From Apply Now,
Your Guide to Web Usability.
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YouTube just launched the beta version of its video player page. While the basic page elements remain the same, some minor adjustments signal a focus, not only on improving usability, but also provide a glimpse at what features YouTube thinks are the future of its success.

The biggest change to the page is a repurposing of perhaps the most prominent content area (besides the video player) – the area directly to the right of the video. This area used to feature information about the video but now solely features the uploading user’s channel. A profile pic is now permanently on display, along with links to other videos uploaded by the user. Video information such as tags and actions for the video have been moved to the secondary information area below the video. This seems to show that YouTube is interested in featuring its users and channels more prominently than before, perhaps a response to the increasing popularity of social networking or to promote its own improved social features. YouTube is clearly hoping to retain uploading users and site visitors by focusing on community. This is mainly at the expense of the video’s keyword tags, which are now hidden in a ‘more info’ link. This is likely a response to poor performance of tags and perhaps foreshadows the end of the popular 2.0 browsing mechanism.

How related videos are promoted has also gone through significant change, with ‘Related Videos’ and ‘Promoted Videos’ now displayed in a similar manner. This may be an attempt to increase the clicks on ‘Promoted Videos’, which previously looked like advertising. Unfortunately, the new related video presentation has reduced in usability as You Tube reduced its size making it much harder to see and also cutting out half the title text. In addition, the ‘Views’ count, which helped the user make a decision about which video to click, is now missing. Conversely, more videos are now able to be featured and tabs are no longer necessary. YouTube should closely monitor the total clicks to these related videos and consider rolling back some of these changes if they do not perform as well as before.

Overall, YouTube is sticking to a formula that works. Instead of second guessing their changes, interaction designers should carefully monitor their decisions and try to understand why they were made. YouTube and Google obviously have a lot at stake, so some of the best minds in the industry aren’t haphazardly making usability decisions. Watch YouTube’s evolution and learn.