Peggy K's Creator News

YouTube is making changes that will (hopefully) reduce the number of hateful comments . Or at least make them less visible. The goal is to make YouTube a more welcoming space for both creators and viewers. The old joke is that if you find a great video on YouTube "don't read the comments!"  It's true that there are a subset of of YouTube viewers who seem to be dedicated to posting hateful comments. And this has been made worse by creators who don't moderate the comments on their channel, or worse, actually encourage bad behavior.  This has lead to many creators turning off the comments so that they don't have to deal with hateful content, harassment and abuse.  But YouTube has been working to improve this. Since the beginning of 2019 YouTube has "increased the number of daily hate speech comment removals by 46x."  That's a relative increase, of course, so it might be that the starting point was very...

YouTube is has introduced new comment search filters in YouTube Studio . The new filters let you find comments on your channel that you haven't responded to yet, questions, the commenter's subscriber count, subscription and membership status. You can combine filters to fine tune your search. Also, comment keyword search will no longer be limited to exact matches to your search terms. For example, if you search your comments for "subs", the results will not only include comments with the word "subs", but also the words "subscriber" and "subscribers". I think the new filters are quite useful, especially for channels that get a lot of comments. But I also expect that the minimum subscriber count filter will get some criticism. It feels like it encourages elitism, giving channels with more subscribers special attention. Of course, in practical terms, it's probably politic to make sure more popular creators do get a response if the...

On Monday the New York Times  published a damning article detailing how YouTube's recommendation algorithms lead viewers with a sexual interest in children from an innocent home video of kids to not only more similar content, but content that is more sexual: Any individual video might be intended as nonsexual, perhaps uploaded by parents who wanted to share home movies among family. But YouTube’s algorithm, in part by learning from users who sought out revealing or suggestive images of children, was treating the videos as a destination for people on a different sort of journey. Julia Alexander of The Verge has pointed out that YouTube has an interest in supporting the very popular "family vlogging" channels, which often feature kids. Since the 2017 "adpocalypse" YouTube has seemingly increased the recommendations of videos with kids, as they are usually "advertiser friendly ". Creators noticed that change  and started featuring kids in their v...

This week YouTube Partners expressed fears of a new "adpocalypse", with advertisers were pausing their spending on reports of a  "softcore pedophilia ring" organized through comments on videos featuring children posing, doing gymnastics and yoga and just playing.  YouTube has quickly responded by disabling comments and limiting monetization of potentially affected videos. YouTube has temporarily disabled comments on "tens of millions of videos that may include minors".  Also monetization may be limited . Videos that include minors and might be at risk for predatory comments may not be considered advertiser-friendly and show the yellow $ icon    indicating that it will receive l imited or no ads. If this affects one or more of your videos, it does not mean you have done anything wrong.  This is what YouTube recommends: If your video features minors, consider keeping comments turned off.  If you do re-enable comments, you sh...

Blogger will switch all blogs using Google+ Comments to Blogger Comments on February 4, 2019 as part of the shutdown of Google+. Learn more . Blogger offers two different comment systems for your blog. You can use the Blogger comment system, or you can use the Google+ comment system.  They function significantly differently, so it's good to understand what the differences are before you start getting comments on your blog. I'm using the Blogger Comment system here, because I expect a significant percentage of my readers will not be active Google+ users. Here's my suggestion: Use  Google+ Comments  if you expect most of your readers to have a Google+ Profile and you are not concerned about comment moderation. Use Blogger Comments  if you want to allow anonymous posting, or comments from people without a Google+ Profile and you want a variety of comment moderation options. How do Blogger comments and Google+ comments compare? . Blogger Comment...

If you are using the Blogger comment system, you can customize who can comment on your posts, from everyone to no one. You can also choose to moderate comments, rather than having them appear immediately. Customize your Blogger comment options: 1. Sign into Blogger 2. Click Settings  on the left menu 3. Select Posts, comments and sharing 4. Under Comments  adjust Who can comment?, Comment location   and Comment moderation settings 5. Click the orange Save  button at top right Note that if you are using the Google+ comment system for your blog, you cannot control who can comment. You can remove comments after they are posted . Comments can also be completely disabled on individual posts. Read on for detailed instructions: Who can comment? Disable comments Hold comments for moderation Are you using Google+ Comments on your blog? Enable and manage Google+ Comments

Fostering lively discussions on your videos can help build your YouTube channel.  But not all comments are good, as spam and abuse can drive fans away. And if you are a busy creator, you may not have time to constantly monitor and moderate comments on your videos. Now YouTube has a solution: you can designate other channels as Comment Moderator s. Moderators can remove comments from your videos. Those comments are then added to your channel's Held for Review Comment queue as "Flagged by moderator" until you approve or remove them. There are two ways to add a Moderator : Promote a channel that has commented on one of your videos Add the channel as a Moderator in your Community Settings You can also remove Moderators in your  Community Settings . Read on for more detailed instructions!

NOTE October 2015: The option to disable replies is only available for comments you can view on Google+ - posted between November 2013 and August 2015. It is still possible to disable all replies to your comments in the Google+ settings for the Page or Profile connected to your channel under " Who can comment on your public posts?".     As YouTube separates from Google+  that option may disappear, and I'll try to keep this post up-to-date. ---------- Do you like posting YouTube comments, but hate the replies? You can easily disable replies - or mute notifications of replies - after posting your comment, as long as you can find your comment post on Google+. You have two options: 1. Disable replies to all  your YouTube comments and Google+ posts in your Google+ settings 2. Disable replies to individual YouTube comments by changing the settings on that post on Google+ Yes, you'll have to visit Google+, but only for as long as it takes to change ...

In 2014 YouTube and Google+ integration really took off. On November 6, 2013 YouTube switched to the new Google+-based commenting system. Over the past year YouTube and Google+ became even more tightly entwined. YouTube and Google+ introduced a number of new features, while we said goodbye to others (RIP YouTube Inbox). There was a change at the top for both products. At YouTube Susan Wojcicki - formerly Google SVP for advertising - took over from Salar Kamangar, while over on Google+ Vic Gundotra was replaced by former Google+ VP of Engineering Dave Besbris. I think it's still too early to say whether that represents a significant shift in direction, but their interviews at Re/code give a sense of direction things are heading: New YouTube Boss Susan Wojcicki Talks Talent, Music and M&A New Google+ Head David Besbris: We're Here for the Long Haul What was new for Google+ and YouTube in 2014? As YouTube and Google+ become more integrated, many new features are o...

Update March 2019: Consumer Google+ will shut down on April 2, 2019. All Google+ Pages and consumer Google+ Profiles will be deleted. This will not affect your YouTube channel or YouTube comments . However, if you are using an old version of the YouTube mobile app, from before September 2016, you will no longer be able to read, post or manage comments in the app - instead use m.youtube.com in your mobile device's browser. If you posted a YouTube comment between November 6, 2013 and early August 2015, it's a Google+ comment. There are several ways you can delete Google+ YouTube comments on either your desktop computer or mobile device ( deleting old pre-Google+ comments is a bit more complicated ). You can delete (or edit) Google+ YouTube comments in one of several ways: Delete the YouTube comment post from your Google+ Page or Profile Delete the comment from the YouTube video watch page Use the Google+ app or YouTube app to delete your comment on your phone or tab...

Have you ever posted a YouTube comment that you now regret? One you want - or need - to delete? As long as you can sign into the YouTube channel that posted the comment, you can delete it. On November 6, 2013,  YouTube switched to the current Google+-based comment system . That means that if you have been active on YouTube for more than a year, you probably posted comments using the old legacy comment system. Pre-Google+ comments cannot be edited, or  directly replied to , but they can be deleted. How to delete your pre-Google+ Legacy YouTube comments You can delete old YouTube comments from a video's "ALL COMMENTS" page, as long as you are signed in as the channel that posted the comment. Just follow the step-by-step directions below on your desktop computer.

Update August 2019: YouTube DMs will be going away on September 18, 2019 Update October 2018: consumer Google+ is shutting down April 2, 2019. This will not affect your YouTube channel. Update July 2018: Messages has been retired and sort-of replaced by friend-based messaging . Note:  Old messages and contacts will be available until Dec 1st. 2014   The YouTube Inbox is going away , to be replaced with Google+-based "Messages". In a few days you will be able to download an archive of all your Inbox messages. But what about your Contacts? View and archive your old YouTube contacts YouTube Messages: the new system to send or receive a private message Create a Google+ Circle from your YouTube Contacts Send a private message to a group on YouTube or Google+

What happened to my Settings, Playlists, Channel and Video Manager? Note: as of March 2019 this "old desktop experience" is still partially available , but is gradually being replaced by a newer layout. The account navigation links all still work.    Last week YouTube made a significant change to navigation. Clicking your channel avatar used to display an extensive menu at the top of the page, but now all you will find is more simplified menu that lets you select Creator Studio, settings or switch channel identities. Several options - such as your Video Manager - are now several clicks away. How to navigate YouTube New Navigation basics: selecting a channel identity, Creator Studio and settings Creator Studio: Video Manager, Comments, Analytics, channel settings and creator tools Your YouTube Account Settings My Channel - view and configure your channel layout View and manage Playlists, Likes, Watch Later list and History View and manage Subscriptions

Update March 2019: The Google-wide notification bell has been removed , however YouTube has its own notification bell on www.youtube.com where you can view and respond to new comments. Did you know you can respond to YouTube comments from (almost) anywhere online with the Google+ Notifications Chrome extension? Since YouTube switched to Google+ comments, comments can be viewed and replied to under the Google bell notification icon (also goofily known as Mr. Jingles).  The notifications bell is visible on the top right of the screen when you are signed into your Google account and using most Google products, including Google Search, Blogger, Google Drive, Gmail and (of course) YouTube. But if you want the option to easily read and reply to YouTube and Google+ comments from wherever you are surfing on the web - and are using the Chrome browser - you can install the Google+ Notifications extension to immediately see new notifications from wherever you are online. 1...

One significant limitation of the new Google+ commenting system on YouTube is that comments posted under the old system have been effectively orphaned. Conversations have been abruptly terminated and pending questions are going unanswered, because there is no easy way to directly reply to those old comments. Andrew Bossom suggests a work-around that lets you respond to at least some of those old comments, and hopefully will let you get the discussion going again on your channel. If the channel that posted the original comment is linked to Google+, you can post a new comment that + mentions the commenter. They will receive a notification of that new comment that mentions them.   Of course that only works with channels that are connected to a Google+ Page or Profile. If the channel is not connected to Google+, and it's important to reply to them, the only other option I can think of is sending them a private message. At least then they won't think you've forgotten ...

Update: consumer Google+ is shutting down April 2, 2019. This will not affect your YouTube channel or comments Update: YouTube comments were separated from Google+ starting in August 2015 .  Today YouTube introduced Google+ comments for video watch pages . First introduced for YouTube channel discussions in September , the Google+ commenting system should allow channel owners greater control over the comments that appear on their videos. On the downside you are now required to link your YouTube channel to a Google+ Profile or Page to make a comment and Google+ notifications aren't really a substitute for your YouTube Inbox. And even for Google+ enthusiasts, the new commenting system will take some getting used to. Here's a brief overview of my first impressions some of the features and drawbacks of the Google+ commenting system: The Good: better moderation options, longer formatted comments, communications managers and more Better Moderation Options I think one o...