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.