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Case Study: YouTube Feature

I created a new feature for YouTube that allows users to share and discuss content with friends via a Chat and updated Share feature.

Project Type

Bootcamp project, UX Academy

Role

UX/UI Designer

Timeline

November - December 2024

Tools

Figma, Zoom

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Background

YouTube has become the largest video-sharing platform in the world. YouTube has various features, from uploading content to commenting on videos and watching shorts. However, there is currently no way to share/discuss content with friends directly within YouTube.  The only way to connect with a community is through comment sections and creator communities. 

​

I developed a research goal to tackle this problem.

​I want to know how users consume, share, and discuss content online to help us enable users to build their communities on YouTube.

Research Objectives

  • Determine what features users like about YouTube currently

  • Understand how YouTube fits into their lives

  • Understand what content users like to consume and share

  • Understand how users currently share and discuss YouTube content with others

  • Understand how users participate in and utilize other online communities

  • Determine what features users like about other social media platforms and communities

Research Findings

Desk Research

I focused my research on learning YouTube's current features and familiarizing myself with everything the website has to offer.

Competitive Analysis

I compared Vimeo, Reddit, and Facebook (Groups) to learn about other video-sharing platforms and social media apps that focus on forums and discussions.

User Interviews

5 YouTube users were interviewed:

  • User types: commenters or "silent viewers"

  • Users share/discuss content, most do so often

  • Common barriers for community participation: privacy concerns and others' rude behavior

  • Users like the option to mute notifications

Synthesis:
Affinity Map

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(Click to view)

Personas

"90% of the time, the content I share is from YouTube."

Emma, the silent viewer

  • Goals/Motivations: to relax after a long day at work, connect with friends and family, to easily share and discuss content with others, and feel safe and have privacy online

  • Challenges: feels scared to use certain websites due to privacy concerns and is discouraged from interacting online because other users can be rude

  • Expectations: to easily be able to connect with people she knows online and to be able to mute notifications

"I like that social media platforms connect you with people you know and brands and celebrities as well."

Ethan, the social media user

  • Goals/Motivations: to connect with others online and in person, keep up to date with what's going on online and in social media apps, and enjoy YouTube and other social media

  • Challenges: he doesn't like when communities become mean, unwelcoming, or political and he is overwhelmed by notifications, but feels the need to use them at times

  • Expectations: he will have a tailored app experience, especially for content recommendations, to easily be able to navigate an app, and to be able to filter content by preferences

Problem Definition

I'd like to explore ways to allow users to share/discuss content within the YouTube app/website because the current feature takes them out of YouTube and onto other apps.

(Click to view)

User Flows

Wireframes

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

Mid-Fidelity Wireframes

Prototype

(Clickable Prototype)

Usability Testing

5 participants were given two scenarios and asked how they would perform the tasks of opening content and sharing content.

Success Metrics:

  • task success rate: if a user successfully completed the task or not

  • customer effort score: “On a scale of 1 to 5, how easy was it to complete the task?" (1 = difficult, 5 = super easy)

Results

Opening Content:

100%

Task Success Rate

5

Customer Effort Score

Sharing Content:

100%

Task Success Rate

4.7

Customer Effort Score

Key Participant Feedback

"This was nice to have the content sharing stay within the app."

"I think it's awesome, and I'm surprised there isn't already a 'Chat' feature within YouTube."

"I thought the new feature was excellent and easy to do."

Next Steps

  • Based on my usability testing results, the wireframes are ready to be handed-off to developers.

  • More time and resources could be spent on researching the "Chat" label, as one participant did not agree with the labelling.

  • A follow-up could be done to see how users are using the new feature.​

If I had more time and resources:

  • I would research more about adding a picture-in-picture viewing mode so that users could use the "Chat" feature while watching content.

Conclusion

  • This process helped me build more confidence and develop stronger skills in user research, UX design, and UI design.

  • This experience helped me gain real-world experience with designing something for an existing product.

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