How do YouTube Handles work and what do they mean for your channel?

I know your personal and professional inboxes are already filled with several e-mails from YouTube.

"Introducing: YouTube Handles"

"You can now choose your YouTube handle"

And I know it because mine certainly is!

If you are using YouTube for personal branding, this notification most probably made you think: "Well, YouTube is refreshing its approach again. Let's see what it's all about!"

BUT,?if you are a marketer and managing your YouTube company's page is one of your millions of tasks/objectives/activities, these notifications look more like a warning sign that says:?"Hey, there! It's time to put what you're doing on hold for a while. You MUST do some research to see how handles could impact your company's channel. And YouTube's perspective, it's not enough - you MUST consider other voices, too!"

So, here I am delivering to you some insights that could help you skip the research part and lead you fast to what you have to do (or do not!):

• Long Story Short: why is YouTube coming up with so many changes lately?
• What is YouTube Handle (YouTube perspective)?
• What should you know about YouTube Handles (other perspectives)?
• What should you do next?
• What does YouTube plan to do in the near future?

Long Story Short: why is YouTube coming up with so many changes lately?

Video-content will remain the king for a long-long time - no doubt about it! But the wind of change started to blow stronger into the kingdom since TikTok made room for different kinds of exposure for video creators in 2017.

For almost 2 decades, YouTube was the most powerful kingdom of videos and video creators, and nothing and no one seemed to dare compete with this giant platform.?

Everything seemed to be at its place with over 2 billion monthly users and a huge community of video creators. It looked like there was no need for any change or improvements until...

• 1,2 billion monthly active users (43% of them being between 18 and 24 years old) decided that TikTok is more versatile and more adapted to digital trends. And they decided to create content there, too.?

Although YouTube didn't pay much attention to this newcomer at the beginning, the young platform disrupted almost all the predictions with?its accelerated growth.

In only one year, TikTok succeeded in attracting over 54 million users. 2 years later (in 2020), it became the most downloaded app (with 800+ million downloads).

Today, it numbers over 1 billion monthly active users (over 50% being both followers and creators).

So, shortly, TikTok's growth became YouTube's waken-up buzz.?

Since video creators started to be so interested in what TikTok was offering, YouTube decided to recalibrate their focus on something equally important: monetization for Shorts.

In other words, YouTube came up with a similar offer - Shorts - and it made sure that it won't go unnoticed (it seems that creators may get 45% of ad revenue - meaning something that TikTok won't be able to counteroffer any time soon).

Handles - the latest audience hook that YouTube chose to handle competitive pressure. But what are these? (YouTube perspective)

So, let's take a look at what YouTube says that handles are:

• Handles are short channel identifiers that?start with the "@"?symbol.
• They MUST be?unique?- 2 users can't have the same handle at the same time.
• They also MUST include between 3-30 characters, are made up of alphanumeric characters (A–Z, a–z, 0–9), and MUST respect?YouTube guidelines.
• ?Based on your custom URL, your channel already has a handle.
• You?can change?your channel's handle anytime you want.
• Handles will appear on?channel pages and Shorts.
• Once a new custom handle is chosen, YouTube instantly creates a?matching URL?(ex: youtube.com/@handle).

What should you know about YouTube Handles (other perspectives)?

• Having a unique handle is?old news?- you are already using handles on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram. The real difference is that YouTube decided to introduce it, too.
• Using the?same handle across all platforms?will help you/your company to be found easier. So, it's wise to do so AS LONG AS your strategy is about consistency.
• Changing?your handle?is great BUT it's not a good idea to do it more than once. It's like your phone number - the more often you change it, the harder it will be for your audience to reach you.?
• The handle will make it easier for people to?mention your channel in comments, posts, and tags. But what if you don't want to be mentioned in the content? What if somebody is using this to promote itself by associating its channels with yours in an intrusive but legal way? The answers: ask the users nicely to remove your handle from their content or...report them for spam and scams. Still, it will take a while for the human behind the reporting notifications to analyze your request. And, until the YouTube verdict, your channel will continue to be mentioned there.
• YouTube handle is a great way to help your audience?distinguish between fake accounts?and real ones. The bad news is that YouTube came up with this approach a little too late - on this platform, there are already many fake channels that are constantly trying to take the glory and leave you with...nothing. So, if they moved faster than you with the handle part, now you have to struggle to create and build a handle that your audience can identify as yours quickly.

What should you do next?

Hurry up to update your channel's handle on YouTube (if the default doesn't suit you), and consider investing time and money to promote your handle right. Your audience may want to know how to find you quickly on YouTube - why not give them a hint when it's needed?

What does YouTube plan to do in the near future?

• YouTube Partner Program (YPP) will enable monetization for YouTube Shorts Video in early 2023.
• It seems that, in the coming year, the contextual targeting to Video Action campaigns will no longer be available - this means a significant limitation for marketers to fine-tune ads.
• YT announced lower eligibility requirements for fan funding on any sorts of content, including videos on demand, live streams, and shorts.
• Super Thanks?on Shorts will be expanded to more creators in 2023.