Over the past decade YouTube, the biggest video sharing website, has seen an explosion of content creators and regularly attracts millions, if not billions, of views across the world.
For creators YouTube seems to have completely replaced blogging, and is fast becoming the first thing people use for solving problems; video communicates way more than a blog could – in addition, it connects an audience to a specific speaker, further consummating the creators identity into a brand.
Whether it’s how to make a curry, fix a broken appliance, learning how to do code, or doing any other task, Youtube has changed the way that brands and content creators think about their content strategy.
I decided to speculate on 7 ideas that could make Youtube even better in the future:
- Shops / Commerce : I could very well imagine an ecosphere where creators have their own shop, e-commerce platform inside their YouTube channel
- Battery life – One of the big challenges I see is that on Google Chrome, video playback and delivery consumes a lot of battery life on laptops and mobiles; it’d be cool to see if improvements browser could help with speed and energy demands
- Edit your Algorithm – I can imagine seeing the same content over and over again can be frustrating, or seeing content you would like to see more of; thus, a way to edit your algorithm to promote content or filter it to your needs; improving discovery tools would make it easier for users to find new channels and videos that align with their interests and viewing habits.
- Improved comment moderation – One of the biggest issues on YouTube is spoof accounts, bots, and clones of accounts trying to steal content. I would like to see better comment moderation tools to reduce spam, abuse in the comments section and have better way to alert users to spoof accounts publishing comments to harmful websites; this would make it a more positive and engaging experience for users.
- Better accessibility features – Improved accessibility features would make YouTube more accessible to users with disabilities; this could be co-created at scale with users with disabilities, charities and other, similar organisations.
- Copyright enforcement – Improving copyright enforcement would help to protect creators and rights holders; allow users to escalate. In addition, mitigation against those users seeking to weaponise copyright strikes for their own ends.
- Greater transparency and accountability – Greater transparency and accountability from YouTube regarding content moderation, demonetisation, and other policies would help build trust with users and creators alike.