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YouTube Expands Comment Guidelines and Copyright Detection, Providing More Channel Management Options
YouTube’s testing out a range of new features, within YouTube Studio and BrandConnect, which aim to provide more capacity to manage channel engagement, and more options to help creators secure branded content deals, and monetize their efforts.
First off on Channel Guidelines – back in July, YouTube launched an initial test of its Channel Guidelines filtering tool, which enables Channel managers to set rules around the types of comments people can post beneath their clips. That test is now being expanded to more creators in the app.
As explained by YouTube:
“This feature allows creators to define up to three channel guidelines for video comments. Users must read and accept these guidelines before they make a comment, and they’re a good guide as to what conversations you want to see on your own channel.”
As you can see here, within your YouTube Studio settings, eligible channels can set up to three guidelines on comments, which viewers then need to read before posting a response. That can provide more transparency, while also giving channel managers increased leeway to enforce these rules, given that they’ve been established up front.
YouTube comments have long been a problematic element, which has lead to removal of comments entirely for some content categories, while YouTube also recently deactivated public dislike counts on all clips in order to lessen another potentially negative element in the process. This test aligns with the same, providing another means to guide better community interaction.
YouTube notes that the process doesn’t automatically hide or remove comments, but it does provide another means to communicate clearer parameters around what’s acceptable, and what’s not.
A broader range of creators will have access to the Channel Guidelines option in YouTube Studio from this week, while the guidelines themselves will only be presented in the mobile app.
YouTube’s also looking to improve its brand/creator partnership tools, with a new audience summary within the BrandConnect interface, which will make it easier for creators to pitch themselves for brand deals by using a tailored Media Kit, and an updated ‘Paid Product Placement’ checkbox, which will be a required step in the upload process for selected creators.
BrandConnect is YouTube’s creator marketplace, which connects brands and relevant creators for more effective video promotions. The new elements, which are being tested with ‘a small percentage of creators’, could make it easier to secure sponsored content deals, and ensure adherence to paid promotion disclosure rules.
YouTube’s also testing a new channel member avatar display, with member profiles to be highlighted on the home tab of the channel page in the mobile app.
As you can see here, within the test, channel members and non-members will be shown different variations of this new display. YouTube says the aim of the feature is to ‘celebrate members and to publicly showcase your active member community’ in order to encourage more people to join up. Member avatars will be regularly rotated to ensure more members get recognition.
Finally, YouTube also notes that it’s now expanded access to a new content takedown process which enables creators to automatically take down duplicate uploads of any content that they’ve previously removed.
As per this example, now, in the takedown web form, creators will be able to tick this box, which will then enable YouTube to detect and block future uploads of the same content. So if there’s something that you’ve removed for legal or personal reasons, that should make it harder for other people to re-upload a duplicate, and keep it coming back to haunt you on the site.
YouTube’s also expanded access to its Copyright Match tool to all users who’ve submitted a valid takedown request. Copyright Match automatically scans YouTube for duplicate content to that which you’ve uploaded, and will alert you to potential matches across the platform.
A range of small, yet relevant updates, with varying levels of functionality and value, dependent on your approach.
You can learn more about YouTube’s latest updates here.
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Snapchat Explores New Messaging Retention Feature: A Game-Changer or Risky Move?
In a recent announcement, Snapchat revealed a groundbreaking update that challenges its traditional design ethos. The platform is experimenting with an option that allows users to defy the 24-hour auto-delete rule, a feature synonymous with Snapchat’s ephemeral messaging model.
The proposed change aims to introduce a “Never delete” option in messaging retention settings, aligning Snapchat more closely with conventional messaging apps. While this move may blur Snapchat’s distinctive selling point, Snap appears convinced of its necessity.
According to Snap, the decision stems from user feedback and a commitment to innovation based on user needs. The company aims to provide greater flexibility and control over conversations, catering to the preferences of its community.
Currently undergoing trials in select markets, the new feature empowers users to adjust retention settings on a conversation-by-conversation basis. Flexibility remains paramount, with participants able to modify settings within chats and receive in-chat notifications to ensure transparency.
Snapchat underscores that the default auto-delete feature will persist, reinforcing its design philosophy centered on ephemerality. However, with the app gaining traction as a primary messaging platform, the option offers users a means to preserve longer chat histories.
The update marks a pivotal moment for Snapchat, renowned for its disappearing message premise, especially popular among younger demographics. Retaining this focus has been pivotal to Snapchat’s identity, but the shift suggests a broader strategy aimed at diversifying its user base.
This strategy may appeal particularly to older demographics, potentially extending Snapchat’s relevance as users age. By emulating features of conventional messaging platforms, Snapchat seeks to enhance its appeal and broaden its reach.
Yet, the introduction of message retention poses questions about Snapchat’s uniqueness. While addressing user demands, the risk of diluting Snapchat’s distinctiveness looms large.
As Snapchat ventures into uncharted territory, the outcome of this experiment remains uncertain. Will message retention propel Snapchat to new heights, or will it compromise the platform’s uniqueness?
Only time will tell.
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Catering to specific audience boosts your business, says accountant turned coach
While it is tempting to try to appeal to a broad audience, the founder of alcohol-free coaching service Just the Tonic, Sandra Parker, believes the best thing you can do for your business is focus on your niche. Here’s how she did just that.
When running a business, reaching out to as many clients as possible can be tempting. But it also risks making your marketing “too generic,” warns Sandra Parker, the founder of Just The Tonic Coaching.
“From the very start of my business, I knew exactly who I could help and who I couldn’t,” Parker told My Biggest Lessons.
Parker struggled with alcohol dependence as a young professional. Today, her business targets high-achieving individuals who face challenges similar to those she had early in her career.
“I understand their frustrations, I understand their fears, and I understand their coping mechanisms and the stories they’re telling themselves,” Parker said. “Because of that, I’m able to market very effectively, to speak in a language that they understand, and am able to reach them.”Â
“I believe that it’s really important that you know exactly who your customer or your client is, and you target them, and you resist the temptation to make your marketing too generic to try and reach everyone,” she explained.
“If you speak specifically to your target clients, you will reach them, and I believe that’s the way that you’re going to be more successful.
Watch the video for more of Sandra Parker’s biggest lessons.
SOCIAL
Instagram Tests Live-Stream Games to Enhance Engagement
Instagram’s testing out some new options to help spice up your live-streams in the app, with some live broadcasters now able to select a game that they can play with viewers in-stream.
As you can see in these example screens, posted by Ahmed Ghanem, some creators now have the option to play either “This or That”, a question and answer prompt that you can share with your viewers, or “Trivia”, to generate more engagement within your IG live-streams.
That could be a simple way to spark more conversation and interaction, which could then lead into further engagement opportunities from your live audience.
Meta’s been exploring more ways to make live-streaming a bigger consideration for IG creators, with a view to live-streams potentially catching on with more users.
That includes the gradual expansion of its “Stars” live-stream donation program, giving more creators in more regions a means to accept donations from live-stream viewers, while back in December, Instagram also added some new options to make it easier to go live using third-party tools via desktop PCs.
Live streaming has been a major shift in China, where shopping live-streams, in particular, have led to massive opportunities for streaming platforms. They haven’t caught on in the same way in Western regions, but as TikTok and YouTube look to push live-stream adoption, there is still a chance that they will become a much bigger element in future.
Which is why IG is also trying to stay in touch, and add more ways for its creators to engage via streams. Live-stream games is another element within this, which could make this a better community-building, and potentially sales-driving option.
We’ve asked Instagram for more information on this test, and we’ll update this post if/when we hear back.
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