By default, your YouTube comments are enabled. These comments are crucial for your YouTube page as a content creator since they allow you to get more insight into your audiences’ preferences, genuine feedback, and what they hope to see from you in the future. Moreover, it is a great way to connect with your audiences and reply to any queries they might have.
This is even more important for brands whose success relies on their image. By turning on comments, you can better understand what your target audience expects of you and how you can better cater to their needs.
How To Turn on Comments On YouTube
If your YouTube comments are not enabled, you can quickly turn them on through the YouTube settings section. Here’s how:
- First, go to YouTube Creator Studio and log in to your YouTube creator account.
- Next, go to the left menu bar and select the “settings” icon.
- Then go to “Community” and select “Defaults.
- Here you will have to choose your default comments type from the preferences listed.
- If you don’t have the Community tab, your default settings for new video uploads will be under “Comments on your new videos.”
- If you have the Community tab, your default settings will be under “Comments on your channel.”
- You can choose from four general preference settings (we’ll discuss these in detail further). By default, you should have “Hold potentially inappropriate comments for review” selected; you can switch this to “allow all comments,” but allowing inappropriate comments to undergo review is generally recommended.
What Do Comments Preferences Mean
There are four general preferences available that you can choose from. Here’s what each preference type means:
- Allow all comments
This will allow all comments left on your video; once someone submits a comment, it is immediately visible to the public. But, of course, you can still report inappropriate or spam comments to YouTube.
- Hold potentially inappropriate comments for review
With these settings, YouTube will automatically detect inappropriate comments and hold them for review for up to 60 days. You can view these comments by going to your “Comments” page and navigating to the “Held for review” tab. YouTube works to improve its detection system, so it recommends that you review comments. As you review comets, the system gets better at filtering inappropriate comments.
You can also add specific words or phrases you want to hold for review by adding them to your “blocked words list.” For this, log into your YouTube Studio account, and click on Settings > Community > Automated Filters > Blocked Words.
- Hold all comments for review
This will have YouTube put all comments under review, regardless of their content; you can view comments on your Comments page under the “held for review” tab for up to 60 days.
- Disable comments
- Finally, if you don’t wish to have any comments on your YouTube video, you can disable them entirely. When viewers scroll down to the comment section, they should see “Comments are disabled for this video. Learn more.” written below.
How To Change Default Comments View
Sometimes you might want to view specific comments at the top of your comment section. For this, you must change the default comment view on your video. You can do this by following the steps below:
- Sign in to your YouTube Studio Creator account.
- On the left menu bar, click on the “Content” tab.
- Here you need to select the video whose comments you wish to organize.
- Once you select a video’s thumbnail, scroll down and click on “show more.”
- Next, go to the “Comments and Ratings” section and select “Sort by”
- You can choose from two options; you can have the tip comments on display, or you can have the newest comments displayed at the top of your comment section.
- Hit “Save,” and you’re finished!
Why Turn On Comments On YouTube
As a content creator on YouTube, you might wonder if it’s best to disable comments on your YouTube video; you might want to reconsider that decision. Some brands might also switch off comments entirely to save the hassle of reviewing them or monitoring them, but this can be disadvantageous.
Here’s why it is always recommended to leave comments switched on for your YouTube channel:
- Google Plus automatically uses its unique algorithm to place more valuable, helpful, and engaging comments at the top of your YouTube videos. This way, you need not worry about damaging or potentially harmful comments on your channel; most of your audience will find positive comments leading the way instead.
- Turning off your YouTube comments to save yourself backlash or harsh criticism is a short-term solution. Word of mouth can be incredibly disastrous, which is why you should always listen to what your target audience has to say about your or your brand. By working on community development instead, you can get a more stable long-term solution geared to fix what your audience is triggered by.
- By disabling comments on your YouTube channel, you might give your mass audience the perception that you have something to hide and might give off the wrong signal.
- In many cases, users who do not write off positive comments might not be able to leave their feedback if you switch off all comments.
- By having plenty of interesting comments on your video that point to the value your video provides, your incoming audience may be more encouraged to watch your videos till the end.
- Letting users comment on your YouTube channel helps create new discussions about you and your brand; it is a great way to keep your audience engaged.
- You can always leave a CTA as a question at the end of your videos to which your target audience can submit answers in the comment section. In this way, you can once again engage your users and get their valuable feedback.