In an attempt to curtail negative/hateful comments on YouTube – mostly left by anonymous users – Google introduced a new YouTube comment system in September 2013. Comments are now integrated with users’ Google+ accounts*. Those without Google+ accounts can no longer leave comments on videos unless they sign up for an account.
The new comment system was also designed to display comments that would be relevant to individual users. Instead of seeing the most recent comments, users will see comments at the top of the list staring with the video’s creator, celebrities/popular personalities, discussions about the video, and comments from people in their Google+ Circles. Users can still see the most recent comments by switching their view from “Top Comments” to “Newest First” – very similar to Facebook and how users sort their news feed. With the new YouTube commenting capabilities, you can choose to start a conversation so that it is seen by everyone, only people in your Google+ Circles, or just a single person. Like Gmail, replies are threaded so you can easily follow conversations.
Video owners have new tools to review comments before they’re posted, to block certain words or to save time by auto-approving comments from certain fans.
Anonymity led to lots of cyberbullying, trolling* and hateful comments in general on YouTube. Now with the added step of needing to have a Google+ account, bullies and trolls might just opt to not comment at all – rather than going through the process of setting up a bogus Google+ account or by creating a new YouTube Channel.
* Google+ (pronounced and sometimes written as Google Plus) is a social networking service owned and operated by Google Inc. It is the second-largest social networking site in the world, having surpassed Twitter in January 2013. It has approximately 359 million active users.
- Google+ age requirement: To sign up for a Google account, U.S. residents need to be 13+.
- Google+ For Parents (Source: Google)
- A Parent’s Guide to Google+ (Source: Connect Safely)
* Trolling is when a user intentionally causes distress, anger or argument in an online public forum for the purpose of disturbing other users. Individuals who partake in trolling seek an emotional response from others, whether with malicious or humorous intent.
