25th October 2024

Weekly Prompt: YouTube’s new features and other news

YouTube unveils new features for creators and viewers

YouTube has announced a suite of updates designed to enhance both creator engagement and viewer experience. These changes include new poll stickers for Shorts, refined viewership metrics, experimental Super Chat gamification, and enhanced ad category blocking controls.

The platform is introducing poll stickers within Shorts, allowing creators to directly engage their audience and gather feedback. This feature offers a more streamlined approach than previous methods, such as community posts or comment-based polls. Creators will be able to track voting percentages and total counts directly within the sticker. This update is rolling out to all creators over the next week.

To further support Shorts creators, YouTube is updating its "Views" display. Creators can now filter views by content type, providing a clearer understanding of audience engagement across different formats. This feature is available on both desktop and mobile.

In a move to gamify revenue generation, YouTube is experimenting with Super Chat goals for live streams and Premieres. These goals will display an on-screen target and a creator-chosen reward for reaching it. While potentially controversial, this feature aims to encourage viewer participation and increase creator revenue. Initially, Super Chat goals will be available to a select group of creators.

Finally, YouTube is simplifying ad category blocking. Previously managed through AdSense, this functionality is now accessible directly within YouTube Studio. This change offers creators greater control over the types of ads displayed alongside their content, though YouTube cautions that restricting ads may impact revenue.

Sources: Search Engine Land, Social Media Today

Additional prompts

Apple's generative AI platform, Apple Intelligence, is slated for public release next week alongside the rollout of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. While the precise release date remains unconfirmed, speculation points to these operating system updates arriving on Monday. Read more

Instagram is experimenting with a new "Social Library" to store posts and Reels users have interacted with. This feature compiles liked, saved, bookmarked or reshared content into easily accessible lists. Read more

Snapchat has showcased some of the first AR experiences built with its new AR Spectacles device, which it unveiled at its partner summit last month. The new experiences, created by developers with early access, highlight the interaction possible with the glasses, and how they could be used in real world scenarios. Snapchat’s AR Spectacles are currently in testing. Read more

Threads has launched analytics on mobile, giving users a direct window into their performance. Threads’ mobile analytics will provide insight into post views (by both followers and non-followers), likes, replies, re-posts and quotes, as well as audience demographics (location, age and gender. Read more

Mindshare Global
    Mindshare Global