In July 2019, YouTube started testing an Explore tab on its iOS app. Almost only one percent of the users on the platform noticed the new tab and seemingly left a positive review as YouTube is now expanding the testing on the Android app and other devices and platforms, that is according to Tom Leung who revealed this information in a Creator Insider video.
According to an announcement on YouTube community help center, "Trending [tab] isn’t going away and will have its own section in Explore [feed]". On Home tab, users consume recommended content based on the videos they have already viewed but in the Explore tab, there will a variety of content and users will see different kinds of videos based on their interest. Though Trending content is still there as a subsection of the Explore tab.
Google announced this experiment a year ago but the Explore tab of YouTube is still in the testing process.
According to a screenshot shared by Nick on Androidpolice the new Explore tab will feature colorful tiles instead of monochrome icons for topics. According to Google, the new layout is to focus on the “Creator & Artist on the Rise”, to support the emerging channels on the platform.
This is not the only testing feature that YouTube has experimented with, the platform tried several in the past three months alone.
Recently, an improved comment section on mobile devices was tested where users did not have to scroll through the entire “Up Next” list of videos. The comments were displayed right under the video.
On November 5, the subscription feed was divided into topics to let users easily find the content of the channels they have subscribed to. The topics on Subscription feed included All, Today, Continue Watching, Unwatched, Live & Posts. The videos were displayed in reverse chronicle order and initially, it was tested only on iOS devices.
On November 13, YouTube tested ways to highlight the comments of members of the channel by including member only comment section. It experimented on Android devices only.
Following the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, YouTube announced in November to bring change in January 2020 about how the children’s content is treated on the platform. The content aimed at kids will not have features like comments, notifications and live chat. YouTube begin testing it to find potential issues and get feedback from users.
Similarly, a new subscription badge was tested to help subscribers find which video on the Home tab is from the channel that they have already subscribed to. A “subscribed” badge with Channel’s icon will appear below the video.
At the beginning of December, YouTube allowed users to connect with the community posts of the creators that are being currently watched by the creator. The Community posts will appear in the “Up Next” section below the video.
To let users explore various formats of videos, on Dec 16, YouTube started displayed short vertical videos that are of less than 30 seconds. These videos were displayed next to Stories, under the title of “Stories and short videos”.
Recently, on December 17, YouTube started testing a new “Featured in this video” option that will highlight the creator in the video. The section will be displayed below the video and will have the link of the featured creator’s channel and subscription option to subscribe. Top searched creators from several categories will be part of the experiment and only a small number of Android users will get to see this feature for now.
YouTube tests several features every now and then to get feedback from the users and also to get to know if there are any technical issues. The gathered data is then sued by the YouTube team to decide whether to roll out this feature at a broad level or not and how it should be released.
So if you see any new feature, remember to leave your valuable feedback on the platform.
Read next: YouTubers and Tech Executives Helped MrBeast Raise $20 Million For Team Trees Plantation Campaign
According to an announcement on YouTube community help center, "Trending [tab] isn’t going away and will have its own section in Explore [feed]". On Home tab, users consume recommended content based on the videos they have already viewed but in the Explore tab, there will a variety of content and users will see different kinds of videos based on their interest. Though Trending content is still there as a subsection of the Explore tab.
Google announced this experiment a year ago but the Explore tab of YouTube is still in the testing process.
According to a screenshot shared by Nick on Androidpolice the new Explore tab will feature colorful tiles instead of monochrome icons for topics. According to Google, the new layout is to focus on the “Creator & Artist on the Rise”, to support the emerging channels on the platform.
This is not the only testing feature that YouTube has experimented with, the platform tried several in the past three months alone.
Recently, an improved comment section on mobile devices was tested where users did not have to scroll through the entire “Up Next” list of videos. The comments were displayed right under the video.
On November 5, the subscription feed was divided into topics to let users easily find the content of the channels they have subscribed to. The topics on Subscription feed included All, Today, Continue Watching, Unwatched, Live & Posts. The videos were displayed in reverse chronicle order and initially, it was tested only on iOS devices.
On November 13, YouTube tested ways to highlight the comments of members of the channel by including member only comment section. It experimented on Android devices only.
Following the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, YouTube announced in November to bring change in January 2020 about how the children’s content is treated on the platform. The content aimed at kids will not have features like comments, notifications and live chat. YouTube begin testing it to find potential issues and get feedback from users.
Similarly, a new subscription badge was tested to help subscribers find which video on the Home tab is from the channel that they have already subscribed to. A “subscribed” badge with Channel’s icon will appear below the video.
At the beginning of December, YouTube allowed users to connect with the community posts of the creators that are being currently watched by the creator. The Community posts will appear in the “Up Next” section below the video.
To let users explore various formats of videos, on Dec 16, YouTube started displayed short vertical videos that are of less than 30 seconds. These videos were displayed next to Stories, under the title of “Stories and short videos”.
Recently, on December 17, YouTube started testing a new “Featured in this video” option that will highlight the creator in the video. The section will be displayed below the video and will have the link of the featured creator’s channel and subscription option to subscribe. Top searched creators from several categories will be part of the experiment and only a small number of Android users will get to see this feature for now.
YouTube tests several features every now and then to get feedback from the users and also to get to know if there are any technical issues. The gathered data is then sued by the YouTube team to decide whether to roll out this feature at a broad level or not and how it should be released.
So if you see any new feature, remember to leave your valuable feedback on the platform.
Read next: YouTubers and Tech Executives Helped MrBeast Raise $20 Million For Team Trees Plantation Campaign
