Google first talked about the overhaul of YouTube’s commenting system back in September, when it revealed that it will start implementing users’ Google+ profiles. Basically what this means is that whoever wants to comment on YouTube now needs a Google+ account. This update hasn’t exactly been well received, the video that Google posted on YouTube describing the change has already received a lot of negative comments. One of the co-founders of YouTube itself, Jawed Karim, has expressed his displeasure over this change. Karim posted a question on his channel asking why the “f—” does he need a Google+ account to comment on a video.
Google’s point of view is that the new commenting system puts comments from “people you care about” first. The system personalizes comments for each user, displaying comments from people in their Google+ circles first, after that they can see comments by other users. However, users do retain the option of seeing the most recent comments like before through the “Newest First” layout. Meanwhile, a number of YouTube users say that they won’t use Google+ to comment on videos, and since there’s no other way to comment, they’ll just have to stop giving their two cents on the videos they watch. Evidently this change has ruffled quite a few feathers, do you think Google might compromise a little here or has it changed the dynamics of YouTube comments once and for all?