The new function is aimed at improving interaction in videos.
YouTube has launched a new facility for content creators called Cards. Cards work by allowing a ‘more info’ button to be placed within the video, which when clicked opens a translucent side bar containing links and information away from the main video itself.
This can include links to external sites, previews of merchandising, and links to other videos and playlists- essentially allowing for an accessible ‘end card’ from any point during the video. They can also be embedded into live-streams.
There are currently six types of cards: Merchandise, Fundraising, Video, Associated Website and Fan Funding.
The aim was to provide more flexibility to share what you want with your viewers during the course of your videos.
Found on the Video Editor section of the site, Cards has been marked as the ‘evolution of annotations’- with YouTube further announcing that annotations will begin to be fazed out ‘once [cards] are able to do everything annotations can do and more’.
The first example of this is that Cards is an accessible feature both on desktop and on their mobile app, something that annotations was not.
For more information on how to work Cards, YouTube have also recently set up a Twitter Support Group for creators and viewers to help with any issues you may have navigating the site.
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