YouTube Communities

[joelr]

In an effort to make fans feel like more than viewers, YouTube is letting them post on creators’ channels.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/18/24247529/youtube-communities-social-comments

Many creators post videos on YouTube but take to other platforms to actually interact with their fans and viewers. With a new feature called Communities, YouTube is hoping to offer those types of interactive options right on the platform, so creators might not need to take to Discord, WhatsApp, or maybe Instagram or Reddit anymore.

The Communities feature, which YouTube launched today at the Made on YouTube event in New York City, is sort of a mix of old-school forum, subreddit, and Facebook group. Once a creator turns on their community, anyone who joins can post, and people can reply to each other. The idea is presumably that you’ll all talk about things related to the creator whose community you’re in, but if you’ve ever been in a YouTube comments section, you know that’s not how it’ll work. There’s also a special section for the creator’s own posts, where they can share text, images, and other stuff.

YouTube has been working on various features like this for a long time. There’s even a feature called Community already live on the platform, though that has really just been a way for creators to post non-video content, and most creators don’t seem to use it much. As YouTube has looked for ways to make viewers feel closer to their favorite creators and be part of their creative process, the new Community system is clearly designed to be much more interactive.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

It's about time.

Google tried to jump on the social networking train with Google+ and it failed.

What they didn't realize is they already have a social network, YouTube, and it happens to have the second largest search engine on the internet, too.

If YouTube had more social networking features, I feel like it would be the top social media platform online.

 

[Smokey]

When you say "Post on creator's channels' do you mean they'll be able to post videos onto someone else's channel? How will this work?

 

[Shortie]

When you say "Post on creator's channels' do you mean they'll be able to post videos onto someone else's channel? How will this work?

I don't believe it is videos they can post but more discussions or even questions they will be able to post. I am still learning a lot about this but from what I have read so far, it's looking like it's going to be a great addition to YouTube!

 

[Ravenfreak]

This seems more like a Facebook group and less like a forum. I can see it be a good way for big creators to talk to their supporters without needing to make a separate Discord server, everything can be on Youtube.