YouTube last week finally updated its commenting system. And so far, many people are not liking the new changes. Before the change last week, YouTube comments were merely a long disorganized list often filled with spam or other rude comments. And there was no way to follow the conversation, and the old commenting system only had the most basic moderation.
Now, to even comment on a YouTube video, you must have a Google Plus account. If you don’t have one, you are out of luck. No one can go back and reply to old comments anymore. And these changes have people angry like English musician Emma Blackery who lashed out at Google’s video site and social network, telling the search giant in a song to **** you, Google Plus. Yes, the video does have bad language, but the video has over 750,000 views!
Even YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim, in his second YouTube post ever, is not happy with the comment changes. He left YouTube and Google a nice surprise on his page.
Okay, yes I do admit that YouTube comments were filled with more than their share of bigotry, bullying, spam, shaming, trolling, and other mindless discourse. YouTube had to do something drastic to end the hateful and spam comments on YouTube. The entire culture of anonymous commenting on videos needed to go away forever. You don’t have to have Google Plus to see the new comments on YouTube. You can still like and dislike videos on YouTube even if you don’t have a Google + account. But for now, to comment on any video, you must have your YouTube account linked up to your Google Plus account.
Many believe the move is simply a ploy by Google to bolster the number of users for its social networking site, as well as to help it gather even more data about users. Google Plus in my opinion is okay for now. Yes, it’s another great tool to keep people up to date on Geek Alabama posts and important information. But here is a big problem, they still have not released a API key so I can use services like Buffer App to schedule my posts. I can not be in front of a computer 24/7 to manually post something to Google Plus, Facebook, or Twitter. That is why I schedule my posts for the next day so I don’t have to worry about my social media accounts. Yes, I check my social media accounts several times a day.
I wish Google and YouTube would look at other commenting systems which do things better. Commenting systems like Disqus require users to link a Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, or other accounts to comment. Where you are not required to have a Google Plus account to comment on YouTube. Maybe Google will make some changes so users can have a Facebook or Twitter account to comment. But some people are not waiting for Google to make changes. There is a Change.org petition asking YouTube and Google to go back to the old commenting system. And the petition is approaching 100,000 signatures. Sign the petition at: https://www.change.org/petitions/google-change-the-youtube-comment-section-back-to-its-original-form
So far, the new YouTube commenting system looks better than the old system. But YouTube and Google needs to make some changes so people are not angry anymore. If not, other video services like Vimeo and Daily Motion are going to say, come on over!
Related articles
- YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim asks: ‘Why the f*** do I need a Google+ account to comment on a video?’ (thenextweb.com)
- Now That’s How You Complain About YouTube Comments (webpronews.com)
- YouTube Doesn’t Like Its New Comments Section (newsy.com)
- YouTube Upgrades Comments With Google+ Integration (mashable.com)
- Google+, YouTube Comment Integration Sparks User Outrage (pcmag.com)
Categories: Geeks and Nerds Stuff
First I had to open G mail, now I have to become +idiot. No thanks, it’s too much.
Yep, I also hate that you can’t use your unique URL that you use on Facebook and Twitter on Google +. Google is starting to go down in quality. Thanks for commenting!