YouTube will now help creators’ fans form online communities

YouTube is launching a new section within channels for fans to come together and share posts and pictures directly related to creators, the company said Wednesday. The new “Communities” feature comes after creators and fans said they wanted more ways to connect with one another. Traditionally, YouTube users had to comment on threads under a creator’s video in order to start or keep conversations going. That meant the burden of fostering connection was on the creator, who had to upload a video in order for the fans to have a place to hold their conversations. [Image: YouTube] “We saw a real opportunity, which is we wanted a place where viewers and fans and creators could all chat with each other and that the viewers themselves could start a conversation,” says Aaron Filner, senior director for community products.  Users will be able to access the Communities tab on a creator’s page, next to the playlist tab.  ​The announcement was part of a broader range of product releases shared during its Made on YouTube creator event. The company has been testing the feature with a fitness creator, a cooking creator, and a gaming creator. To start out, YouTube will continue to only allow subscribers to a small number of creators post on the Communities tab. YouTube doesn’t have any current plans to monetize the section either, it said.  The creators will have access to YouTube’s broader content moderation tool and also have the ability to add additional guidelines on what they want to filter out. Creators can also delete posts as they see fit, which is standard with social media companies. “More than anything, we’re seeing these deeper conversations and lasting relationships forming very quickly, which is pretty exciting,” says Whitney Taylor, head of design for YouTube community.