YouTube rolls out handles for channels

San Francisco: YouTube has introduced handles, a new way for people to easily find and engage with creators and each other on the Google-owned streaming platform.

Handles will appear on channel pages and Shorts so that they will be instantly and consistently recognisable. It will soon be simpler and faster to mention each other in comments, community posts, video descriptions, and more.

The company said in a blogpost: "For example, creators can be shouted out in a mention in comments or tagged in the title of a recent collab, helping them increase visibility and reach with new audiences." It added: "Handles join channel names as another way to identify a YouTube channel, but unlike channel names, handles are truly unique to each channel so creators can further establish their distinct presence and brand on YouTube."

Over the next month, the platform will notify creators when they can choose a handle for their channel. "In most cases, if a channel already has a personalised URL, that will automatically become their default handle, or they can opt to change the handle for their channel as soon as the notification in YouTube Studio comes through," the platform said. "Because handles must be unique and every channel on YouTube will have one, we are rolling them out gradually," it said.

The timing of when a creator will get access to the handles selection process depends on several factors, including overall YouTube presence, subscriber count and whether the channel is active or inactive.