If you’ve ever shared a YouTube video via text message, you’re probably familiar with the auto-generated text that used to appear before a video’s URL after you pasted it into the body of your message: “Check Out This Video On YouTube: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0WZORaF7Gk)”. If you’re like me, you probably always deleted this portion so that you could add your own comment, opinion or inside joke for good measure. Even though it’s only a few extra steps, having to switch between apps to share a video made the whole process very tedious — especially by today’s standards.
Well, it looks like those days are about over…
YouTube recently announced the roll-out of its in-app messenger which facilitates the sharing of your favorite videos and provides a more social network-like experience that we haven’t really seen from YouTube before. This new mobile-centric feature of the existing YouTube app allows users to interact with friends on the platform in much the same way Facebook Messenger does. Basically, anyone with a YouTube account can natively share videos within the app, allowing recipients to respond directly by “hearting,” commenting or sharing another video in response, all within the same chat. This tool has potential to be a real game changer for YouTube’s mobile users in several ways. It also reiterates YouTube’s continual shift towards becoming more social media savvy and an increasingly dynamic platform.
No word yet on when this will be rolled out worldwide as it’s only available to a small percentage of accounts at the moment, but it would make sense for advertisers to be more swayed than ever to invest advertising dollars into mobile ad formats (if the platform’s upward trend in mobile views wasn’t enough of a selling point already). Previously, advertisers have been hesitant to invest in mobile because of the low CTR (Click-Thru-Rates), YouTube’s lack of ad formats supported for mobile devices and the platform’s formerly higher desktop viewership. However, as mobile viewership continues its ascent over the next few years, it will soon dominate the platform’s “view-share” percentage. Both YouTube and advertisers have been scrambling to keep up with the mobile shift and recently rolled out new mobile-friendly ad formats. In any case, it’s a good sign for creators, advertising companies, and of course… YouTube’s mobile viewers.
While one of the in-app messenger’s main goals is to encourage more native video shares, perhaps even more importantly and (most likely) by design, it should make viewers think twice before copying and pasting videos onto a friend’s Facebook wall, instead staying within the YouTube ecosystem. Content creators may see this as a positive as well — more shares, increased viewership and a swell in watch time on their content — all important factors for the overall success of a video and imperative for its chances to go viral. Furthermore, the tool reiterates YouTube’s push towards becoming more appealing as a social media-friendly platform.
Overall, this is a bold move from YouTube and a strong affirmation they are doing everything in their power to stay competitive in today’s constantly evolving social media driven climate. After all, YouTube is the original video sharing platform that made posting and sharing videos the trend that it is today. Now, it’s just easier.
