YouTube has announced the official rollout this week of a new comment system, initially announced in late September, based on Google+.
The social video giant says the new update will automatically place comments from users’ in someone’s Google+ circles at the top of the list of comments for videos.
Google+ users will also be able to just reply to users in their circles, rather than to everyone.
For website owners, the other big change will be the introduction of a range of new moderation options, including the ability to review comments, create a list of banned words or auto-approve comments from trusted users.
As part of the rollout, the social media giant is encouraging users to link their Google+ accounts to their YouTube accounts.
“Starting this week, when you’re watching a video on YouTube, you’ll see comments sorted by people you care about first. If you post videos on your channel, you also have more tools to moderate welcome and unwelcome conversations.
“This way, YouTube comments will become conversations that matter to you,” YouTube says in a statement.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
