Highlighted Comment On YouTube Explained: What It Is And How It Works?

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By Ikechukwu Ugwuanyi

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Ever wondered what a highlighted comment on YouTube means or wished your comment gets highlighted too? This article teaches you everything you need to know about this YouTube feature.

To make this article comprehensive, I will start with an overview of a highlighted comment on YouTube. Then, I will explain how this YouTube comment feature works.

In section three, you’ll get to learn about the features of a highlighted comment on YouTube. Later on, you will learn the pros and cons of this YouTube feature.

Moreover, a section towards the end of this article answers some of the most asked questions regarding YouTube highlighted comment.

Overview

Highlighted Comment On YouTube An Overview

When you view comments on a YouTube post with a phone or computer, you may see the phrase “Highlighted comment”. This tag appears above a specific comment or comment reply.

In the last sentence, I hinted that a YouTube “Highlighted comment” appears above the comment or a reply. It is important to clarify that while a “Highlighted comment” is displayed above the comment, a “Highlighted reply” is displayed above a reply.

The purpose of highlighting a comment is to differentiate the comment from the other comments.

So, a highlighted comment on YouTube is not too complex. YouTube only uses this feature to draw your attention to comments.

By drawing your attention to the specific comment, you can easily differentiate the comment from the numerous comments in the YouTube video. In the subsequent section, you’ll learn why this is useful.

How then does YouTube determine which comment to highlight? Let’s see how it works in the next section.

How Does A Highlighted Comment On YouTube Work?

If you comment on a YouTube post and someone “likes/replies” your comment, YouTube will notify you through email. Then, if you click on the email notification to view the reaction, YouTube may highlight that comment automatically.

Moreover, if you upload a video on YouTube and someone else comments on your post, you’ll get a notification via email. Opening the notification to view the comment on your own post can turn the comment into a highlighted comment.

However, as I stated earlier, if YouTube highlights your own reply to a comment, it will tag your reply as “Highlighted reply”. On the contrary, if it highlights someone’s comment on your post, it will tag the comment “Highlighted comment”.

Just as highlighting a comment is an automatic process, so also is the process of unhighlighting a comment. When you’re done interacting with the comment, YouTube removes the highlight from a comment.

However, there are certain activities you can intentionally carry out to make YouTube unhighlight a comment. For example, you can edit the video’s URL and remove the comment ID with a highlight.

You will learn more about how to do this in this guide’s “Frequently Asked Question” section.

Features Of Highlighted Comment On YouTube

Features Of Highlighted Comment On YouTube Technology

So far, we’ve had an overview of comment highlighting on YouTube. Moreover, the previous section is a concise but comprehensive explanation of how this technology works.

Now, this section discusses the main characteristics of this YouTube comment feature.

Highlighted Comment On YouTube Is An Automatic Feature

YouTube highlights a comment on a post due to your actions- opening comment from an email notification. Thus, YouTube doesn’t highlight a comment because you or another person wants it to do so.

This implies that the comment which carries the highlight on a YouTube page can change.

It Is Visible To Only The Owner Of The Post

The “Highlighted Comment” tag, displayed on top of the comment is only visible to the owner of the post. In other words, only the person who opened a comment via the email notification link can see it as a highlighted comment.

Highlighted Comments Benefit YouTube Creators And Users/Viewers

A viewer’s comment on a post can merit the highlight tag. Such a viewer will only receive notifications from YouTube when someone replies to his comment.

Similarly, if a YouTube creator opens a comment notification from his YouTube studio (backend), he can easily see the comment he opened. This makes it easy to interact with the specific comment.

A Highlighted Comment On YouTube Is Not Permanent

A highlight disappears after your interaction with the tagged comment. However, YouTube reloads the “highlighted comment” tag when you open the comment from a YouTube email notification again.

This does not imply that you can remove the “Highlighted comment” tag whenever you wish to do so. That’s because YouTube automates the process of comment highlighting.

Otherwise, you will have to change the URL of the video with the comment highlight.

Think of the life span of a highlighted comment this way. New Facebook notifications have light Cyan color, which turns white after opening them.

Though they are not the same, they are similar to some extent. After interacting with a highlighted comment (by closing the page), it disappears.

Specifically, when you open the YouTube page directly (not from the notification link), the previously “highlighted comment” tag disappears.

Pros And Cons Of Highlighted Comment On YouTube

Having said all these about this YouTube technology, one may wonder if this technology is beneficial. Undeniably, this YouTube feature is beneficial.

I briefly mentioned some of its benefits in this guide’s “Features Of The Technology” section. Now, we will dive fully into its pros and cons.

Pros Of Highlighted Comment On YouTube

  1. Comment highlights make it easy for you to identify a comment you opened via an email notification. When a comment gets the highlight tag, it makes it easy for you to differentiate the comment from the other comments.

    This makes it easy for you to engage with the comment.
  2. You can use it to designate a comment for follow-up. Highlighting can be useful if you want to follow up on a comment later. So, when you want to follow up on the comment later, you open the email notification and click the link.

    This is far better than scrolling through the hundreds (sometimes thousands) of comments to find the specific comment you want to follow up on.
  3. It can help a creator to know what is relevant to his audience. A YouTube creator can address possible issues in subsequent posts through closer interaction with a commenter. So, he will be able to tailor his reply to potential permanent customers.
  4. It helps to optimize a YouTube channel. As I mentioned earlier, comment highlighting differentiates one comment from other comments. After making one comment outstanding among others, you can examine such a comment closely.

    By scrutinizing and replying to highlighted comments, a YouTuber can win the interest of potential subscribers.

Cons Of Highlighted A Comment On YouTube

  1. You have little or no control over it. As I earlier pointed out, you don’t have control over whether a YouTube comment is highlighted or not. YouTube automatically tags a comment as “Highlighted” when you open it via an email notification link.
  2. It has no direct profit. Highlighting a comment is not like adding a new subscriber to one’s channel. Also, it doesn’t mean a new customer is following your page.

    While getting a new subscriber/follower means having a new customer, highlighting a comment is different. The latter only helps in differentiating a comment opened through YouTube notifications.
  3. It can cause a “Comment failed to post” error on some browsers. A highlighted comment can prevent browsers like Firefox from posting or replying to comments on the same video.

    Some persons are only able to overcome this error using a Chrome browser. However, if you have only Firefox browser, your comment will fail to post on a video with highlighted comments.
  4. Not all highlighted comments are beneficial to a YouTube creator. Any comment can get a highlight depending on how you interact. This means that irrelevant messages can get a highlight too.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What Is A Highlighted Comment On YouTube?

When you open a YouTube comment from a YouTube email notification, it will display the “highlighted comment” tag. Similarly, if you receive a notification about a comment reply and you open the comment from the email link, YouTube will display the “Highlighted reply” tag on top of the comment reply.

2. Are All Comments On YouTube Highlighted?

Absolutely not. It is comments opened via an email notification link that is usually highlighted.

3. What Does A Pinned Comment Mean On YouTube?

Pinning a comment moves the comment to the top of the comment section. This makes it the first comment that viewers will see when they visit the comment section of a particular post.

You can pin your own comment on your post or a comment from a viewer on your post. However, you cannot pin your comment on someone’s else post – only the owner of the post has the permission to do that.

4. Is It Good To Get HighIighted Comments On YouTube?

Yes, it is. This is because it makes it easy for you to identify the comment you opened via an email notification link.

5. What Happens If A Comment On YouTube Is HighIighted?

When a comment on YouTube is highlighted, it displays the “Highlighted Comment” tag at the top of such a comment.

Hence, it will be easier to differentiate the comment from other comments.
However, only comments that are opened via an email notification link can be highlighted.

6. How Does A YouTube Comment Get Highlighted?

If you post a video on YouTube and someone comments on your post, YouTube will notify you through email with a link. Hence, if you click on the email notification link to view the comment, YouTube highlights the comment automatically.

The same thing happens when you comment on a post, and someone else replies to your comment. YouTube will notify you of the reaction via email notification – viewing the reply through the notification link will highlight it.

7. How Do I Undo A Highlighted Comment On YouTube?

YouTube creates a special URL for your video post every time it highlights a comment on the post. This special URL comprises the URL of the video and the URL of the comment.

Normally, YouTube itself removes the highlight on the comment when you’re done interacting with it. However, there are certain actions you can take to remove the highlight.

For example, the original URL of a post could be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmhjP3jhpmQA.

When it gets a highlighted comment, the URL may change to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmhjP3jhpmQA&lc=Ugya-89WYAlutJurKGh4AaABAg. The additional part starting from “&lc” points is the URL of the highlighted comment.

So, to undo the highlight, you have to remove the part of the URL starting from “&lc”.

8. Does YouTube Notify You When Someone Replies To Your Comment?

Yes, YouTube notifies you when someone replies to your comment. However, if you don’t get such notifications, it may be that you didn’t turn it on in your account settings.

To turn on notifications for replies to your comments on YouTube, follow the steps below.

i. Sign in to your YouTube account.
ii. On the top right, click your profile picture and select Settings.
iii. On the left, click Notifications to get to your account notifications settings.
iv. On Your preferences category under the General section, turn on Replies to my comment notification.

9. What Does It Mean When Someone Likes Your Comment On YouTube?

When someone likes your comment, it implies that it is relevant from the person’s perspective. In some cases, it may be that the person finds your comment interesting, funny, or even encouraging.

10. How Do I Get My Comment HighIighted On YouTube?

Replying to a comment does not necessarily make your comment highlighted. Instead, the comment has to be opened from the email notification link of the YouTube creator.

To possibly attract the creator’s interest, you need to examine other comments on the post first. Then, add what you think is missing in all the comments, and construct yours in a concise way.

This way, the YouTube creator would want to open your comment straight from the email notification. By doing so, it will give your comment the highlighted comment tag.

My Final Thoughts

Highlighted Comment On YouTube My Final Thoughts

All things considered, a highlighted comment on YouTube can be helpful. However, its benefits do not come in direct ways.

Nevertheless, it helps you locate the comment you opened from an email notification easily. Hence, only comments that are opened from an email notification link can be a highlighted comment.

Besides, replies to a comment can also be highlighted. However, as with comments, only replies opened from an email notification link can be highlighted.

I hope this article answered the question, “what is a highlighted comment on YouTube”?

I also hope you found it helpful. If you did, kindly spare 2 minutes to share your experience with our community at [discourse_topic_url].

You could also ask a question, leave a comment or provide feedback at [discourse_topic_url]. Our team and other community members will get back to you with a response as soon as possible.

Finally, for more articles like this, visit our Google & YouTube Explained page.

References And Further Reading

  1. businessinsider.com – What you need to know about the feature that helps you navigate YouTube’s comment section
  2. support.google.com – Change comment notification settings
  3. filmora.wondershare.com – What Does A Highlighted Comment Look Like?
  4. makeuseof.com – What Does a HighIighted Comment Mean on YouTube?
  5. stackbrowser.com – What Is a HighIighted Comment on YouTube
  6. insidenetwork.com – What does a highIighted comment mean on YouTube?
  7. outofthe925.com – What is a highIighted comment on YouTube?
  8. growfollowing.com – What Does Highlighted comment mean?
  9. techjury.net – What Is a HighIighted Comment on YouTube?
  10. [discourse_topic_url]
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About the Author

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Ikechukwu Ugwuanyi

Ikechukwu Ugwuanyi is a Technical Writer for Itechguides.com. He has an HND in Computer Science. Ikechukwu loves developing software and experimenting with new technologies. In Itechguides.com, He writes gadget buying guides, apps and software reviews, movies, and video games reviews.

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3 thoughts on “Highlighted Comment On YouTube Explained: What It Is And How It Works?”

  1. this article is very informative this helps me a lot . I am searching this information for a while but i did’t find anything more informative than your article. It helps me a lot.
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  2. Nice one, a very detailed information on the highlighted comments in YT. Yes, you’re right and hopefully wont remove this feature in the future as there are lots of YT-ers growing up as YT are paying good.

    Reply

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