Matthew Widdop
Matty is a Junior SEO Executive at Intelligency, helping our clients to improve their digital performance. Matty is currently studying for his Level 3 Multi-Channel Marketer apprenticeship and has completed a Sport Journalism Degree at the University of Huddersfield.
YouTube have announced on Monday 17th June they will be crowd-testing a new annotated notes feature, similar to community notes on X.
What is the annotated notes feature?
The feature will allow users to correct misinformation or add extra guidance, by adding notes to videos. If the notes are seen to be ‘helpful’ to the end user, then they will appear attached to the video.
The annotated notes will initially roll out to users in the US in the next few weeks and third-party sources will be used to rate the notes. YouTube will then decide whether to move forward with rolling the feature out to the masses based on the feedback that they receive.
X Community Notes
A similar feature ‘Community Notes’ has already been in use on X since 2018. The feature was introduced by Elon Musk to increase the validity of news aggregation on the site.
X had been criticised in the past for the wide amount of misinformation being spread on the platform. As recently as December 2023, the EU formally announced it suspects X of breaching its rules on disinformation.
It has been widely debated whether the introduction of community notes to the platform has helped to quell the misinformation, with Elon Musk recently having one of his own posts hit with a community note. He fought back against it stating ‘’community notes is failing here.’’
Despite the differing opinions on the success of community notes, YouTube’s new feature means they will be following suit with community self-regulation.
Why are annotated notes so important?
The feature is being used on both YouTube and X to try and reduce the effects of misinformation being felt on the platforms. This is one of the main issues social media platforms have been trying to tackle since their conception. As anyone can post across these platforms, the information is not cross-referenced and fact-checked like it would be at a legitimate news company.
Social media companies have been accused of impacting elections in the past by allowing their platforms to be used to spread misinformation. With elections coming up shortly in the UK and the US, YouTube will be hoping their new feature can help to mitigate any similar allegations.
The feature could be a useful tool in making sure their platform is releasing useful, engaging and informative content which has always been a priority for their parent company, Google.
