When you’re number one it’s hard to keep innovating. YouTube may have some fundamental business model holes, but I have to give it kudos for constant user-experience improvements. The team quietly roles out new functionality by the week. They’re featuress you didn’t know you wanted, but now you need them.

For instance, they now track inbound links to videos. This is been something I’ve been begging Revver to include. This helps you know how your video is getting traffic so you can market your other clips. You don’t get lots of views by uploading and waiting. It’s like opening up a lemonade stand in your back yard.

In a first for me, I found last night’s “Mentos Jet Pack,” had received some “honors.” It had been viewed and discussed frequently in the comedy category. Mind you- I think this honor is less about the quality of the video and more about a) the “group” that it’s in — as a candidate for a Mentos Geyser contest, and b) the fact that I got REALLY lucky on the thumbnail (see below). But I would have NEVER known it hit these “honors” milestones if this feature didn’t exist. I guess maybe I’m not blacklisted by YouTube after all.

I hope the other sites learn that constant functionality improvements is very valuable to content contributors and viewers. Now if YouTube would just share some of that ad revenue they’re not making…