The web giant YouTube has recently declared the change of its comments’ sections’ format from the time-based format to the Community-First format. This proposed change is for the purpose of promoting better and less toxic conversations and to raise awareness of contributions from the viewers.

The redesign is a part of a continuous process of enhancing the experience of users on YouTube and fixing the problems that users face with comments section for a long time.

The new Community-First comment sections will implement AI algorithms to sort comments based on their relevance to the community alongside the input from the users. Instead the comments will be most likely to appear based on the number of likes, the time of the comment or the relevance of the comment to elicit a response, give more information about the video, or suggest feedback for the channel.

Among the novelties of this new approach, it is worth mentioning the ‘Comment Threads’ feature that let users track and engage in selected conversations within the general comments section. These threads will be categorized and sorted in real-time depending on the level of interest they attract and this will make it easier for the users to identify areas of interest and contribute in them.

YouTube is also going to implement a new system of reputation for the commenters. Those users who contribute to the discussions in a positive manner will be rewarded with what the company calls ‘Community Points’ which will enhance the exposure of the comment section on various forums. On the other hand, if the user is abusive or generates low quality feedbacks most of the time, the posts made by the user will be down ranked.

To extend people’s thinking towards the content, YouTube has recently introduced a “Cool-Down Period” for comments on newly uploaded videos. While it is active, which might take up to 24 hours depending on the settings of the channel, the comments section is disabled from the viewer’s perspective. This feature is designed to allow creators and moderators to have time to establish the general tenor of the conversation and address any possible issues that could be potentially incendiary before they become the new normal.

The Community-First system will also implement better moderation tools for the creators. Comment moderation is becoming more manageable as channel owners would be receiving AI recommendations for potential issues and what to do about it. Moreover, creators will be able to pin comments, which they find useful or thought-provoking and place them at the top of the comments section.

YouTube’s decision of redesigning the comment sections has been received in various ways by the different users of YouTube. Most of the creators and the normal users have felt the benefits of this model that may include better interaction and less toxicity. However, certain scholars have expressed apprehensions regarding prejudice of AI algorithms and its effect on the principles of free speech.

To counter such issues, YouTube has pledged to be more open about how the new system will work. The company aims to publish monthly reports on the performance of the Community-First model, based on such metrics as the visibility of comments, user interaction, and moderation activities. YouTube has also insisted that human intervention is also going to be an essential feature of the moderation process with teams always revisiting the AI decisions and making adjustments.

The new comment sections will be rolled out gradually beginning with a set of designated channels before the change is implemented across the platform in the following few months. In the first stage, the users’ feedback will be collected and analyzed in order to fine-tune the system.

In connection with this, YouTube is also launching new content on what users should do or avoid in terms of digital civility and positive interactions on the platform. These resources will be incorporated into the commenting experience and the tips and prompts will be presented when in the process of using the commenting system.

The effect of this major change to YouTube’s comment sections is not limited to the aspect of user experience. For content creators it will be a complete shift on how they engage their audiences and moderate the communities.

Some of the identified advantages include the ability to provide better feedback and to have less moderation to do. However, some of them expressed their concern towards the possible reduction of near real-time interaction that the chronological format enabled.

It can be said that the future of online video communities will depend on the further development of the YouTube platform and the impact of the Community-First comment sections. This new approach could hence prove successful in setting new standards of user engagement across the social media platforms in the event of its success, it would be a reference point in the management of the health of online conversations by other companies.

That is why the scale of potential changes in the discussion having billions of comments posted on YouTube every day is difficult to overestimate. As the users, creators, and the platform evolves to this reality, the coming months will be decisive on whether the Community-First model can turn the YouTube comments into the positive engagement community they were initially intended to be.