YouTube Makes an Effort to Be a Nicer Place

Perouse the YouTube comments on any popular video and it will appear like a teenybopper is texting a neo nazi. The level of stupidity seen in the comments of YouTube is the ultimate proof of human idiocy. Finally, after years of putting up with people's hate and ignorance, YouTube is cracking down on comments!

This news will come as a direct hit to the self-esteem of millions of YouTube users that habitually leave horrible comments tearing down others in order to feel important. Technology news publication Wired reported on how YouTube plans to go about such a dirty job:

The current system drops the latest post right at the top of the comment section. The upcoming system will use several factors to determine which posts float to the top of the conversation. Posts by the video creator, "popular personalities," posts with engaged conversations, and posts from your Google+ friends will appear at the top of the stream of comments.

While it's refreshing to see that YouTube is doing something to civilize their commenting procedure, it will not totally eliminate all the brain-dead opinions. Instead of filtering out the bad ones, YouTube will use an algorithm to determine which users have a reputation for leaving positive and engaging comments in order to make these comments most visible. This is an attempt to turn the comment section into more of a forum for valuable discussions relating to the content of the video, instead of a place for anonymous users to drop hate bombs.

The current comment display system is left up to the users by asking them to judge the best comments using a thumbs up or thumbs down. In theory, this seems like a democratic and fair way to display the best comments. However, YouTube is a great example of why democracy is flawed because, as is the nature of democracy, the loudest and most emotional comments wind up getting all the attention, and well thought out comments get obliterated by one line hate bombs having nothing to do with the original subject matter.

Take for example this exchange from the YouTube video "The Sneezing Baby Panda," one of YouTube's most popular videos of all time with over 170 million views to date.

xXxPokemonxXx: awww look at the baby panda ROFL ;) hahaha LOL

GreenGi2l02: whats so funny about animals in captivity??

Dave-O: Stupid liberals always trying to free lame animals. Eat pandas.

dancefreak66: The Peruvian government cuts down 1,300 acres of forest every day. Click here to stop them.

the_answer3: 9/11 was great day ever. Americans burn with Bush's actions. Your imperialism will be your end.

Yikes. All of this hate over a sneezing panda! The comments actually get worse. Directive felt uncomfortable posting them because many are NSFW. Let's just say the conversation goes in the direction of sexual degradation and death threats.

YouTube taking steps to curtail the ugliness could have a positive impact for your business. This is because YouTube is an amazing (and free) marketing tool that can benefit your company, yet many businesses and people are hesitant to take advantage of YouTube out of fear of having their message, or even themselves, berated by hate speech.

Perhaps with YouTube becoming a friendlier place, it will give civilized people the courage to speak up and contribute great content and insight. For businesses that have been hesitant to upload to YouTube because of its reputation for horrible comments, YouTube does provide the option to close comments on your video so you don't have to police them. To learn more about how to get the most out of YouTube and other social media tools for your business, give Directive a call at 607.433.2200. You can also leave us a message in the comments of this blog article. We just ask that you please be nice.