YouTube is about to change up its user interface, and one of the changes will be a new username system. Starting in early 2019, all YouTube users will be required to use a unique username that they create and maintain. This username will be their personal identifier on the platform. The idea behind this Username system is twofold. First, it will help YouTube keep track of who is using the platform and what they are doing. Second, it will help to prevent people from impersonating other YouTube users or taking advantage of the platform for their own gain. There are a few potential benefits to using this Username system. First, it could help to reduce spamming on the platform and make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for. Second, it could help to improve user experience by making it easier for them to find what they need quickly and easily.
YouTube has announced that it’s introducing usernames for users and channels. There will be @name handles used across the platform, making it easy to mention people and channels in descriptions and comments. It should also generally help with finding people and channels on YouTube.
Every user handle will be valid for both channels and Shorts, YouTube’s TikTok competitor. Presumably, having user handles will help cut down on impersonation, since they’ll be unique to every user and separate from existing channel names.
YouTube will begin to roll out handles starting next week, and it will progressively notify users when they can claim theirs — so it will be a staged rollout rather than arriving at the same time for everyone.
YouTube says that it’ll take into account factors such as notability in the platform and subscriber count for the rollout. Likewise, if you already have a custom URL for your YouTube channel, YouTube will set that aside for you as your handle, but you’ll be able to change it once if you don’t like it.
Source: YouTube
