Want to add more interactivity in your Youtube videos? They have introduced a new feature called video annotations that allows you to add background information, create branching stories or add links to any YouTube video, channel, or search results page at any point in your video.

You can edit to add an unlimited number of annotations to the videos simply by clicking the blue “Edit Annotations” button to the right of the video. Try inserting commentary by adding speech bubbles, notes and highlight boxes, or edit start/stop times or add links to your annotations. “Publish” and it goes live.

This opens up endless options to create an interactive video to involve the viewer and goes much beyond simple boring video watching. Used in moderation, this will be great way to convey the video message better. I just found a beautiful video so cluttered with annotations everywhere that makes me realize that amateur video makers will now need a new skill to master.

What if viewers do not like annotations disturbing the video experience? they simply turn it off from the bottom menu. See this magic trick video with annotations to get a good idea how this works.

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