The integration of Google+ into the YouTube comments system has been in the works for quite some time but now Google has finally rolled it out. From now on comments will be overhauled with the new method that shows comments from people you know and follow on Google+ first. Comments with many likes and replies will also rank highest too, and if you just want to see new comments you can sort by newest first. Replies are threaded like Gmail so you can easily follow comments based conversations.
Integrating Google+ also means comments made on Google+ about YouTube videos shared in Google+ will appear on YouTube marked as “via Google+”. Comment moderation also still exists and any comments can still be marked as spam or abuse. If you’re a creator of a YouTube video Google has implemented a new array of comment moderation tools to more carefully filter out spam or abusive comments on videos and channels. Google hasn’t disclosed what measures it has taken to ensure these comment moderation tools aren’t abused as “comment censorship” but we can assume some safeguards probably are in place.
When posting comments there are also a new range of options. You can choose who gets to see your comments, they can either be public or you can specify them to visibility with only certain people in your Google+ network. You can also choose to post your comment only to YouTube or to both YouTube and Google+ by a check box on the comments box area. Replying to comments is done in a nested system where you simply click reply beneath someone’s comment and it will create a nested thread. Rich text and URLs can also be added to videos which is improved over the previous system where any URL was filtered and rich text wasn’t available. Finally you can enable more advanced options such as the ability to edit a comment, delete a comment, disable replies to a comment, disable re-shares of a comment and you can even get notifications of your replies and re-shares to your comments via Google+.
See more details of the official changes on Google’s website.
Image courtesy of YouTube
Can Google please stop pissballing about with YouTube?!?!
If it works, leave it the hell alone!
For the last year, Google has been politely asking if you’d like to basically expose your real name by using Google+, and users have politely declined. NOW Google has decided they don’t like that answer, and in order to position its dying Google+ as a Facebook killer they’ve made G+ membership mandatory in order to use an actual useful service, YouTube.
The cover story is that forcing everyone to use G+ will “clean up” the comments, but the reality is that Google not only wants ALL your personal info, they want to prove to the rest of the that they have it by splashing your actual name everywhere. This of course will not affect the comment trolls, who can switch to a new entirely fictitious G+ name, but legitimate users who use their real name for their GMail accounts, will now have their privacy raped by Google with every comment and post they make. The trolls wins while real users feel overexposed, stop using YouTube.
Which Google exec will step forward to throw themselves on their sword over this fiasco, I wonder?