YouTube is becoming a little bit more like Twitter.
On Monday, the company announced that creators and channels on the platform are getting a @username-style handle.
The idea is to make it easier to mention a creator or a channel in comments, video descriptions, and community posts. Creators will be able to mention each other in mentions or even titles of collabs, which should provide new ways to increase visibility on the platform.
Given that @username handles are already present on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, YouTube users shouldn’t have too many problems adapting to the new format. But the « @ » handles on YouTube will be a little different from channel names. While channel names aren’t unique – meaning that two different creators can have a channel with the same name – @usernames will be unique.
It’s worth noting that channel names aren’t going away. YouTube says handles will join channel names as « another way » to identify a YouTube channel.
For this reason, YouTube is introducing this change gradually. The company says it will notify creators when they can choose a handle for their channel « over the next month. » Channels with personalized URLs will automatically get those as their default handle « in most cases, » YouTube says, but they will also be able to opt out and change the handle for their channel after they get a notification in YouTube Studio.
This will likely make many YouTube creators anxious about getting the option to choose the handles for their channels, as many people will likely want to get the most coveted names. YouTube says the order in which creators get the option to choose their handle will depend on several factors, « including overall YouTube presence, subscriber count and whether the channel is active or inactive. »
An FAQ on YouTube handles is available here.
