribbing his grandpa