Dive Brief:
- YouTube has rolled out a new Community tab for its creators that will allow them to share text, GIFs, live video and images with their fans in between video uploads, according to Mashable.
- The feature updates the Google-owned video platform to have more of a social and interactive feel, as opposed to simply being a portal for users to watch, comment on and upload videos.
- "Community is a special release for us because it represents the deepest product collaboration we've ever done with creators like you," YouTube wrote in a blog post. "We started by inviting creators in early to develop, in partnership with us, the tools they wanted to better engage with their fans."
Dive Insight:
Video has become highly desired amongst consumers, and YouTube — with its proven longevity and video specialization — is poised to capitalize on that trend through efforts like Community. Just as companies like Facebook and Twitter have successfully integrated video components into their social media services, YouTube is now adding a more active social element to its platform that will better engage content creators with their fans and advertisers. The move should help YouTube bring social media influencers closer to their fans — which should indirectly help marketers working with those influencers as engagement increases.
The rollout of tools like Community also underscores the importance of video, particularly on mobile. Adobe recently discovered that 80% of marketers don't have proper mobile advertising strategies for the long term, showing that some brands are falling behind as their partner platforms push toward where consumers are already going.