TECH NEWS – YouTube announced today that it would begin using “handles” to enhance the social aspects of the platform and improve the overall identification of the creator or channel.

Compared to channel names, handles are “truly unique to each channel so creators can further establish their distinct presence and brand on YouTube.” They will appear prominently on channel pages and in Shorts videos and are intended to be “instantly and consistently recognisable.”

As well as identification and branding, the handles will also allow for easier and quicker mentions in comments, social posts and video descriptions.

Creators, for example, will be easier to tag in comments or can be tagged in the title of a recent collaboration, helping them increase visibility and reach a wider audience.

As for availability, creators will be notified next month when they select a handle. Channels that already have personalised URLs will automatically have this as their default handle. However, “they can opt to change the handle for their channel as soon as the notification in YouTube Studio comes through.”

Until then, a proper youtube.com/@[handle] URL will be created:

“If a channel already has a personalised URL, there’s no need to update links: they’ll automatically be redirected to the new, handle-based URL to create a better, more unified presence for creators on YouTube.”

Fortunately, the platform has been kind enough to publish an FAQ stating, among other things, that the rollout will be gradual. The handle selection process is based on factors such as “overall YouTube presence, subscriber count, and whether the channel is active or inactive.”

Source: Blog.YouTube