Mountain View, California — Google has unleashed a full-fledge version of its Moderator service for all YouTube users, which empowers channel owners and viewers to comments on published videos and other relevant topics on channel pages. This means that YouTube content producers will have a new and helpful way to engage with their viewers, and use that engagement to create more crowd-pleasing content.
YouTube’s already has a setup that allows users to leave comments on published videos, but the responses are not really warm and informative remarks on the Web. But with the recent release of its Moderator service offers a more ordered alternative to video comments.
The YouTube blog describes: “Starting today, we have integrated the ability to use Google Moderator into every single YouTube channel.”
YouTube is now introducing a new tool that should assist even video creators with millions of followers to communicate with them. With Google Moderator, any YouTube user can ask the opinion of its viewers and not get overwhelmed by (poor-quality) answers.
“YouTube is about begin a conversation… But until now, it has been difficult to harness those free-flowing discussions. That is why, starting today, we have integrated the ability to use Google Moderator into every single YouTube channel,” YouTube announced on its blog.
“Moderator is a versatile, social platform that allows you to solicit ideas or questions on any topic, and have the community vote the best ones up to the top in real-time. We previously used Google Moderator as part of our interviews with President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper,” the announcement added.
Google Moderator has actually been around for a couple of years. The tool was originally developed by the company’s engineer Taliver Heath as a way to prioritize questions asked during company meetings and lectures, making it easy to crowdsource group suggestions. Google has been using the tool for itself, for example when asking for suggestions on how to improve YouTube, and also makes it available to anyone at google.com/moderator.
“You define the parameters for the dialogue, including the topic, the type of submissions, and the length of the conversation,” explains YouTube News Manager Olivia Ma and Moderator Product Manager Ginny Hunt. “Watch as submissions get voted up or down by your audience, and then respond to the top-voted submissions by posting a video on your channel. The platform operates in real-time, and you can remove any content that you or your audience flag as inappropriate. You can also embed the platform on your own website or blog.”
YouTube users must be logged into a Google account that is linked to a YouTube account to participate in Moderator on YouTube.
By empowering channel owners the power to police offensive content, which can also be voted down by users, the Google/YouTube Moderator aims to bring some level of order to the chaotic world of YouTube comments.