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YouTube to allow users to pay money to highlight comments
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YouTube has introduced a new feature that will allow those who crave the comment spotlight to pay to highlight and flag their comments at the top of live YouTube streams. (Shutterstock.com/Maxxa Satori)
E
ngaging in the comment section of a popular live stream can be futile, especially if the conversation progresses so quickly that it is hard for anyone to see what they have contributed in a sea of messages.
For this reason, YouTube has introduced a new feature that will allow those who crave the comment spotlight to pay to highlight and flag their comments at the top of live YouTube streams.
(Read also: YouTube reveals most popular videos of 2016)
Once the new dollar bill symbol in the chat window is pressed, viewers will encounter a slider that reveals the amount of time their comment will be pinned for and also how much they will have to pay for it. The Super Chat will pop out in vivid colors, big text and can be pinned for as long as five hours. The more viewers fork out, the longer their comment will stand out.
YouTube product manager Barbara Macdonald mentioned that “the goal for Super Chat is to help fans reach out to their favorite YouTubers in real time and vice versa. Creators can look at their messages and prioritize their biggest fans during a stream.”
(Read also: Top 12 YouTube earners rake in total of $70.5m)
The money that users pay to make their comments known will be sent to the video creators.
The flipside however, is that trolls can now pay to promote their hateful or lewd comments. For this, Macdonald suggests that content creators blacklist viewers who harass them.
Super Chat gets going today for selected creators and will launch more extensively on Jan. 31. It will be available for creators in 20 countries and viewers in 40 countries. (nik/kes)
