For many young people, it has almost become second nature to look for the latest news on social media. YouTube is hoping to capitalize on the popularity of this approach to news consumption by launching pages dedicated to verified news.
YouTube is well aware of the large numbers of young people who turn to social networks to keep up with the news. With this in mind, the video streaming platform has announced the launch of pages dedicated to the latest news from authoritative sources in a bid to avoid the spread of false information.
Videos, live broadcasts, podcasts, even Shorts… content published by recognized and verified sources will be aggregated on these pages organized by the topic being addressed. A kind of “immersive watch page experience for news stories” will allow “viewers to deep dive and explore multiple sources and angles.
All on one watch page, people will be able to find relevant long-form video, live coverage and Shorts to quickly catch up,” explains YouTube in a press release.
To access these pages, simply click on a video with the “newspaper” icon, either on the YouTube homepage, or directly from the search bar. For the moment, this new feature is only available on the mobile application in around 40 countries.
The video platform has indicated that integration will come later for the web version and the YouTube Living Room app.
And unlike the Meta group, YouTube has decided to go even further with online news, by launching a new program called the “Shorts Innovation Program for News.”
This initiative aims to help news organizations strengthen their short-form video capabilities through financial grants and support. For the moment, 20 organizations in 10 countries are involved and will be able to share 1.6 million US dollars.
The platform has announced that it will be working with Univision in the US, AFP in France, and Mediacorp in Singapore over the next year on their Shorts content strategy and video production best practices.
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