YouTube announces changes in the way it is possible to mention other users and content. For a few years it was already possible for creators and followers to mention other users in the conversation – using the “@” symbol followed by the username.
However, until now this functionality was, alas, very limited. But YouTube announces that it will become possible to appeal to many more people and content with this at sign. The change should allow “to increase the visibility of videos while helping them reach new audiences”.
YouTube will expand the ability to make mentions with the “@” symbol
Now, in fact, it becomes possible to mention with an at sign YouTube Shorts, channel pages, video descriptions, comments – and the at sign should even appear in the URL of the channels, as on other social networks like Twitter. As YouTube reveals on its help pages, it is no longer possible to edit or create custom channel URLs.
Everything indicates that eventually, YouTube will abandon these personalized URLs in favor of these new “handles” which begin with the “@” symbol. Initially, however, custom URLs already set by channels will remain visible – unclear if YouTube has already set a timeline to apply the change sitewide.
The deployment of the new system will be done in phases. According to YouTube’s help pages, the first channels to benefit from it will be chosen according to “of a number of factors” such as the number of subscribers, and the level of activity of the channel. We can imagine without taking too many risks that the most important chains will be those which will benefit from the deployment first.
The channels have until November 14 to choose their new unique pseudonym through which it will be possible to challenge them. After this date, the platform will choose arbitrary nicknames but it will be possible to modify them easily via the account pages. In recent years, YouTube has made controversial changes to the social experience on the platform.
For example, the count of negative thumbs has disappeared – to avoid the organized relentlessness of groups of Internet users against certain creators. But the arrival of TikTok has prompted YouTube to rethink this so as not to risk losing market share. Beyond that, the platform has recently not hesitated to copy TikTok a little with YouTube Shorts, while facilitating the monetization of these short videos, and adding new features practically every month.
