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Social Media & Content Creation vocabulary · Video Production and Editing

Thumbnail

Meaning in social media & content creation, with examples

/ˈθʌmneɪl/nounCore term

In social media & content creation, thumbnail means: The small preview image people see before they click on a video, used to attract attention and show what the video is about.

In Turkish: kapak görseli, küçük resim, thumbnail

How it is used

Especially important on YouTube, where creators design custom thumbnails with faces, big text and bright colors. You design, test or change a thumbnail; a weak thumbnail usually means a low click-through rate.

Example sentences

  1. We changed the thumbnail on Tuesday and views picked up the next day.

  2. Use a close-up of your face in the thumbnail; it usually works better than text alone.

Common collocations

  • custom thumbnail
  • design a thumbnail
  • thumbnail test
  • clickable thumbnail
  • click-through rateThe percentage of people who click on something after seeing it, such as a thumbnail, a link or an ad.
  • clickbaitA title, thumbnail or caption that exaggerates or misleads to make people click, often promising more than the content delivers.
  • editTo cut, arrange and improve video clips or photos, for example by adding music, text, transitions or color changes, to create the final version.
  • watch timeThe total amount of time people have spent watching a video or a channel's videos, usually shown in minutes or hours.

More terms: Video Production and Editing

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