YouTube introduces exciting and innovative features that allow creators to provide a better experience for viewers. Let’s dive into what these features are and how they vary from what YouTube had in the past.
1. Video chapters
It has happened to all of us at some point, we stop a video and then come back to find that we have to start it from the beginning. YouTube’s new feature “video chapters” eliminates this struggle of having to find your lost spot by simply allowing the user to rewind or even fast forward to a particular time in the video.
This feature however, is not applicable to all videos as the responsibility to add such timestamps and create these video chapters falls upon the creator. But it sure seems like a small amount of effort for a huge amount of satisfaction. Viewers can select the specific video chapter right on the video itself or in the video description below.
2. Caption buttons
This feature is only available on mobile phones at the moment, but is definitely already a crowd-pleaser. Earlier, you had to turn on and off the video captions through the video settings feature. With YouTube’s new feature, the CC option for captions is right on the screen and all it takes is the click of a button to enable or disable captions, it’s now THAT easy!
If you haven’t already enabled captions on your videos, it’s a good idea to optimise your video scripts and check whether your captions are accurate. The caption button is currently being tested for desktops, so make sure you act soon.
3. New gestures
While once upon a time we might have had to click on the full-screen button to maximise the screen and then to minimise it, things just got a whole lot easier. To enter full-screen mode, you can simply swipe up and to exit full-screen mode, just swipe down! YouTube accessibility is improving and this is only going to make viewers use the platform longer.
4. YouTube is suggesting actions
And we are thrilled! To give users the best experience, YouTube has taken to suggesting actions to create this experience by asking the user to either watch the video in VR mode or even in landscape mode or whatever mode suits the video in question. If you choose to ignore the suggestion, you can just press the big X button and that’s that. More suggested actions are in talks.
5. Reminders for bedtime
YouTube now reminds you to go to bed! You can simply add a time to stop watching videos and YouTube will remind you when it’s time to keep your phone aside and hit the sack. You can also set up intermittent reminders to take breaks.
If you’re thinking about creating night time routine videos, ASMR or general content to help viewers sleep easily, the YouTube reminder feature leaves plenty of room to get creative.
And there you have it, 5 amazing features to make your viewers’ YouTube experience as smooth and effortless as you can imagine. Go ahead and start experimenting!
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