July 19th, 2006
New Google Video feature: mid-video linking
Now you can link directly to any point within a video — a feature that is useful if you want to share a specific part of a video. To use the feature, you simply take the normal link and append the time to the URL. If you add #3m15s to the end of the link, the video would start 3 minutes and 15 seconds from the beginning.
For example, Invisible Board is a 1 min 46 sec long video but I believe the coolest part is at 1 min 26 sec, so all I have to do is add #1m26s to the link I’m going to send to my friends! Just like this: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6396990712930217422#1m26s — Official Google Video Blog
As far as I can tell, this is a unique feature to Google Video — but since it can be useful in some circumstances, other services like YouTube probably aren’t far behind. An hour long documentary with only one really good part would be a nightmare to share normally — but now it’s as simple as adding "#45m2s" to the end of the link.
I wonder how users will learn to use this feature if they don’t read blogs though — it’s definitely not user friendly. A way to select a point in a video when using the "send link" feature would be an excellent and welcome addition in an upcoming version.
Garett Rogers is employed as a programmer for iQmetrix, which specializes in retail management software for the wireless industry.
See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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