The YouTube Revolt: Why Google is wrong.

On March 7, 2012 Google will force all YouTube users to use their new design. The design has been acclaimed by some to be more stylish and less cluttered. However there have been many protests against the new design. In fact, if you take a look around some of the top YouTube channels many have not adopted the new format. This should tell Google volumes. If you test out a new design and many of your key users fail to adopt it, let alone endorse it, then it suggest you have a problem. Clearly something is missing from the new design.




There are probably many opinions on what is wrong with the new design and what Google should do about it. One of the most obvious is that the new design stilts some of the "social" that has helped YouTubers to reach celebrity status. "Social" is one of they key components of any Web Series. It is part of what makes them powerful and different. Perhaps it should not be a shock to Google when they interfere with such a key dynamic on their site.

At this point it does not look like Google will back off on this forced switch. That is a shame. If this fails to happen then one can only hope that Google will quickly move to repair some of the damage by creating more flexible templates that give their user base some of the features they have come to depend upon.