Google-owned video-sharing giant YouTube has fulfilled its promise by commencing the testing phase of Q&A stickers for its Shorts feature on mobile devices.

This innovative addition is designed to facilitate stronger connections between Shorts creators and their audiences, offering an interactive way for creators to engage with viewers.

Announced through the ‘YouTube test features and experiments’ page, this latest update allows creators to employ custom Q&A stickers in their Shorts videos. These stickers enable creators to pose questions directly to their audience, fostering a two-way communication channel.

Viewers can then respond to these questions via comments, enhancing engagement and interaction, IANS reported from San Francisco.

Regarding audience responses, YouTube notes that the replies will be visible to other viewers, adding to the communal atmosphere within the Shorts ecosystem. The feature is being rolled out gradually to a select group of creators initially, to fine-tune and refine the experience before a wider release.

While the Q&A stickers will be visible across all devices, they will remain non-tappable on desktop and TV platforms. This decision is aligned with YouTube’s mobile-centric approach to enhancing the Shorts experience.

In a related update, YouTube is also experimenting with an automatic identification system called ‘Key Concepts’ for educational videos. This feature aims to identify and highlight key concepts covered in academic learning videos.

This information will be displayed in the form of images and concise text snippets in real-time, directly on the video’s watch page. Creators will have the choice to opt out of this feature at the video level in YouTube Studio.