For years, Youtube has remained the staple diet for people who are hooked on videos, cutting across genres. It was so successful that, in fact, it has remained a steady source of revenue earner for parent company Google. In the recent months, however, Youtube has received a lot of steady updates; nearly one month ago, Youtube and Google Play Music had merged. Also, it is now possible to watch Youtube Kids, another channel, on Smart TVs.
The Youtube platform will, from now on, support flashing of breaking news stories. It is as yet unknown if the news feature will remain on all the while or if it will simply flash on the occasion of a major new breaking story. Also, it is not clear if the news will be arranged via a dedicated algorithm or if the news will be curated manually. What we do know, for certain, is the fact that besides entertainment, Youtube will now also inform you of what is going on in the big wide world around you.
This new feature appears remarkably similar to the homepage’s recommended channel, which is populated using the algorithm at the heart. However, news being different from person to person, it will be difficult to keep track of individual needs. In this case, therefore, the usage of the algorithm-based news section does seem appropriate.
Youtube has also been, in the recent months, working on introducing new features to its much-loved platform, For example, the video preview feature is a later addition and it will help users in choosing the right video for them. This preview feature has also come to the Google Search on the app and on Chrome for mobile. The difference is that while Youtube offers a three-second preview of the videos it hosts, the Google app shows a six-second preview. We believe that the news feature on Youtube will make breaking stories more accessible.
