On January 12^th, YouTube unveiled their latest endeavour to connect fans with creators, through means as speedy as they are profitable, thanks to a handy new tool: Super Chat.

Beta with Pizazz

To battle the ebb and flow of comment mining, YouTube stars such as iHasCupcake are beta testing the new system via their existing channels.

For a few dollars more, you can become…a Super Fan.

Not only will your comment stand out from the rest as a large placard— in a sea of “regular” comments, but will also show the dollar amount you paid to achieve it. In addition, comments will remain pinned atop the conversation for up to five hours.

A Curb on Crowd-funding

This new form of creator-to-fan monetisation serves as a substitute for YouTube’s 2014 effort (Fan Funding), failing to achieve widespread adoption throughout YouTube communities.

Real-time communication is growing in demand.

Social platforms from Facebook to Periscope have also taken more aggressive steps in offering live-streaming services. Even Wikipedia has rolled out direct video-chat support for their ‘help’ services.

The people have spoken and they prefer in person. Conference call are being supplanted by group Skype sessions and as jobs become less location-dependant, the market will continue to make its own demands.