Forced integration with Google+ on YouTube

[SwitchBiker]

I don't like the integration, especially don't like that it is basically forced upon us as a channel owner. I now have 2 Google+ pages named Switchbiker because it made a new one agin after I disconnected the first one. Ridiculous. And my channel icon photo is now gone. AArgh!!!

 

[janx101]

i just did whatever it said.. shrugged my shoulders... didnt bother me that much apart from having to argue with the system about why my profile pic didnt look like a face.... of course it doesnt look like a face!... its a bloody frog!

oh and today i remembered to turn off the link on my YT chan to autoshare the vids with the G+ page...

i dont bother with adding friends on the G+ page anyway!!... thats what the forums i use and FB are for!

 

[ToastToGo]

I actually kind of like it. Now that I have two G+ pages, I can be all YouTubey on my one G+ page and use my personal for all my personal stuff. Kinda like how I have it on Facebook, actually. A little weird at times though, with all these different accounts through portals and yadda yadda yaddaa.

 

[thunderous71]

I like the idea in essence of Google+ but it's not intuitive and always ends up being a bit messy. Seems to be designed for mobile devices rather than computers..... Oh I get it its for google glasses the penny has dropped

 

[ariderslife]

This is the email i got from youtube about it.

Hey Pete,

As I mentioned in my previous e-mail, YouTube will soon be rolling out a new commenting system powered by Google+. The main goal of this new system is move from comments to conversations. This is achieved by shifting the the focus to meaningful comments instead of recency – top comments as opposed to new comments.

Top Comments

YouTube's algorithms will largely determine what comments are “meaningful” enough to be considered top comments for each viewer. Some of the top comments will be the same for most viewers like those from the video creator and popular personalities and certain discussion threads about the video that are considered to be “engaged discussions.” Some of the top comments will be different for each viewer. These comments will be influenced by people and channels the viewer has been interacting with on YouTube, and by whether or not a particular comment is from someone in your Google+ circles. “Top Comments” will be displayed by default, but you'll also be able to switch back to sorting comments by recency.

Google+ Integration

YouTube comments will be seamlessly integrated with Google+ posts – they will essentially be Google+ posts and include the same formatting options and ability to leave URLs found on Google+. This means that YouTube comments can be made from Google+ posts and vice-versa.

You'll also be able to use your Google+ circles to control who sees the comments you leave on YouTube – they can be private or only sent to certain circles. However, by default, comments will still be public and seen by everyone on YouTube and Google+. Comments will also be threaded (like Gmail) so that discussions will be easier to follow.

By integrating YouTube comments with Google+, YouTube is expanding the audience that you can grab comments from since viewers won't necessarily need to be on YouTube to leave a comment. Comments will also gain the ability “go viral” since they can be shared and “1+'d” on Google+. Having a comment go viral on Google+ will be great for your video because a video link will always be included with the comment.

New Tools to Manage Comments

You'll also be getting new ways to manage comments. The same old options will stick around, but you'll have a few new ones to help fight trolls and spam. When the new comment system goes live, you'll be able to hold comments for review and set up a white list to instantly approve comments from certain users. You'll be able to "shadow ban" trolls and abusive users – no one will see that user's comments, but the banned user won't know this because they'll still see their own comments posted. You'll also be able to set up a black list to block comments that contain certain words or phrases.

Sounds pretty useful, right? The new comment system will roll out to individual video watch pages in the coming months. In the meantime, you can check out a preview of the system (provided you have a linked Google+ page or profile) on the Discussion tab of your channel page. To change the settings for the comments on the Discussions tab, go to your video manager and click “Comment settings” under the Community tab.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of the above. I'm always happy to discuss any upcoming changes and how you might go about best utilizing them for your channel.
******

I left out the personal parts about my channel and income so it jumps around abit.

 

[Trinith]

I just see it as a ploy to boost usership of g+. It isn't the smash hit they wanted it to be, so why not force people to use it wherever they can? I don't really care about the integration myself. I don't use g+, but at the same time I don't care if there's a page with my name on it. I glanced at it for a moment when it first happened, then moved on, and it hasn't affected me much. The profile pic thing is pretty damn annoying though.

 

[Spacep0d]

It was really messy and complicated. I basically deleted all my Spacep0d pages on G+ (which were really just placeholders) because YouTube made a page which was under my Spacep0d 'presence' on G+. Messy! I deleted the Spacep0d stuff (after unlinking YouTube+) and then I was able to create a new G+ page from YouTube without too much drama.

But, I about gave myself an infarction doing it. Thought I deleted my YouTube channel for a second. I know, there are safeguards against this, but I couldn't tell at first.

Still got my personal G+ separate from YouTube, so that's a plus.

I don't really use G+, so it's not like there's anything I would do on G+ except announce vlogs to a small audience of connected people.

Some potential benefits: You can link to someone before subscribing to them. Kinda nice to get to know them. I like how G+ functions, even though I way more embedded into FB. The G+ page has more room to maneuver than a FB 'like' page, which can be restrictive compared to a full-fledged FB page with its own username/pass, but I didn't want a separate login.

Just glad I don't have to see those warnings about connecting to G+ anymore.