YouTube has a shake up...

This week YouTube has had a shake up... and it is causing a bit of a stir. Google (owners of YouTube) seem to be streamlining their assets recently. As we saw with the new Google Helpouts - only being payable via Google Wallet etc. The search engine professionals seem to be marrying up all their other endeavours to get what would seem to be a more versatile brand.

Image: mashable.com

So what exactly has changed? If you are regular YouTube user with an account you may have already experienced this first hand. What's new:

• Make comments private
• Reply to threads
• Share comments via Google+
• Edit comments
• Get notifications
• Leave longer comment
• Include URLs (although this has been used as an invitation for spammers)

Looking at this list, you can see what YouTube are trying to do. They are trying to inject some quality into the otherwise nonsensical and dramatic world of the YouTube user. Well, this is how I have viewed it up until now. I see their point but I’m not sure whether it would make me sign up still.

They are making it impossible to have an account without a legitimate Google+ account. This means if you don’t have one, you will be getting one soon. It also means that false accounts and bogus names are forbidden, it will have to be a ‘real’ name... although of course you may make one up. One of the major grievances is that there is less anonymity.

Any old comments can still be seen but are currently frozen; they cannot be replied to. Also, your new account will not link up to any of your previous posts.

Image: gizmodo.com

By and large the reaction has not been great, there are a lot of thumbs downs from their regular users but is this just because it is different? Someone has even uploaded his own video in disgust; I am sure there will be more of these to come. The critics are claiming they are upset at Google for making these 'unnecessary' changes. It doesn't look like Google are going to back down, although like any new venture adjustments will be made along the way.

Reflectively, it seems we all revel in the speed sites get updated usually, as long as it means we don’t have to do anything. YouTube have obviously made these changes with an idea, a vision of the new YouTube. They have competitors and work in a tempestuous market, so in their defence they are just rolling with punches.

Their mission statement will not of changed and I feel these alterations are just a sign of the times. Most social media sites give you an option of messaging, commenting, re-posting etc and so it is not strange that YouTube will want to keep up with this. To make the site have a more integral attitude will probably attract new customers and move the site into the new direction.

The changes mean you can write more and be continuously interactive with other users; I am assuming YouTube are hoping this will create a more appealing place to discuss whatever you are watching. In the next few days we will witness the benefits and pitfalls, it will effect the way people use the site and it will become apparent within a few weeks if it was worth it.

As I have stated, I am not signed up to YouTube but the idea of a friendlier and potentially safer environment promotes a positive attitude. I am sure it will have many reactions but a change is sometimes exactly what is needed.

YouTube Comments - A New Google+ Comment Feature

Last week YouTube announced a new commenting system for its videos that is powered by the popular social network site Google+. The new trial launched on the channel discussions tabs and, over the next few weeks and months, it will become available on all videos. This feature will automatically rank comments and feature threaded and private conversations which are personalised for each individual user – this hopes to eliminate the rude, spam comments which have so often taken over the YouTube comment feature on videos.

Image – www.clubcardwebsites.com

Last year, YouTube started to encourage this initiative by asking its users to connect their YouTube and Google+ accounts so that more users would use their real names on the site. They hoped that this might persuade people to write comments which were more insightful and less abusive, as people could not hide behind anonymity, spamming the site with irrelevant and sometimes hurtful comments. Google+ also hopes that the new comment feature on YouTube will enable you to connect with familiar faces.

The official YouTube blog reported that the new comment feature will feature:

- Comments that you care about at the top of the list:

• Comments that are from the video’s creator, popular personalities and people in your Google+ Circles will feature at the top of the list –leading to more engaged discussions about the video.
• YouTube already offered a “top comments” section for the most upvoted comments on a video, but this did not guarantee that they were relevant to the video or the viewer. Reverse chronological comments fall away entirely with the new feature, and comments deemed ‘important’ to the individual user will rise to the top.

- Join the conversation in public or in private:

• You can choose to join a conversation so that it is publicly viewable on YouTube and Google, or you can make it so that only people in your Circles or a selection of your good friends can see what you post. In a similar way to Gmail, replies are listed in threads so that conversations are easy to follow.
• This allows you and your friends to have your own personal discussions on the YouTube comments section, depending on what you want to discuss – this hopes to engage users into a conversation similar to those which happen on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter and other social networks, where users share videos with each other and comment on them between friends.

- Better moderation of comments:

• There are new tools available to review comments before they’re posted, with the ability to block certain words or phrases that the site does not wish to see on their comments under their videos. This moderation system can also save time by auto-approving comments from certain fans. These can help you spend less time moderating, and more time sharing videos and connecting with your fans.
• YouTube is also allowing video owners to create a blacklist with words that automatically push comments into review and can block users. In addition, YouTube is making a significant change by not telling users that they have been blocked and will continue to show them their own comments when they are logged in. This will hopefully trick offending individuals into believing that their posts are still online and will prevent them from trying to open up other accounts once they’ve been blocked.

This new comment feature on YouTube has great potential for marketers hoping to get in contact with their audience and create discussion. According to Compete PRO data 162.5 million American adults visited youtube.com in August 2013 alone, therefore brands should capitalise on this huge audience and utilise the new ability to build relevant discussions from videos. Companies should take time to reply to comments left by viewers, as it will help to keep members engaged and, with the new system, comments from top contributors will feature at the top of the list – advertising how well that the company is responding to the views of its fans. It is also good to engage fans by referring to them by name or acknowledging that you have read their comments and possibly responding with other videos on YouTube.

What do you think?

Do you post comments on YouTube? Do you think that the use of Google+ will be a significant benefit for YouTube comments and will help to stop spam and rude comments from appearing on videos?