How exactly making annotations easier to create can be for better or for worse? How could it be for worse? Along with the rise of user-generated video came a shameful truth about humanity: A majority of us suck at filming! But video is a darn good way to share stories! Annotations make it easier for people to express their thoughts through video.
Making annotations easier is a move towards making video presentations richer. On my screencasts for example, if I added text sometimes to clarify a fuzzy video compression, I would add value to my work.
Well I just wanted to show you just how easy it is to create an annotation now.
When you are in the Myvideos part of your Youtube account, here is what happens with the video:
The little arrows on the left bottom of the video enable a prev/next navigation of the annotations in the video.
Once you click on the video, it suggests 3 types of annotations: speech bubble, note or spotlight.
For any of your design choice, it then suggest you to write, link, trash, or publish your annotation.
To enter a link, Youtube suggests here a list of links you can embed within your annotation: Link to a video, a channel, a playlist, or a group; there is also a ‘compose message’ option that makes writing a message to another Youtuber literally one click away from the video (interaction booster). The other neat feature is the direct link to upload a video response. I’ll mention the ‘link to a search query’ option, but I find this one is a little blah.
Where does this all lead. First, I think it is a creativity booster for all those kids going nuts on the video platform. And I have my own ideas on why annotations will feed Goog/Youtube well.