At its Made on YouTube event on Wednesday, the company announced a new dedicated space for creators to interact with their fans and viewers. Called “Community,” the space is like a Discord server built into a creator's channel. With Community, YouTube hopes creators won't need to use other platforms like Discord or Reddit to interact with their viewers.
A Community is a space where viewers can post and interact with other fans directly within a creator's channel. Previously, viewers could only leave comments on a creator's videos. Now, viewers can share their own content in a creator's Community and interact with other fans who share common interests. For example, a fitness creator's Community could contain posts from fans sharing videos and photos from their recent hikes.
Initially, this feature will only be available to subscribers.
“You know that feeling, that magic, that joy when you find people who understand you,” said Bangalee Kaba, YouTube's director of product management, during the event. “Community is where you can create those experiences with your fans. It's a place where you and your fans can come together and build deeper connections around the topics and videos you love. For the first time, instead of just uploaders posting updates and asking for opinions and ideas, your subscribers can start their own discussions with you and each other.”
Image credit: YouTube
YouTube positions the Community as a dedicated space for conversation and connection, while still allowing creators control over their content. YouTube says it expects conversations in the Community to evolve over time, just like in other forum-style environments.
The new Community feature should not be confused with YouTube's Community feature, which is a space for creators to share text and images with their viewers. That feature launched in 2016 and does not allow viewers to interact with each other.
YouTube is currently testing Communities on mobile devices with a small number of creators, and the company plans to test the feature with more creators later this year before expanding access to other channels in early 2025.