Third-party evaluators to rate notes: In the initial stage of the experiment, third-party evaluators will rate the helpfulness of notes to help train the platform’s systems.
As the pilot moves forward, we’ll look to have contributors themselves rate notes as well,” said the blog.
YouTube Notes likely to face challenges similar to Community Notes:Readers may remember that X microblogging platform (formerly Twitter) introduced Community Notes for its Indian users in April 2024.
The feature also worked on a mechanism of inviting contributors and rating notes based on their “helpfulness” or popularity.
However, as mentioned before, it won’t take much for a mechanism like Notes or Community Notes to be weaponized by the IT cells in India.
What’s the news: YouTube announced the release of an experimental ‘Notes’ feature for its videos on June 17, 2024, to provide context and address the issue of altered or synthetic content on the platform. The notes can also help clarify whether a song video or similar clip is meant to be a parody or let viewers know when older footage is mistakenly portrayed as current.
“The pilot will be available on mobile in the U.S. and in English. During this test phase, we anticipate there will be mistakes – notes that aren’t a great match for the video, or potentially incorrect information,” said the platform in a blog post.
Contributors will be invited to write and rate notes: The platform will initially invite a limited number of eligible contributors via email or Creator Studio notification to write the notes. According to the blog, the eligibility criteria include having an active YouTube channel in good standing with our Community Guidelines.
Third-party evaluators to rate notes: In the initial stage of the experiment, third-party evaluators will rate the helpfulness of notes to help train the platform’s systems. “These third-party evaluators are the same people who provide feedback on YouTube’s search results and recommendations. As the pilot moves forward, we’ll look to have contributors themselves rate notes as well,” said the blog.
How does note rating work?
Notes will appear publicly under a video within the coming weeks in the US if the information is found to be helpful. Users will be asked to rate a note as “helpful,” “somewhat helpful,” or “unhelpful” and the reason for the rating. For example, is the information helpful because it resolves a doubt or fact-checks certain information? If many people rate a note as helpful, then the YouTube system is more likely to show that note under a video.
YouTube Notes likely to face challenges similar to Community Notes:
Readers may remember that X microblogging platform (formerly Twitter) introduced Community Notes for its Indian users in April 2024. The feature also worked on a mechanism of inviting contributors and rating notes based on their “helpfulness” or popularity. However, as mentioned before, it won’t take much for a mechanism like Notes or Community Notes to be weaponized by the IT cells in India. One person could post a disruptive note and have it boosted by the rest of the troll community to cause confusion.
While the feature is not yet available in India, Notes is being released in the US which is in election season. So, while Notes can be useful to initiate public discourse, they can easily go awry where facts may be unclear.
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