YouTube Video Annotations Increase Interactivity

Recently, YouTube launched a video annotations tool that allows users to add notes and background information as well as link to other YouTube videos, channels and search results. It’s a cool step forward for the site in terms of increasing interactivity amongst users and opening up a door for more creative action through videos.

As Lee Aase notes in his post on the topic, I agree that the major limitation is not being able to link to a website outside of YouTube. It’s hard to blame YouTube as they obviously want to keep traffic on the site and engaging as long as possible as opposed to quickly linking away.

I’m curious to see if this new feature continues to pick up speed. The Interactive Fortune Teller is one example of how annotations can be used. Samsung also did a really creative series starting with this video below.

If you haven’t had a chance, upload a quick video to YouTube and try out annotations for yourself. They’re very easy to use.

Enjoy,

Scott