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Annotations, a new feature has been added in YouTube which has made it more interactive.
YouTube has introduced a new dimension to add interaction to your videos. By using annotations you can add background information about any video, create stories with different options (one can choose which next scene to view), link to other related YouTube videos, channels, search results within a video or do all.
You can add annotations to your videos by going to the uploaded video section and clicking on Edit Annotation or by visiting your videos while you’re logged in.
It is indeed a good idea but it has got some drawbacks like when you click on a link in a video, it goes to the specific page in the same window (leaving you nowhere as you have to leave the video in the middle). What they can do is that they can open all the links in the new window. Furthermore, they can make it more interactive by allowing users to comment on any video at any specific time (that will make video makers more cautious).
Yes pretty cool that YouTube is finally getting some interactivity going but it is pretty limited. There are a few innovative groups out there who are way beyond YouTube in making videos interactive. One in particular is http://www.veeple.com. These guys have a cool laboratory where you can add all kinds of interactive stuff to your videos. You can add any image from your computer, captions, weblinks and more. And when you go a new link it DOESN’T close you original window. You can even make any object in your video captionable and linkable to any website without having an annoying box around the object. You can also annotate other people’s videos. Pretty cool and fun stuff. It would be great to see YouTube hook up with these guys at Veeple to implement their technology on YouTube, now that would be killer!