YouTube launches YouTube Community beta for select group of video creators

YouTube has launched a special beta version of its new YouTube Community tool today — giving access to a select group of high-profile video creators.

Designed to be a social platform for creators to engage with followers, YouTube Community will be housed under a new “Community” tab on the user’s YouTube channel. According to the announcement, YouTube Community will offer YouTube video creators the ability to text, air live videos and share images and animated GIFs with their followers.

“Viewers will be able to see your posts in the Subscriptions feed on their phones. They can also opt into getting a notification anytime you post,” writes YouTube senior product manager Kiley McEvoy on the YouTube Creator Blog.

YouTube says YouTube Community represents the “deepest product collaboration” it has ever done with creators and is rolling out the beta version with a select group that helped develop the tool.

Right now, the following YouTube channel owners are the only ones who have access to YouTube Community:

• John & Hank Green
• AsapSCIENCE
• The Game Theorists
• Karmin
• The Key of Awesome
• The Kloons
• Lilly Singh
• Peter Hollens
• Rosianna Halse Rojas
• Sam Tsui
• Threadbanger
• VSauce3

YouTube says giving these creators access is the “first step” to rolling out the tool and that it plans to include more creators in the months ahead.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media’s General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy’s articles.