In a blog post, the YouTube team announced that its comments system will now be powered by, you guessed it, Google Plus. Google has been on a bit of a Google Plus streak lately, integrating it with Gmail and introducing embeddable posts. Now, users will begin to see Google Plus-powered YouTube comments roll out, in much the same way as they are now being used by Google’s blogging platform Blogger. This is big news for commenters, but what about brands and content creators? We’ve summarized the three big changes the YouTube Google Plus comments will bring, and have laid out exactly how they’ll benefit your brand.
Relevant comments appear first
Thanks to this update (and the nature of Google Plus Your World), the most relevant comments to users will appear first. That means comments made by people in their circles will show up at the top of the heap, rather than the most recent post. It also means, though, that the content creator’s comments will also appear at the top of the list. This is great for brands because it guarantees that their comments will be seen by the users who need/want to see them.
Users can join discussion privately or publicly
The private/public nature of Google Plus is also making the jump to YouTube. Users will be able to choose whether to make their comments public to YouTube and Google Plus as a whole, or visible to only certain individuals. This is beneficial for a couple reasons. First, it makes it easier for brands and users to interact directly with each other without having to make the back-and-forth public to everyone. Second, it encourages even self-conscious users to share their thoughts, even if it’s only with the brand or their best friend.
Comment moderation
Perhaps the biggest advantage is the selection of moderation tools available to content creators. Comments can be reviewed before they are posted, certain words can be blocked and comments from certain users can even be auto-approved. If you’re concerned with keeping your content (and comments) family friendly, these moderation tools will be a huge help. They’ll also be a huge help to brands with dedicated brand ambassadors, as brands will be able to auto-approve their comments and speed up the moderation process.
Don’t have a YouTube account for your brand? We’ve got four reasons to consider it.
