A better way to send in suggestions and feedback! Canny.io

0:00Hey it's Tim here. As it turns out, when

0:02you make content, losing your voice is a

0:05pretty bad thing.

0:07So for the last few days, last week or so,

0:10I've actually been unwell and as a result I

0:12lost my voice.

0:13Now previous to the last video I did on 22.

0:171 coming soon, I also lost my voice because

0:19of another reason.

0:20I had been ill and I had a bunged up nose

0:22and for basically a month you could hear

0:25that in everything I recorded.

0:26So I didn't make content, I've just been un

0:28well. That's the flu season, it's the cold

0:30season, that's what happens.

0:32But what was good about that is it made me

0:34think about the non-content side of things.

0:36So when people send comments, when people

0:39give feedback, how do we do that in a

0:41better way on the channel?

0:42So I put a bit of thought into that as

0:44after all I couldn't record anything so I

0:47put some time into the non-content side of

0:49things.

0:49And as you can see I get tons of comments

0:51all the time. Lots of it is just feedback,

0:54some of it good, some of it negative.

0:55Things I can improve on. But what was

0:58really clear to me is that the comments in

1:00YouTube are pretty tough to manage.

1:02In essence the comments I can see on the

1:06back end as a content owner just come in as

1:09a stream of content.

1:10It's really hard for me to go back in time

1:14and reply to something, see a narrative and

1:18even sometimes have a back and forth

1:19discussion with people.

1:21The only way I can really do that is reply

1:22to their comment and then remember to come

1:25back into YouTube's TDA, check the content

1:27and then make sure everything's set up

1:28correctly.

1:29So I wanted to set up a better process to

1:32enable people to suggest feedback but also

1:35have that discussion go on in a way that

1:38helps the content become better.

1:40But also allows you to suggest things like

1:43fixes and bugs. Maybe you see a problem in

1:45some of the content I'm making.

1:46Maybe you've noticed an issue in YouTube

1:48and you want to let me know. I wanted to

1:50create a standardised way of doing that.

1:52Now YouTube doesn't have that built in so

1:54as ever with most things on YouTube you

1:56have to retrofit a solution around it.

1:58So what I've done is I've set up a very

2:01basic system and going forward what I'll do

2:04is the first comment on every single video

2:06will have a link to this feedback area that

2:09I'm about to show you.

2:11And that will allow you to give any

2:13feedback about any video and also suggest

2:16videos going forward.

2:17The reason I'm putting this here is because

2:19we get a lot of comments suggesting I make

2:21content on something else.

2:23If I just go in here and let's search for

2:27let's say server. If I go in here and I

2:31just type server.

2:32Okay people will ask very quickly you know

2:35please do some videos on Tableau server.

2:38Now that's a great suggestion. I really

2:39like suggestions like that and I am

2:41recording some content on server.

2:43But what I'm always interested in is the

2:45specific because Tableau server is a huge

2:47topic.

2:48Now what doesn't help is that that comment

2:51is actually on this video about functions.

2:53And so if I get a lot of comments on a

2:55particular video not related to the topic

2:58it starts to make the comments for that

2:59video a little bit tricky.

3:02So what I want to try and do is to create a

3:04space for people to send feedback and have

3:07that feedback actually go on a journey that

3:09makes sense.

3:10And then you're able to track that journey

3:12and see the outcome of that.

3:14Now this is not some sort of commitment for

3:16me that I'll make a video on everything

3:18that goes down this process.

3:20But it does help you know refine what comes

3:23in because no doubt this isn't the only

3:26user who's asked about server.

3:28If I keep going down I do get lots of

3:30sometimes questions and as you can see I do

3:32reply to comments.

3:33If you've ever made a comment on the

3:35channel you might not be aware I do see

3:37every single one of them.

3:38And I do reply to them so you can see here

3:40I've replied to pretty much every single

3:42comment.

3:43And I probably reply more to comments than

3:45I spend time on twitter and forums.

3:47It's probably the most active place that I

3:50spend time.

3:51The youtube comments just generate so much

3:53more conversation.

3:54It's also interesting useful and challenges

3:57some of my thinking.

3:58And sometimes I'll even comment under my

4:00personal account not just my youtube

4:02account.

4:03So what I want to try and do is have this

4:06sort of narrative live somewhere where if

4:09three months later I want to go back into a

4:10discussion.

4:11I don't have to remember to search that

4:13topic and I can go back to it.

4:14There's no way for me to sort of track

4:17things.

4:18So what I've done is I've created a new

4:20page and it looks like this.

4:22And this is a very simple page.

4:24You don't have to worry about the URL it'll

4:27be at the bottom of every video.

4:28It'll also be the first comment on every

4:30video along with some questions I might ask

4:32for that specific video.

4:34And when you go to it you'll see something

4:36like looks like this.

4:37It's essentially a feature suggestion page

4:39and it's run by a service called canny.

4:41And they are basically just creating a

4:44mechanism for me to collect feedback from

4:47you.

4:47As if you're the user and I'm collecting

4:49feedback from you about the product with

4:52the product being a video in this case.

4:54So when you go to this page you can do a

4:56couple of things.

4:57Let me actually use it as an everyday user

4:59so you can see what it's like if you're not

5:01logged in as me.

5:02So you'll go to this page and you can see

5:04there's already two items.

5:05What I really like about this is that when

5:07you click on this particular item.

5:09I've actually migrated this question from a

5:11previous service that I was using.

5:12I trialled for about a week and you can see

5:15the narrative of the discussion and you can

5:18also see what I've done.

5:20I've acknowledged the post and if you also

5:23like this you can go in and vote it up.

5:25And when you go to vote it up it does ask

5:27you to log in, when you go to post it does

5:29ask you to log in.

5:30I think the login is an important one

5:32because I don't want this to turn into a

5:34spam area.

5:34Also logging in means that it's going to

5:38reduce the abuse because if for example

5:41someone does abuse a system.

5:42Or is abusive to someone or doesn't follow

5:45sensible community guidelines.

5:47Then what I can do is I can ban that user

5:50and then they have to go through the

5:51process of creating a whole other account

5:53to get back in.

5:54And that just creates a little bit of

5:55friction for everyone to make sure that

5:57they're actually using this service

5:58properly.

5:59I know it's not ideal, it's not perfect. I

6:01would love to have a no login system.

6:04I'd love if Tableau maybe offered a single

6:06sign-on system so that I could just use

6:08that in place of this.

6:10But nonetheless this is what it is. They do

6:13support quite a range of different social

6:15media logins as well as just using your

6:17email.

6:18I think that's an important step because I

6:20do need a mechanism to reach back out to

6:22you.

6:22And for you to see the feedback that I'm

6:24giving but also other people might give and

6:26they might support your idea.

6:28It also means that when I do then make a

6:30video you get an email notification when I

6:32mark the video as done.

6:33So that's a super important thing.

6:36So if we just go back to the previous page,

6:39I'll just go back here.

6:40We can go ahead and suggest a video. So let

6:42's say we want to make a video about Tableau

6:44Online.

6:45And the video is "How does Tableau Online

6:49work?"

6:50And then that's a simple title of the video

6:52. Notice that as I do that it searches

6:55previous suggestions.

6:56So as you start to type it's already doing

6:58the search for you.

7:00And to give you an example of this, let's

7:02say you wanted to give a different type of

7:03feedback.

7:04Let's say you wanted to give general

7:06feedback about the way I make content.

7:07And you wanted to say that the music on my

7:09videos is maybe too loud.

7:11What you could say is "Music is too loud."

7:14And what it will do is actually search the

7:17database of questions.

7:18Those open, closed and fixed as well.

7:22So if a past discussion has happened and it

7:24's been closed and you don't see any

7:26suggestions.

7:27When you go to create a title that matches

7:29that closely, you'll see it come up here on

7:31the right hand side.

7:32And so instead of having to type a new

7:34question, you can just go to that question.

7:36And you can enter the discussion. You can

7:37see it was previously closed.

7:39Then it was marked as under review again

7:40because I've changed a few things.

7:42And essentially I've changed my perspective

7:44on something here.

7:45And you can then go in, leave a comment,

7:47even add an image, screen image, screenshot

7:50.

7:50And then that comes to me.

7:51So that's pretty much the suggestions.

7:54Now if we go back to suggestions page, I'm

7:57going to leave the suggestion page running

7:59for a while.

7:59And what you'll see is that over time,

8:01things will come from suggestions once they

8:04've gone under review.

8:05And they go into a roadmap of "Okay, this

8:07is actually now a really nice video. We'll

8:09work together.

8:10Maybe I'll sort of put something in the

8:12comments. Okay, I've taken this video on.

8:14We're going to make it."

8:15And then we'll go over here and the roadmap

8:18will have essentially the videos that are

8:21about to be made.

8:22So just to give you an idea of what that

8:23looks like from my perspective.

8:25The roadmap is essentially this page where

8:27you have planned, in progress and complete.

8:29Because I haven't done any, you can't see

8:31anything public yet.

8:32But anything planned is essentially a video

8:34I've decided to take on.

8:36And anything in progress is something I'm

8:37making right now.

8:38In progress essentially means the video

8:40should come out within the next two to

8:42three weeks.

8:43And then complete is a video that's live.

8:45And what I'll normally do is also share a

8:48link to that video.

8:49So I want to try and bring this structure

8:51into all the content.

8:52And just to help channel some of these

8:55comments about things I should be making

8:57videos on.

8:58Or things I could be improving into a

9:00format that I can follow it up.

9:02Now I don't expect the comments to stop

9:04concluding suggestions.

9:06Of course monitor them all the time.

9:08So don't stop doing what you do naturally.

9:10I'm just trying to give a more structured

9:12place for those people who want it to sort

9:14of give me feedback.

9:16And so yeah, look out for that.

9:18I think it's a pretty important step to

9:20just try and create a better place.

9:23If you can think of a better way to do this

9:25then by all means let me know.

9:27But other than that yeah, I just wanted to

9:29share this as the kind of thing I can think

9:31about when...

9:32Obviously you can't make content because my

9:34voice sounds like I've been in a jazz bar

9:35for about five years.

9:37So thanks for watching and listening to my

9:41croaky voice.

9:42And I'll catch you in the next video.