YouTube begins testing voice comment replies
Another new feature from YouTube, voice reply comments hope to promote meaningful relationships between creators and audiences.
YouTube has revealed that it is testing a new feature that will allow creators to respond to comments on their own videos using their voice. The feature is only available to a small test group while YouTube works out the details, but the idea is that the feature will “enable more meaningful relationships between creators and their audiences.”
At the moment, only select creators in the US are eligible for the voice comment replies test. If you happen to be one of those creators, here’s how you can access the feature:
- Click the sound wave icon when responding to a comment
- Record the voice reply. (Requires YouTube iOS app)
- Post it as a comment
Creators can only leave voice replies on their own videos via the YouTube iOS app. Once a voice comment reply has been made, other YouTube users can interact with it just like they would a regular text comment. Currently, it appears that these voice comment replies can only be listened to in limited places. Users accessing the platform via the YouTube app (iOS/Android) seem to be the only ones able to listen to the comments.
What’s the point in this feature? It’s all in the name of connection and engagement. For some creators, this feature will allow them to interact with their audience on a much more personal level. The increased human feel and connection may help creators to foster community and keep audience members sticking around for longer.
Additionally, there is a transcript button that accompanies the voice comment replies. Presumably, this is also designed to help YouTube’s speech-to-text AI processing feature, training it on accents, dialects, and natural speech. Gathering samples to train AI features like speech-to-text can be challenging, so this new voice comment replies features doubles as an ideal source for training.