You might take seen a comment on YouTube labeled every bit a Highlighted comment. What does a highlighted annotate mean, and why does it happen? It turns out that this feature is very misunderstood, and it'due south probably non at all what you might retrieve.

Commencement, let's analyze what we're talking about. In the comments department below YouTube videos, yous may see a comment labeled as Highlighted comment. The label appears in calorie-free grayness, above the commenter's proper noun:

YouTube highlighted comment

YouTube can also highlight comment replies, with slightly different wording: Highlighted answer.

YouTube has slowly been improving its commenting, including reminding users to be respectful. Highlighted comments are yet another small improvement.

This is a misunderstood feature, and information technology's a lot less exciting than it sounds! It's best to begin by dismissing some of the most common misunderstandings. Highlighted comments are not a show of approval by the video creator, nor are they voted on by other users.

Highlighted comments are little more than a bookmarking feature. Take a look at two URLs:

  • youtube.com/lookout?v=4qrfrFJ5D9k
  • youtube.com/watch?v=4qrfrFJ5D9k&lc=Ugw-2hGUgIMj2IZoqhJ4AaABAg

Although they look different, both URLs show the same video. But 1 displays a highlighted annotate and one doesn't. What's going on?

If yous know how to read a URL, you might recognize there's an extra parameter in the 2d example. Its name is lc, possibly continuing for "linked comment." Its value uniquely identifies 1 of the comments below the video—that'south the highlighted comment.

When a YouTube page includes such a parameter, it pulls up that specific annotate to the tiptop of the comments listing. Information technology likewise adds the Highlighted annotate label. If the comment is a respond, YouTube volition elevate its parent comment to the superlative, with the reply shown below it.

If you host a video on YouTube, yous can receive notifications when a user posts a comment on information technology. These notifications volition contain a highlighted comment link.

Or, if you're viewing a YouTube comments section, click on the time next to a commenter's username (eastward.yard. 5 months agone). This leads to a highlighted URL for that comment.

For YouTube comments, the significant of "highlighted" is closer to "bookmarked" than "featured." You lot can use a highlighted comment to identify a specific comment. They tin be useful to bookmark, specially if you desire to follow-upwardly on a annotate later on.

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Bobby Jack (73 Articles Published)

Bobby is a technology enthusiast who worked as a software developer for most of two decades. At MUO, he's the Junior Editor for the Programming department. He's passionate about gaming, working as Editor-in-Master at Switch Player Mag, and is immersed in all aspects of online publishing & web development.

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