YouTube moves beyond video

(marketingmagazine.com.my) – By Malati Siniah

Giving users an avenue to express themselves beyond video YouTube has introduced a new Community tab for users to better engage with one another.

The announcement made on YouTube’s Creator Blog, stated, “Now you can post things like text, live videos, images, animated GIFs and more, giving you easier, lightweight ways to engage with your fans more often in between uploads, in real time.”

According to the post, the Community tab is still in its beta phase and so far only 12 YouTube users have been given access to the new feature. Based on the feedback from its early testers YouTube shared that it would then make the service available to more users ‘in the months ahead’.

John & Hank Green who run the YouTube channel ‘vlogbrothers’ is one of the few who are already utilizing the new feature. In his video announcing the new feature John shared, “YouTube has always thought of itself as being about video, but for many of us it’s mostly been about community.”

In their 9 years of being part of YouTube, John & Hank has built a strong online community of fans which they call ‘Nerdfighters’. Tapping into their 2.8 million strong subscriber base the two brothers have created various websites and projects, to engage their community.

In his announcement, John goes on to share that they would now be posting announcements, book reviews and more on the new Community page instead of turning to other publishing platforms such as Tumblr.

Will YouTube’s latest move affect other publishing platforms? Only time will tell….