YouTube annotations will disappear for good in January

[steven36]

It’s all Cards and End Screens from now on

 

 

YouTube annotations, those annoying translucent boxes that you rush to disable the moment they appear, will finally disappear for good on January 15th, 2019. After this date, “all existing annotations will be removed,” according to a YouTube support page.

 

The writing’s been on the wall about annotations for some time now. Back in March 2017, YouTube announced that it would be discontinuing the annotations editor, effectively halting their use for any new videos. At the time, the company said that since introducing Cards and End Screens, the use of annotations had decreased by 70 percent. Annotations have also never worked properly on mobile, which is where the majority of YouTube watching now takes place.

 

Source

[Matrix]

If you've been an active YouTube user for more than a few years, you probably remember the days when the platform was filled to the brim with in-video annotations.

These dialogue boxes were often used by creators to add useful information to their uploads post-release or correct any mistakes missed during the editing process. Unfortunately, they were often abused. Some particularly bad actors would plaster the entire video play area with annotations, many of which would whisk viewers off to a different website when clicked.

Things have gotten better over time, and the use of annotations has all but died out (particularly since they can be disabled), but YouTube has decided that it's better to be safe than sorry. Beginning on January 15, 2019, all annotations will be removed from the platform, and creators will not be able to add any new ones.

For those who have gotten value out of annotations without abusing them, YouTube's decision could prove frustrating. For example, some older how-to videos utilized them to keep their information up-to-date over time. Next year, though, uploaders will have to begin relying on tools like Cards, End Screens, and the description box to achieve a similar effect.

source