YouTube announced it’s experimenting with letting users turn comments into YouTube Shorts.
The concept of turning comments into YouTube Shorts is not new. Last year, YouTube added a “Create a Short” feature where creators can reply to comments with a Short. This is the same concept as of that TikTok’s video reply feature. Also, YouTube itself played around with the video responses concept in 2013, but it was discontinued. Well, it looks like it’s back.
Viewers can now make YouTube Shorts from comments
According to Lauren, YouTube program manager and Creator Insider producer, the new feature is different from last year. This time, the feature gives the opportunity to viewers to make content from comments the same way creators do.
However, the Shorts won’t appear in the original YouTube comment section. It will only appear on the viewer’s channel and Shorts feed. Additionally, the creators and the comment author won’t be notified of the Shorts made by a viewer. Creators also can’t prohibit the comment from being featured in a Shorts unless the comment section is disabled. The feature will be available to select users worldwide.
More updates from Creator Insider
In the same announcement video, Lauren also discussed YouTube’s “audience overlap card” in the YouTube Analytics hub. This new report will help creators “the viewer overlap across their formats.” Since YouTube is now making the multi-format approach, this new report will inform the creators of what format their audience is watching. According to Lauren, “We hope this comes especially handy if you’re testing a new format and wanna see if your existing audience starts watching it.”
Lastly, the team is reminding its creators to accept the new YouTube Partner Program terms; they have until July 10, 2023 to do so. If the creator is not able to accept these new terms, their content will not be monetized beginning July 11, 2023.