YouTube is known for many things – cats, Justin Bieber, Gangnam style and controversial users comments.

While YouTube can't do much about the first three issues, a new update gives creators more control over user comments.

Not worth a thousand words

In November last year Google (which owns YouTube) made a change which forced users to access YouTube via Google+. The result meant that managing comments was removed from the YouTube inbox and moved to alerts.

The update was widely panned and a petition asking Google to reverse the feature attracted 200,000 signatures on change.org.

It appears Google was listening.

About turn

YouTube now allows content creators to moderate user comments on a single page, essentially bringing the YouTube inbox back.

“Staying connected with your audience is critical on YouTube, so we fast-tracked the development of a new comment management page that lets you see, respond to and moderate your comments all in one place,” YouTube engineer Patrick Doyle wrote in a blog post. 

Get the message?

Now creators can give a thumbs up, report abuse and reply to comments in one place, streamlining the process and allowing for faster interactions. Extra features including replying inline and expanding all replies are being rolled out shorty.

YouTube will be hoping the change encourages more comments, as more interactions means more advertising dollars as the platform continues to monetise. 

To find out more visit youtubecreator.blogspot. 

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