NEWS28 May 2010
US— YouTube this week rolled out new functionality to allow users to create and house online discussions within their own channels – effectively adding crowdsource capabilities to the online video site.
The Moderator add-on makes it possible for channel owners to set topics or questions for their subscribers to answer or debate, while answers themselves can be rated by other users to provide a ranking of the most popular responses.
In its introduction to Moderator, YouTube says the tool can be used “to collect questions for an online interview, ideas for a topic you’re thinking about, or feedback on a video you’ve created”, and its the latter that may prove most intriguing for brand and media owners – many of whom already have their own YouTube channels, through which they upload new adverts, programme clips and entire shows.